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Dow Jones squeezed at 53,111 ahead of breakout: Live levels
Staples No-Fee Visa Gift Card Deal Is Back! (Sep 6-12)
Staples No-Fee Visa Gift Card Deal
Staples has a new promotion that waives the fees on Visa Gift cards. These are popular promotions that we have seen more frequently in recent times. You can check the upcoming ad for this latest Staples Visa Gift Card promo, or check your local store.
During the promotion period, you can buy $200 Visa gift cards with no activation fee at all. That fee is normally $7.95 per card. So this is a good opportunity to purchase these gift cards at face value. That’s a pretty good deal if you also have a card that earns a good rate at office supply stores, such as Chase Ink Business Cash (5X Ultimate Rewards). Check out the details of this latest fee-free Visa gift card deal at Staples.
Offer Details
No purchase fee (a $7.95 value) when you buy a $200 Visa® Gift Card. See weekly ad here.
Important Terms
- Offer valid September 6 – September 12, 2026.
- In store only.
- Limit 9 per customer per day.
- The Visa Gift Card is issued by MetaBank
Guru’s Wrap-Up
This Visa gift card promotion at Staples is quite popular for good reason. You get the gift cards at face value and you can earn 5X Ultimate Rewards points. So I would suggest going to your nearest location early in the week because stock runs out quickly. That’s especially true now that they have run continuous promotions every few weeks.
With the new limit of 9, is now easier to make larger purchases at the same store. Previously it would normally be up to management to set a limit.
And remember, this only applies to $200 Visa gift cards. Some Staples stores also carry variable load Visa gift cards (up to $500) with a $5.95 fee, but those cards are not eligible for the promotion. So you would end up paying the activation fee.
What it takes to start wholesale from BrokerBrand TPO exec
To run its start-up mortgage wholesale production channel, Evergreen Moneysource turned to an executive who has a broad swath of experience in third-party originations, as well as including reverse mortgages and depositories.
Processing Content
Bob Marseilles most recently was vice president, third party originations at First Tech Federal Credit Union. Prior to this, Marseilles also worked at Spring EQ, PHH Mortgage,
He is now
National Mortgage News spoke with Marseilles about his work in setting up the wholesale channel. His responses are below.
What is his guiding philosophy
“In nearly 25 years spent in the mortgage space, almost all of it has come back to really one question: How you build a lending business that works for people that are actually the ones that are originating loans?” Marseilles said in an interview with National Mortgage News.
He has focused on designing, launching and growing both wholesale and correspondent channels.
At Spring EQ, Marseilles headed
“But then, more importantly, introduced the correspondent platform for them at a national level,” he said. “From there, I received an extremely unique opportunity to move over into the depository space for First Tech Federal Credit Union.” He created the TPO platform for the credit union from the ground up.
“I think the exciting part of that was, not only were we building a new business, we were actually doing it at a really exciting time as they were undergoing the largest credit union merger in the industry,” Marseilles said. At the start of the year, First Tech and Digital Federal Credit Union became a single organization, completing
Still, what matters most in starting a wholesale operation isn’t necessarily the resume.
What he likes about the wholesale business
“It’s understanding our brokers,” and doing so by getting out from behind the desk to meet with them, Marseilles said.
“It’s one of my favorite parts of the business, getting to meet with our partners in person, helping determine what they need from a lender, understanding where lenders let them down, what it actually means to earn their business, and then most importantly, keeping it,” he elaborated. Wholesalers win on items like trust, service and technology, the things which make a broker’s job easier, not rate sheets alone.
BrokerBrand TPO is one of several recent startups in the channel which are coming on board at a time when three lenders control more than half of its volume. United Wholesale Mortgage
Competition in the broker channel
Such concentration is an opportunity as brokers have come to what he called “an uncomfortable reality.” Too much of the wholesale business is built for lenders to capture the borrower, not to protect the mortgage broker’s relationship with them,” Marseilles said.
“Brokers are telling us that they want a different kind of partner,” he said. “They want a partner that helps them grow their business instead of competing for it.”
