Things To Do In SW Florida

By Mia Taylor, Bankrate.com

Your house isn’t just one of the biggest purchases you’ll likely make. It’s an ongoing expense — or source of expenses — as well. You know about your mortgage payments, of course. But in addition to those, there are regular costs of maintenance and upkeep.

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Some of these are obvious, encountered in everyday life – housekeeping, lawn mowing, window washing. Others are financial, like property taxes, utilities bills and homeowners insurance. And then there are the wear-and-tear repairs and unexpected fixes, less obvious to the naked eye until there’s an inspection or break. The point is, all of them drive up the tab associated with homeownership. read more

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Homeownership is receding further out of reach for most Americans as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices stretch the limits of what buyers can afford.

A homebuyer now needs to earn at least $114,000 a year to afford a $431,250 home — the national median listing price in April, according to data released Thursday by Realtor.com

The analysis assumes that a homebuyer will make a 20% down payment, finance the rest of the purchase with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, and that the buyer’s housing costs won’t exceed 30% of their gross monthly income — an often-used barometer of housing affordability.

Based off the latest U.S. median home listing price, homebuyers need to earn $47,000 more a year to afford a home than they would have just six years ago. Back then, the median U.S. home listing price was $314,950, and the average rate on a 30-year mortgage hovered around 4.1%. This week, the rate averaged 6.76%.

The annual income required to afford a median-priced U.S. home first crossed into the six figures in May 2022 and hasn’t dropped below that level since. Median household income was about $80,600 annually in 2023, according to the U.S. Census bureau. read more

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writers

Wall Street extended its gains to a ninth straight day Friday, marking the stock market’s longest winning streak since 2004 and reclaiming the ground it lost since President Donald Trump escalated his trade war in early April.

The rally was spurred by a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market and resurgent hope for a ratcheting down in the U.S. trade showdown with China.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.4%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.5%.

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The gains were broad. Roughly 90% of stocks and every sector in the S&P 500 advanced. Technology stocks were among the companies doing the heaviest lifting. Microsoft rose 2.3% and Nvidia rose 2.5%. Apple, however, fell 3.7% after the iPhone maker estimated that tariffs will cost it $900 million. read more

By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — A European Union privacy watchdog fined TikTok $600 million on Friday after a four-year investigation found that the video sharing app’s data transfers to China put users at risk of spying, in breach of strict EU data privacy rules.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission also sanctioned TikTok for not being transparent with users about where their personal data was being sent and ordered the company to comply with the rules within six months.

The Irish national watchdog serves as TikTok’s lead data privacy regulator in the 27-nation EU because the company’s European headquarters is based in Dublin.

“TikTok failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of (European) users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU,” Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement.

TikTok said it disagreed with the decision and plans to appeal. read more

By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — American employers added a surprising 177,000 jobs in April as the job market showed resilience in the face of President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

Hiring fell slightly from a revised 185,000 in March, but that is above economist projections of 135,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Trump’s aggressive and unpredictable policies – including massive import taxes – have clouded the outlook for the economy and the job market and raised fears that the American economy is headed toward recession.

Friday’s report showed employment, one of the strongest aspects of the U.S. economy, remains solid, yet many economists anticipate that a negative impact from trade wars will materialize this year for American workers and potentially, President Trump.

“Politicians can count their lucky stars that companies are holding on to their workers despite the storm clouds forming that could slow the economy further in the second half of the year,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at fwdbonds, a financial markets research firm. read more