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Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Homebuyers can find bargains in Palm Beach County as sales, prices dip in May
Palm Beach County single-family home sales stumbled in May compared to the previous year with fewer deals closed, median prices flattening and inventory growing. The number of contracts signed last month on existing homes dropped 7% to 1,334 from May 2024, with the median price finishing the month at $640,000. That's down about 1% from the previous year, according to a report by the Broward, Palm Beaches, and St. Lucie Realtors Group. At the same time, the number of homes listed for sale was up 25%, and the months' supply of inventory was up 32% to 5.8 months — an indication of a balanced market according to Realtors who consider a 5.5 to 6 months' supply a sign that neither the seller or buyer have the upper hand. During the supercharged pandemic market of May 2022, the supply of homes had dwindled to just 1.7 months. 'There are still buyers out there, they are just more picky because they can be,' said Jeff Silver, a broker associate with Keller Williams. 'Properties in the best condition, that require the least amount of repairs are the ones selling first.' Silver and his wife Shayne Silver host a streaming show called 'The American Dream', which features events and properties in Palm Beach County. Silver said some sellers are stubborn about lowering their prices, but others are willing to bargain, including offering to pay thousands of dollars in closing costs to attract buyers. He also had a buyer negotiate a new roof before finalizing a sale and is pushing clients to make upgrades before homes are listed. Stay up to date on South Florida's sizzling real estate market and sign up for The Dirt weekly newsletter, delivered every Tuesday! Exclusively for Palm Beach Post subscribers. 'We are not putting homes on the market with purple and yellow walls anymore, not anymore. We want neutral,' Silver said. 'As listing agents, we have our sellers doing a lot of painting. Mostly white.' Palm Beach County homes that sold in May spent a median of 42 days on the market before getting a contract signed and 86 days before the deal closed. That's an increase of about 8% and 2%, respectively, from May 2024. That doesn't mean some homes aren't snatched up quickly. Realtor Keisha Moore, who specializes in homes in popular communities south of downtown West Palm Beach, said she got a contract signed before she was even able to publicly list a 1950s-era two-bedroom home east of Dixie Highway. She said the buyer is paying near the asking price which is just above $1 million. 'People are like, 'Oh, we are slow,' but at the same time we are under contract on a home that's not even listed and people are still asking to see it,' Moore said. 'The lot size matters, the location matters, the street matters.' More: West Palm Beach home fetches record price in popular South of Southern community Moore said that while inventory countywide has increased, she's seen the number of available homes dwindle in her neighborhoods from about 160 earlier this year to a current total of 115. 'It's just so unique where we live,' Moore said. 'There's still so much money coming here.' The average price for a single-family home in Palm Beach County in May was $1.3 million, which is up nearly 10% from the previous year. Realtors prefer to use the median price, which is less influenced by ultra high-end deals such as the $55 million sale last month in Manalapan of a partially-built home that is expected to be demolished. The buyer, WeatherTech founder and CEO David F. MacNeil, already owns the property next door and wants to combine them. Statewide, the number of single-family homes that sold in May was down 6% from the previous year. The median sale price was $415,000, which is about 3% below the same time in 2024. The supply of inventory statewide was 5.6 months. Sales of condominiums and townhomes statewide were down 20% in May from the previous year as buyers and sellers continue to wrestle with the fallout from the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside. The median price for a condo and townhome was $310,000 statewide in May, a decrease of 6%. In Palm Beach County, the number of townhomes and condos that sold in May was down 17% from the previous year. The median price was $330,000, a 3% drop. More: Waterfront home developed by former Florida Panthers' star Ed Jovanovski for sale Jeff Lichtenstein, owner of Echo Fine Properties in Palm Beach Gardens, said it's possible that mortgage interest rates may inch down near the end of the year, but that will also coincide with South Florida's seasonal buying market, which could drive up prices. As of June 18, the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.81%, according to Freddie Mac. That's down from 7.04% in mid-January. 'If I'm a buyer, I would absolutely be looking for a deal right now,' Lichtenstein said. 'The next six months will be the most opportune time because sellers are motivated during the off season.' Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@ Help support our local journalism, subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County sales of single-family homes, condos down in May
Boston Globe
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Photos of May spring rituals: commencements, Celtics playoffs, Boston Calling
People were reflected in an advertisement on a bus stop in Boston on May 15. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum grimaced in pain on the floor during game four of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinal against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on May 12. Tatum ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the final minutes of Boston's loss. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff A pedestrian walked on Boylston Street at an intersection by Massachusetts Avenue in Boston on May 15. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Lilah Bilotta, 7, threw out her arms to run through the sea of American flags as she took a break from helping to create the Memorial Day Flag Garden on Boston Common on May 21. Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund and Home Base planted more than 37,000 flags for Memorial Day in honor of Massachusetts veterans who gave their lives. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff .image { margin-top: 100px; } .image figcaption { display: block; max-width: 750px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; font-size: 18px; caption-side: bottom; line-height: 1.5; } Bernardino Chavarría and his daughter Nahomy, 18, passed beneath a giant American flag painted by her classmates that read, 'The American Dream,' at Champlain Valley Union High School. Teachers and administrators scrambled to put together a graduation for Nahomy and her sister, who had chosen with their family to self-deport after the Trump administration sought to terminate the parole program that they had come to the United States under. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Nahomy Chavarría (left) embraced her sister Andrea during a reception held for them after a special commencement exercise of the Champlain Valley Union High School in Williston, Vt. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Mohsen Mahdawi kneeled to examine a plant while on a hike on his land in Fairlee, Vt., on May 7. Mahdawi, a Palestinian national and Columbia student, was arrested by ICE agents last month when he showed up for a citizenship meeting. He faces deportation. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Juan Francisco Mendez hugged his wife, Marilu Domingo Ortiz, and their 9-year-old son in their home in New Bedford on May 16. A native of Guatemala, Méndez was detained by immigration officials for 30 days before his release. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Members of the singing group O.G. (Original Gentlemen), from left, Robert Rose, Albert Brown, and Jabir Pope, performed an a cappella song during a rally for the wrongfully convicted outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston on May 21. The demonstration commemorated the five-year anniversary of George Floyd's murder while advocating for criminal justice reform. Erin Clark/Globe Staff A woman wore a poncho to protect herself from wind-blown rain on Atlantic Avenue during a rare spring nor'easter in Boston on May 22. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Members of the class of 2025 attended Harvard University's 374th commencement in Cambridge on May 29. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Jess Frey, a yoga educator, leapt from one of her favorite sitting spots by a stream at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge. 'Sometimes in life we all are invited to change - leap - jump - step - transform into new ways of being (personal and collective as a world)," she wrote in an email. Martha and Howard Kaloogian (center), founders of Grace New England church in Weare, N.H., worshipped with other congregants at a prayer service in the barn on their property on May 3. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Reenactor Doug Ozelius played the part of a fatally shot Royal Navy sailor during a staged skirmish on the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Chelsea Creek celebration in East Boston on May 24. The Revolution's first naval battle involved colonial militia facing off with British troops and the HMS Diana. It ended with a victory for the colonists and the destruction of the British schooner. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff A jogger ran on the North Point Pedestrian Bridge in Cambridge on May 14. The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge loomed in the background. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff Fans cheered after Boston Celtics center Al Horford made a 3-point basket during the second quarter in game five of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinal against the New York Knicks at TD Garden. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff Hubbardston Militia reenactor Bella Kaldera secured a tricorner Revolutionary War hat as a modern-day Coast Guard helicopter landed at Beverly High School during a Warrior Weekend event on May 18.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ThinkCareBelieve: Week 19 of President Trump's American Leadership
Washington, DC, May 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Link to ThinkCareBelieve's Article: has published an article on America's 19th week under the leadership of the Trump Administration. Week 19 rode in on strong momentum and just kept on building stronger. While honoring our men and women bravely serving our country, we renewed our confidence in our tenacity to rise above and overcome all odds. Grocery prices saw their largest drop in over 5 years, with the lowest inflation in that same span. Gas prices fell for the third straight month, the trade deficit has already been cut in half and consumer confidence is at an all time high. America is getting stronger, we are a shining nation of possibility again, and our hope is rising. The article covers the Rally in Pittsburgh, PA accouncing the deal to reinvest in U.S. Steel in partnership with Nippon Steel of Japan. This had been a contentious situation with a potential devastating loss of jobs and closing of the plant, but the Trump Team got involved to negotiate a win-win for everyone. 'We don't want America's future to be built with shoddy steel from Shanghai—we want it built with the strength and the pride of Pittsburgh.' President Trump told America. Hope is being restored to families of the Mon Valley Pittsburgh area who didn't know if they would be able to pay their mortgages or send their children to college and now they are celebrating. ThinkCareBelieve's article also describes Elon Musk receiving the Golden White House Key during the Oval Office Press Conference marking his transition from Special Government Employee to friend and advisor, at the President's service. Elon says that most of the DOGE team are staying on with the White House and their whose work will only get stronger from here. DJT: 'He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation and we appreciate it. Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.' The various Cabinet Leaders will take Elon's place heading DOGE. Also covered in the Week 19 article is a significant list of DOGE's achievements from the recent White House article, as well as the increase of ICE's efforts to step up arrests while they dismantle the networks that have been trafficking drugs, guns, children and more. Per the White House, arrests are planned to increase to 3000 per day. The article also shows Palestinians receiving food in Gaza from President Trump while they tell reporters that Hamas was starving them. It also has an explanation of how wasteful lawfare is, and marks this week's tariff wins. More extensive progress on trade deals happened this week, with a report by CNBC announcing that at 130 days of the Trump Administration, America's trade deficit has been cut in half! America is fast approaching a rebirth of The American Dream as the One Big Beautiful Bill is now in the hands of The Senate for approval. ThinkCareBelieve's article shows the incledible leaps forward that the One Big Beautiful Bill will provide with a reduction in regulatory red tape and appropriations for booming new energy projects, America will be fueled to truly burst forth into the Golden Age. The OBBB helps American Farmers, Seniors, jumpstarts new infrastructure projects and gives Americans the largest tax relief ever. 