The fulfillment model is built around communication, including creating a relationship between the broker and the underwriter.
Evergreen has over four decades of experience in the mortgage business, under the leadership of founder and CEO Donald Burton and Dan Richards, chief strategy officer, which creates the foundation for focusing its efforts on answering this main concern of mortgage brokers.
“We’re building our channel around making sure our broker’s business becomes stronger and the borrower experience becomes more consistent,” Marseilles pointed out.
This includes committing to not going after the borrower if a refinance or recapture opportunity comes up and having its servicing function “broker branded.”
Has Nike’s Stock Bottomed Out?
Nike (NKE -0.95%) is facing some considerable challenges these days. That much is obvious. The business is struggling to generate much growth, margins are down, and competition is up. Unsurprisingly, the stock hasn’t been doing well.
But given how disastrous its performance has been — it’s declined 76% in five years — investors may feel tempted to buy the shoe stock at its seemingly dirt cheap valuation. This is, after all, still Nike. It’s a popular consumer brand, and while it’s fallen on hard times, the company is making efforts to turn its business around.
Has the stock bottomed out, and is now a good time to buy it, or is there still the risk that it could go even lower?
Image source: Getty Images.
The company has been steady of late, but that hasn’t been enough for investors
Nike reported 0% revenue growth in its most recent fiscal year, which ended on May 31. Virtually no growth at all on the top line. Digging a bit deeper, the story, however, becomes a bit more complex. Its business grew by 5% in North America but declined by 13% (excluding foreign exchange effects) in Greater China, a key market for Nike.
The company’s challenges in growing revenue aren’t new. Revenue totaled more than $46 billion this past fiscal year, but just two years ago it was north of $51 billion. Despite weaker comparables, the company’s growth rate still isn’t high, which could be a worrisome sign that its turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill isn’t going all that well. Meanwhile, tariffs and trade uncertainty may continue to impact the business; it’s tough to convince investors to take a chance on Nike right now.
Today’s Change
(-0.95%) $-0.37
Current Price
$38.40
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$57BMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.
Day’s Range
$37.98 – $38.66
52wk Range
$37.95 – $76.97
Volume
20.6M
Avg Vol
24.9M
Gross Margin
43.14%
Dividend Yield
4.27%
The stock doesn’t look so cheap based on expected earnings
Even though Nike’s stock has taken a beating in recent years, its bottom line has also shrunk along the way. The end result is a stock that really isn’t all that cheap. Based on analyst expectations, it’s trading at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of nearly 23. That’s actually higher than what the average stock on the S&P 500 trades at — 21 times future profits.
Nike’s stock can still go lower, especially if economic conditions don’t improve. Consumers are scaling back on discretionary purchases, rising costs remain a concern, and buying Nike products right now may be difficult for many customers to justify. As bad as things are for Nike, they could still get worse, which is why I’d avoid the stock for the foreseeable future.
Heidi O’Neill resigns from Spotify’s board after nearly nine years, days before starting as Lululemon CEO
Heidi O’Neill has resigned from Spotify‘s Board of Directors.
Her resignation took effect on Thursday (September 3), according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission published the same day.
Spotify said O’Neill‘s decision to resign was not due to any disagreement with the company.
O’Neill becomes Chief Executive Officer of Lululemon on September 8, five days after her Spotify exit took effect. She will also join the Lululemon board.
“Heidi has been part of Spotify‘s story since before we were a public company,” said Daniel Ek, Spotify‘s Founder and Executive Chairman, in a statement.
“For nearly nine years, she brought a rare instinct for consumers and brands, and her perspective genuinely shaped how we think.
“We’ll miss her, and I know she’ll do remarkable things at Lululemon.”
“For nearly nine years, she brought a rare instinct for consumers and brands, and her perspective genuinely shaped how we think.”
Daniel Ek, Spotify
Lululemon announced O’Neill’s appointment on April 22.
