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By Jeff Ostrowski, Bankrate.com

Slashed rates. Discounts on future purchases. Speedy delivery.

No, these are not the promises of an auto dealer or eager e-retailer start-up. They’re coming from mortgage lenders.

The incentives reflect the harsh reality of the residence-financing scene. Since 2021, mortgage rates have more than doubled. The predictable result: American consumers — especially homebuyers — have sharply reduced their appetite for borrowing. Mortgage originations plunged by 57% from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2022, ATTOM Data Solutions reports. As mortgage rates have remained stubbornly high, borrowers remain reluctant – in the third quarter of 2024, Americans took half as many mortgages as they did in the same period in 2021, ATTOM says.

The drop in applications puts lenders in a tough position — and, like any seller in a slow market, they’ve responded by dangling deals to get homebuyers to look past the run-up in rates. One big lender even has initiated a rewards program echoing those used by retailers, airlines and credit cards. read more

The U.S. Small Business Administration will pull regional offices out of cities with immigrant-friendly policies like Denver, one of several changes new SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler detailed in a “Day One” memo on Monday.

“To better serve Main Streets across America, especially in rural areas, SBA will relocate regional offices currently based in sanctuary cities to less costly, more accessible locations in communities that comply with federal immigration law,” the memo states.

Denver is home to the SBA’s Region VIII, which covers Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, North Dakota and South Dakota. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has been an early and vocal opponent of the administration’s immigration policies, making a relocation likely.

The Colorado District Office, established in 1953, is in the federally-owned U.S. Customs House at 721 19th St. That makes the impact of a departure on the city’s oversupplied office market more limited compared to the departure of a federal tenant in leased space. read more

Six years ago, Julia Marsh gathered with friends in the kitchen of her small Brooklyn apartment. She’d ordered some flour-like powder derived from seaweed off the internet, and — after watching tutorial videos on YouTube — she needed help with the baking required to turn it into an environmentally-friendly, compostable plastic.

“Early on, it was purely experimental,” said Marsh. “Let’s just see what we can make.”

As she smeared a sweet-smelling goo onto baking sheets, Marsh, then a design student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, deliberated about what temperature to set the oven. Several trials later, her first bioplastic prototypes were born.

“They were ugly,” she said, and only “kind of resembled” plastic. But these early experiments gave the Monterey Bay native the confidence to fight against the torrent of single-use plastics threatening the oceans she grew up playing beside.

In 2020, Marsh co-founded Sway, a San Leandro startup that aims to replace conventional plastic packaging, made from petroleum products, with a green alternative. This year, Sway and four fashion brands will launch their first fully compostable seaweed-based “polybags” — the clear plastic packaging that protects new garments during delivery. read more

Colorado regulators have issued the first licenses to individuals seeking to open psilocybin-related businesses.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Department of Revenue’s Natural Medicine Division had approved seven license applications for prospective business owners, including one who wants to open a psilocybin mushroom cultivation and another who hopes to operate a healing center. Additionally, the division issued one license to a local who hopes to work in the nascent industry.

The licenses mark the first step in Colorado’s rollout of a legal psychedelic-assisted therapy industry. Although individuals have received approval from the state, each respective business also needs to be issued a license before it can begin operating. So far, no business licenses have received approval from the Natural Medicine Division, according to state data. Still, regulators at the agency expect the public could have legal access to services in this space as soon as spring.

Greeley, Colorado, resident Troy Leonard is among the first people to have his application approved. The 33-year-old Marine Corps veteran is the CEO of a company called Valor Minds, which seeks to open a small mushroom cultivation facility in Englewood to supply licensed healing centers. read more

After a Maryland teacher died by apparent suicide while under investigation for alleged financial fraud and child sex abuse, investors across six states told The Baltimore Sun Justin Rieger had invested their money in the cryptocurrency market.

The Sun interviewed two crypto experts about what cryptocurrency is, what investors should know about digital currencies, and why they can be riskier than traditional investments.

Jimi “Fitz” Fitzgerald is the host of “The Crypto Fitz Show and Podcast” where he decodes complicated financial terms. Daren Firestone is a partner at Levy Firestone Muse, where his practice focuses on representing whistleblowers in the crypto industry. Their answers have been edited for space and clarity.

Is crypto a digital stock market?

FITZ: Sort of. Stock markets are numerous and very different around the world. In the U.S. we have the Dow, S&P 500, NASDAQ, Russell 2000, and many others. Traditional stock markets are closed more hours than they are open. The crypto market is a worldwide 24/7 marketplace with all buying and selling out of the same pool of assets. read more