It's that time of year where people start thinking about vacations and the possibility of buying that second home somewhere tropical. Bill Furlong, Vice President of Americas at HomeAway, joins Your Future Home to give a few tips on how to settle on the perfect second home.
Furlong says that people look for different amenities in a second home and some of them are little more fun than what they would prefer in the main house. Perhaps they want a pool or a hot tub. Some even splurge for an in-home theater or putting green. He says the average person spends around $330,000 on a second home and may rent it out during certain weeks of the year.
Plus, before purchasing a second home you need to consider the costs. Furlong says you'll need to budget for new furniture, upkeep, repairs, taxes and seasonal implications such as weatherproofing and lawn care.
Green tech investments had a stellar 2021 amid a wave of SPAC mergers and massive valuations. But that momentum seems to be slowing down as investors turn to safer companies amid tightening monetary policy and skepticism about profitability and reliability amid SEC investigations. What happens next for this next-generation group of startups? Sophie Karp, an equity research analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, joins Closing Bell to discuss.
In late January, NFT company Candy Digital cashed in when a Shohei Ohtani Icon NFT sold for $100,000, breaking the six-figure sale price mark for MLB NFTs for the first time. Scott Lawin, CEO of Candy Digital, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why his company is very excited about the future of digital collectibles and how the Ohtani NFT sale shows consumer confidence in the marketplace.
Sēkr, a mobile app that aims to improve and digitize the outdoor travel experience, announced this week that it raised a $2.25 million seed round. In the Sēkr app, users can get access to more than 50,000 campsites throughout the U.S. including the nation's largest database of free campsites. The company is saying it is on a mission to make every step of the planning experience for outdoor travel easier, safer, and more social. Breanne Acio, co-founder and CEO of Sēkr, and Jess Shisler, co-founder and COO, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