In April, a Lululemon spokesperson attributed the four-and-a-half-month gap between the announcement and her start date to an agreement O’Neill had signed with Nike, according to Bloomberg. The agreement barred her from working for a competitor for a set period.
She succeeds Calvin McDonald, who stepped down as Lululemon‘s CEO and as a director on January 31, 2026.
Meghan Frank and André Maestrini have run the company as interim co-CEOs since then.
“lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” O’Neill said at the time.
“As I step into the CEO role in September, my job will be to build on that foundation – to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.
“I am humbled by the opportunity and energized by what the team is already building. I look forward to joining the company and helping to define and deliver the organization’s next chapter of success.”
Lululemon posted its fiscal Q2 results on September 3, the same day as the Spotify filing, reporting net revenue down 4% YoY to USD $2.4 billion in the three months to August 2.
The company also cut its full-year guidance and now expects 2026 net revenue of USD $10.35 billion to USD $10.5 billion.
“We look forward to welcoming our incoming CEO, Heidi O’Neill, next week as we begin an exciting new chapter for the company,” said André Maestrini, Lululemon‘s Interim Co-CEO, President, and Chief Commercial Officer.
Before Lululemon, O’Neill spent 26 years at Nike, leaving in September 2025, most recently as President of Consumer, Product and Brand.
Nike split that division into three areas reporting to CEO Elliott Hill in May 2025 and said O’Neill decided to retire as a result.
Earlier, as President of Consumer and Marketplace at Nike, she ran operations across more than 170 countries, according to Lululemon.
She also sits on the boards of Hyatt Hotels and Lithia Motors.
O’Neill had sat on the Spotify board since December 5, 2017, months before the firm went public via a direct listing in 2018.
At Spotify, O’Neill was classified as an independent director and sat on the board’s People Experience & Compensation Committee, chaired by Lead Independent Director Christopher Marshall, alongside Martin Lorentzon and Shishir Mehrotra.
Shareholders re-elected O’Neill and the 11 other members of Spotify‘s board at the company’s annual general meeting on April 15.
The Spotify board’s most recent change before O’Neill‘s departure came on January 1, 2026, when co-CEOs Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström joined it, as Daniel Ek moved into the Executive Chairman role.
Spotify‘s September 3 filing did not name a replacement for O’Neill, leaving the board with 11 directors.Music Business Worldwide
BM & HRM MARATHON | UGC NET JUNE 2025 | Paper 2 COMMERCE | Sheemal Bhagi #ugcnet2025 #ugcnetexam
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Depreciation Recapture on a Short-Term Rental: What Happens When You Sell
If you own a short-term rental and you’ve taken depreciation on it, especially through a cost segregation study, there’s a tax bill waiting for you at the exit that most investors never see coming. It’s called depreciation recapture, and for short-term rental owners specifically, it works differently than most people assume.
Understanding it before you list the property, not after you’ve accepted an offer, is the difference between a clean exit and an unpleasant call from your CPA.
This isn’t an argument against taking depreciation. You should take every deduction available to you, including a cost segregation study if the property supports one. But depreciation is a deferral, not a gift. At some point, usually when you sell, that deferral comes due.
This post walks through how depreciation recapture actually works, why it hits short-term rental owners harder than typical landlords, and what your real options are when you’re ready to sell.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Any investment involves risk, and you should consult your financial advisor, attorney, or CPA before making any investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The author and associated entities disclaim any liability for loss incurred as a result of the use of this material or its content.
How Depreciation Recapture Works When You Sell a Rental Property
Depreciation lowers your taxable income every year you own a property. It also lowers something called your basis, which is essentially what the IRS considers your remaining investment in the property. When you sell, your gain is calculated against that lowered basis, not against what you originally paid. That gap is what creates the recapture.
Here’s a simplified example. An investor buys a short-term rental for $1.8 million and puts another $300,000 into renovations, for a total investment of $2.1 million. A cost segregation study identifies $500,000 of that total that qualifies for accelerated depreciation instead of the standard 27.5-year schedule. The investor writes off that $500,000 over the first year or two of ownership.