'Anyone who has total earnings of $75,000 a year or less is going to be made completely whole, so all the low-income and middle-income seniors on Social Security will be paying zero on Social Security in the long run.' -Representative Jason Smith is an outlook. ThinkCareBelieve's mission for Peace advocacy facilitates positive outcomes and expanded possibilities. To achieve Peace, we will find the commonalities between diverse groups and bring the focus on common needs, working together toward shared goals. Activism is an important aspect of ThinkCareBelieve, because public participation and awareness to issues needing exposure to light leads to justice. Improved transparency in government can lead to changes in policy and procedure resulting in more fluid communication between the public and the government that serves them. America needs hope right now, and Americans need to be more involved in their government. ### CONTACT: CONTACT: Joanne COMPANY: ThinkCareBelieve EMAIL: joanne@ WEB: in to access your portfolio
Axios
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Orchestra's Opera & Humanities Festival focuses on reconciliation
Opera, art and community dialogue take center stage in Cleveland over the next 10 days. Why it matters: The Cleveland Orchestra's annual Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival is the celebrated ensemble's signature spring event. It features various performances, art exhibitions and public forums in partnership with other local cultural institutions, starting Friday and running through May 25. The intrigue: The theme of this year's festival is "Reconciliation," inspired by the early 20th-century opera "Jenůfa" and its themes of trauma, forgiveness and redemption. The Cleveland Orchestra, led by conductor Franz Welser-Möst, will perform the opera three times at Severance Music Center on May 17, 22 and 25. State of play: The full lineup of festivities begins at 8:30am Friday with a symposium on immigration at Severance. Other highlights include performances by Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet and pianist Michelle Cann, as well as forums and exhibitions hosted by the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ideastream and The City Club of Cleveland. Flashback: The Opera & Humanities Festival began in 2023 as the brainchild of André Gremillet, president and CEO of the Cleveland Orchestra. The inaugural theme was "The American Dream" followed by "Power" in 2024. What they're saying:"The goal was to use our annual opera performances to feature not just the Cleveland Orchestra but the incredible cultural scene we have in Cleveland," Gremillet tells Axios. "The festival is based on music first and foremost, but we also want to stimulate some interesting conversations on topics that are timely and important to the community." If you go: The festival features a mix of ticketed and free events.
RTÉ News
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Book Of The Week: The Emperor Of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
A title like The Emperor of Gladness conjures images of grandeur, or indeed of a utopian state, writes Conor Hanratty. In fact, Ocean Vuong's new novel is set in East Gladness, a fictionalised small town in Connecticut. It begins with a tense, observant tour through the town, leading to a bridge on its outskirts. Our narrator, as yet anonymous, is planning to jump from it. Before he does, he sees a woman below, losing her laundry to the wind. In a tiny act of kindness, he tries to tell her where her blanket has gone. The elderly woman then convinces the younger man not to end his life. She coaxes him off the bridge, and shares some bread with him. Thus Vuong brings together his two protagonists, Hai and Grazina. Without much ado, in mutual desperation, they agree that Hai will move in and ensure she takes her medicine. Watch: Ocean Vuong discusses the inspiration behind The Emperor of Gladness Much of Hai's story is based on Vuong's own experiences, as the child of Vietnamese war refugees in Connecticut, as a drug user, and as a live-in carer for a real-life Grazina, acknowledged in the novel's end papers. Hai's circle expands further when, desperate for money, he gets a job at a restaurant, joining some other remarkable characters: they include Hai's cousin Sony, Maureen, Wayne, Russia and BJ, their manager. They become what Vuong has elsewhere described as a "circumstantial" family, united by their day-to-day collaboration in the physical labour of reconstituting food. Vuong - speaking again from personal experience - is at his most subversive when describing the mythology behind these "freshly" prepared meals. (His descriptions of the acceptable levels of rat or human remains in processed food are hair-raising.) Vuong's prose is as poetic and luminous as we have already come to expect. Myths are woven through the tapestry of these lives - mythologies as varied but essential as Star Wars, college education, the efficacy of rehab, "customer service" and, most pernicious, The American Dream. In this little pocket of New England, these people live lives far from what they wanted. But even in the strangest, most violent and challenging circumstances, they help each other. Despite a debilitating lack of hope, despite bleak glimpses into their lives outside work, this circumstantial (if not "chosen") family proves generous, supportive and tolerant. This is Vuong's point: even in this hopeless life in a hopeless town, people are good to each other. While he skewers the corporate concerns of the industries behind food production, incarceration and care for the elderly, Vuong shows with no small grace how ordinary people, despite cruel adversity, continually tend toward kindness. In the world today, this feels like a revolutionary observation. Vuong's prose is as poetic and luminous as we have already come to expect. He can - and does - make anything seem delicate and special, from a suicidal walk through East Gladness to a ladies' wrestling match in a biker bar. It is a long book, but Vuong rewards close attention with surprises, belly-laughs and resolutions to almost all the tiny observations that he makes. The novel begins and ends with kindness without any hope of reward. It might not inspire many to visit these corners of Connecticut, but it left this reader with more than a little faith in humanity restored.