That $500,000 deduction lowers the property’s basis from $2.1 million to $1.6 million. A few years later, the investor sells the property for $2.6 million. The gain isn’t calculated as $2.6 million minus the original $2.1 million purchase price. It’s calculated as $2.6 million minus the $1.6 million basis, for a total gain of $1 million.
Of that $1 million, $500,000, the exact amount previously depreciated, is subject to depreciation recapture. The remaining $500,000 is treated as ordinary long-term capital gain.
Why Cost Segregation Changes the Math at the Exit
Most real estate investors know that depreciation recapture on a rental property is capped at a maximum rate of 25% under Section 1250 of the tax code, rather than taxed at ordinary income rates. What fewer investors realize is that a cost segregation study, by design, moves part of that depreciation into a different tax category entirely.
A cost segregation study breaks a property into components, reclassifying items like furniture, appliances, and certain fixtures into 5-year and 7-year property instead of the standard 27.5-year real estate schedule. Those reclassified components fall under Section 1245, not Section 1250. Section 1245 has its own recapture rule, and it’s a strict one: all depreciation taken on that property comes back as ordinary income when you sell, with no 25% cap at all.
For a typical long-term rental, this distinction rarely matters much, since most of the property’s value sits in the structure itself. For a short-term rental, it matters considerably more.
Why Short-Term Rental Owners Are More Exposed
Short-term rentals are furnished by design, which means a meaningful share of any cost segregation study on an STR often falls into personal property categories, furniture, appliances, electronics, decor, rather than structural components. Combine that with the fact that many physicians use the short-term rental loophole specifically to generate large deductions against W-2 income, and STR owners frequently carry some of the largest accelerated depreciation balances in real estate.
That’s the tradeoff nobody mentions when the loophole gets pitched. The bigger the deduction going in, the bigger the recapture bill coming out, and a larger share of that bill lands in the uncapped, ordinary-income bucket rather than the capped 25% one.
Back to the example above. If $150,000 of the $500,000 depreciated was furniture and personal property, that portion gets taxed at the investor’s ordinary income rate, potentially 35% or higher, instead of the 25% cap. The remaining $350,000 tied to the structure still gets the 25% cap. Instead of a flat $125,000 recapture bill, the real number lands closer to $140,000.
How to Get This Number Before You List, Not After
The recapture calculation isn’t complicated for a CPA to run. The problem is almost nobody asks for it until an offer is already on the table.
Before you list a property with meaningful depreciation behind it, bring your CPA three things: your original cost segregation study or full depreciation schedule, your Form 4562 history, and a record of any capital improvements made during ownership. From that, a CPA who works with real estate can split your accumulated depreciation into the Section 1245 personal property portion and the Section 1250 structural portion, and give you an actual number for each.
This conversation belongs at the start of your decision to sell, not the end of it. The net proceeds after tax, not the sale price itself, are what determine whether a given offer actually makes sense for you. An investor who knows the real number going in can price that into negotiations, decide whether a 1031 exchange or another deferral strategy is worth pursuing, or simply budget for the bill with no surprises. An investor who finds out after closing just gets the bill.
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What Your Options Actually Are
A 1031 exchange defers the tax by rolling proceeds into another property, but only for the real estate portion. Personal property hasn’t qualified for 1031 treatment since 2018, so the furniture and fixtures identified in a cost segregation study typically generate a tax bill in the year of sale regardless of what happens with the rest of the proceeds.
An Opportunity Zone investment is another deferral route worth understanding, particularly for the capital gains portion of the sale.
Offsetting the gain with losses from a new investment is possible, but it depends on matching the character of the income correctly. A passive loss from a syndication can offset passive gain from a rental you didn’t actively operate. It generally cannot offset gain from a property where you materially participated, which describes most short-term rentals run under the STR loophole. A new property where you materially participate can offset that gain instead, but only if you’re genuinely active in running it, not simply an owner on paper. Either path needs a CPA to confirm the specifics apply to your situation before you rely on it.
Paying the tax is also a legitimate outcome. The problem was never that the bill exists. The problem is finding out about it after the sale has already closed.
The Real Takeaway
None of this is an argument against depreciation, cost segregation, or the short-term rental loophole. These are legitimate, valuable tools, and physicians who use them well build real wealth from real estate.
The investors who get caught off guard by this bill usually aren’t making a mistake in how they depreciated the property. They’re making a mistake in when they started thinking about the sale. That’s a planning problem, not a strategy problem, and it’s entirely fixable with one conversation, well before you set an asking price.
Were these helpful in any way? Make sure to sign up for the newsletter and join the Passive Income Docs Facebook Group for more physician-tailored content.
Peter Kim, MD is the founder of Passive Income MD, the creator of Passive Real Estate Academy, and offers weekly education through his Monday podcast, the Passive Income MD Podcast. Join our community at the Passive Income Doc Facebook Group.
Disclaimer: I am not a CPA, attorney, or financial advisor. The information in this post is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as tax, legal, or financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional about your specific situation before making any decisions.
Further Reading
JPMorgan’s $750B Bet on the Housing Market
JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank, just made a big bet on housing—a $750B bet to be exact. At a time when most people hope home prices will fall, JPMorgan is gearing up to lend and invest in a huge way. Could this be a sign that those who buy now will be thanking themselves in the years to come? We’re getting into the details in today’s show.
On the Market is here with a housing market update! First, we’re touching on whether or not the market has already peaked in 2026. We still have four full months left in the year, but with home sales falling in July, it could signal that the hot summer is starting to cool. But a surprising type of home is still selling fast—it’s not the newly renovated house flip—it’s the ugly, outdated home next door. Why? We’re explaining in this episode.
JPMorgan Chase makes a $750B bet on housing, signaling that America’s largest bank is bullish on a certain type of real estate. Finally, the latest inflation rate update—the CPI (consumer price index) stayed in check last month, but is it enough to stop the Federal Reserve from raising rates?
Henry:
What’s going on everybody? Henry Washington here and happy Labor Day. I hope you’re all doing something super fun. On the feed today, we’re sharing an episode of our sister podcast on the market that was originally published on August 20th. James Dainard, Kathy Fettke and I broke down a few big recent real estate news stories. We covered JP Morgan’s announcement that they’re investing 750 billion, that’s billion with a B into the housing market, and also talked about whether the market has already peaked for 2026 and whether the latest inflation report could stop the Fed from raising interest rates. We’ll be back with a brand new episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast in just a couple of days. Here’s that conversation with me, James, and Kathy.
James:
So let’s just jump right in. Henry, what do you got today?
Henry:
Well, I picked a story that was very near and dear to my heart, top of mind, something I am always thinking about. The headline is, “The market may have already peaked for 2026 and the summer isn’t even over yet.” This is an article found on usnews.com, and it’s talking about what’s happening in the real estate market in terms of sales. So the article goes on to talk about that existing home sales fell 1.7% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million. Even as the median home prices have climbed to a record for the month, the national median existing home price rose 2% year over year. That’s up to $434,000 in July, making that the 37th consecutive month of annual price gains. So housing prices have gone up and the market seems to have already peaked in terms of sales price. And now that we haven’t finished summer yet, but we’re moving into what would normally be a winter slowdown anyway, could be just a not pretty time in terms of real estate sales in the country.
And as I was researching this article, I came across another article that talked about how first home purchase sales are down, but luxury home sales are up. And I think all of this is tied to affordability. Interest rates peaked over the last month and that’s caused a slowdown in the market for people who are just barely priced into the market. But there’s also a lot of people who have made a lot of money or are making a lot of money in stock market gains. And so the wealth gap is pretty substantial. And so the people who have more money are buying more luxury homes. And in my market, I’m seeing exactly that. And why do I know that? Because I’m trying to sell my house right now, my personal house. And every house in my neighborhood in the luxury market, when it goes up for sale, it is under contract in less than 30 days.
Wow. But when I’m selling my flips, I am seeing longer times on market. It’s a little harder to sell them. There’s more competition. And so I think all this just plays into affordability. But I was very curious, James, is that the same thing you’re seeing in your market? Your market’s substantially more expensive than mine, but you’re doing deals consistently.
James:
Yeah, it’s flat. Things are sitting on market. I mean, it depends on what it is. There’s velocity in every city.
So I think one of the most important things that we’ve been going over the last 90 days is where’s the velocity at in every zip code? Because it doesn’t matter if it’s luxurious or it’s a first time home buyer, there’s a price point that’s moving in that pocket. Everything is not selling, but there’s a lot of things that aren’t moving. And so we’re really locking down by zip codes, price points, where’s the velocity? And that’s what we’re really targeting. For example, in North Seattle, if you have a house that’s 1.5 million and it’s a good street, that is selling and it’s going to sell on the first weekend. If you’re 1.7 million, not selling, your market times are going a hundred days. And so you really got to look at every type of price point. Look in 10% blocks and then focus on that because it tells you where to be aggressive and not to be aggressive.
I mean, it’s not enjoyable in the summer when you’re sitting on, I think I got 18 for sale. I would say I’m clicking off two to three a month. But one thing I do want to stress is this was no different last summer. Last summer was terrible. And so what I’m hoping is we actually did see a little bit of an uptick in momentum the last two weeks. I think we sold five new construction of ours, a little bit more starter units. I sold a couple different flips. And it’s funny, the ones I though wouldn’t sell sold and the ones I though would sell.
Henry:
Story of my life. Same thing here. Just when I think I’m a real estate expert and can predict what’s going to sell and what’s not, I am absolutely not that because I have houses that I’m like, this one’s going to be a tough sale under contract in 30 days. And I have houses that I’m like, oh, this one’s going to fly off the shelves. Sits. So don’t ask me. Maybe I just don’t know what buyers want anymore.
Kathy:
It’s crazy. I mean, we have a subdivision we’re building in Oregon and we actually have the city come to us and say, we need more housing. We want to help you come up here. We’ve heard your reputation. And we did. We got some land, we got a great deal on it. This is the one where we just optioned the lots. We didn’t even have to buy them, built the homes and they’re sitting, same thing. And the offers we’re getting are brutal. It’s something you and I would offer. They are low ball offers. We had one regular sale recently, but same thing, like five brand new homes just sitting on the market and it hurts. It’s painful. But then we have a big subdivision, the one I’ve probably talked about before. It’s north of Tampa and that’s where we bought 4,200 lots back in 2012, I don’t know, for 10 cents on the dollar, but it’s a lot of lots.
And that one has just been consistent. It’s done great. Maybe because it’s, I don’t know, it’s Florida, it’s inland. Could be that people are moving from more expensive areas like Miami has gotten so expensive, they’re moving inland where there’s not as. I don’t know, but that one’s doing great. So as we always say, every market is different, but I also have my finger on the pulse of buyers and we just saw massive buying at Real Wealth, one of the best months that we’ve had. So what’s that? Just all over the place.
Henry:
Yeah. And it’s so weird. James, you mentioned that we had a similar time last summer. And I agree with you from a velocity perspective, but this summer feels a little different. And here’s what I’m saying in my market because again, real estate is local. Last year when I put a good product on the market, it was done well and priced right, it’s still sold. This summer, that’s not always the case. Sometimes that’s the case, but sometimes it’s not. And I think affordability is really playing more of a factor this summer than it has last summer. Because the trend that I’m seeing in my market is when we start comping these houses before we put them on the market again, and actually when we’re buying them, because I comp them twice. I comp them when I buy them and then I comp them right before we put them on the market so that I can make sure that we price it right because the market shifts pretty quickly sometimes.
And what I’m seeing in comps is homes that are unrenovated, but livable and clean have far less days on market than homes that are flipped and look super pristine. And I think that’s just the affordability. I think people are much more willing to buy a unflipped home where they can put their own touch on it and get in for a lower price point than houses that are looking awesome because they’ve been flipped. And so we’ve had to adjust our strategy where we do kind of a two-pronged approach when we’re buying deals right now. I comp deals where I can just clean them out, turn around and sell them as they sit and I comp deals as a flip. So I’m using the flip as my plan B now. Plan A is just to get it clean and livable and get it on the market and see if we can get that deal churned faster.
And we’ve done it a few times now and it’s worked out really well, but all of that to me is just a problem with people’s affordability.
James:
We’re seeing the same thing. There’s grandma’s house, which is your clean, dated house, well kept and well taken care of, but these aren’t like fixer properties. These are like the windows are okay, the roofs are okay. There’s about a 20% delta on that price. If that house is selling for a million dollars in our neighborhood, it’s going to trade for 850 as is in that kind of dated condition. And it’s pretty consistent across the board. Same thing if it’s worth 500, they’re selling for like 380. And so we have problems making that pencil because we have to buy them so cheap that we just can’t get them for that pricing.
Henry:
Yeah. Well, again, I think because real estate’s so regional, my market doesn’t have those kinds of spreads. For me, it’s the percentage wise, it’s not that big of a deal. So as an example, we just bought one for 130. Now original, the flip plan is to spend 60 on the renovation, sell it for 275. But instead of doing that, we’re going to spend three to 5,000 on the renovation, just cleaning it out, cutting back some of the shrubs and the bushes in the backyard, professional cleaners, stick it on the market for $200,000. So yeah, I could sell it for 275 flipped or I can spend nothing, sell it for 200 and I’ll actually make pretty close to the same amount of profit.
James:
Yeah. Look for the velocity because people are rain clouds rightnow. They’re like, oh, market six. I got some messages from somebody like, “Hey, do you want to come to this conference?” I was like, “No.” And they’re like, “Well, it’s just important to get everyone together to huddle and talk about what’s going on with the market.” I’m like, “Are we in the same market?” The market’s not, it’s not like it’s 2008 or nine. I mean, this is flat. And I think the key today is you got to reduce your holding costs on everything, whether it’s new construction build, whether you’re going to dispo, how can you get that monthly debt down? Whether you’re refinancing them into DSER loans, can you refinance that product? Right now I’m about ready to refinance all my flips into more DSER because then it just knocks two points off my interest carry.
And you just got to look at how can I stop the bleed? And it’s not just for flipping. Any type of project right now, the bleed and the expense of the debt is what’s really beating up the deals because it’s just taking a lot longer to sell.
Kathy:
Yeah. I mean, that’s kind of why I love and probably will continue to do buy and hold so I don’t have to worry about selling anything, just renting it.
James:
Well, Kathy, because you guys buy so much new construction for the buy and hold because some price points are dead in the new construction. I mean, you guys have been able to start talking to these builders about dumping off in bulk too,
Kathy:
Right? Oh, we’ve been doing it for years. I mean, builders are distressed. And when you’re a buyer, you want to look for the distress. I mean, you guys know that. So why not? I know this sounds terrible, but why not look for a distressed builder because now you don’t have to buy an old property and fix it up. You’ve got a brand new property that you can get for a discount. So that is what we’ve been doing. I literally just was looking at some properties that are highly discounted from builders and they don’t want to reduce their price because then they’ve ruined the comps for everything else they’ve got to sell. So if they can spend a bunch of money and buy down your rate, you can get a really low rate, in some cases 3%, that really makes it cashflow well in a brand new home.
And a lot of people don’t realize on the buy and hold side, if you have a new home, say in Florida where everybody’s complaining about insurance, the insurance is not high on newer homes because they’re built to hurricane standards. So it’s just a lot lower insurance, a lot lower CapEx over time, and people love to rent new homes, so it’s fairly easy to rent. So for me, it’s kind of a set and forget type buy and hold and I love it. So yeah, to me it’s a wonderful, one of the greatest opportunities out there. But this is only for people who don’t like getting their hands dirty like me.
James:
No, but you know what though? The new construction, it’s starting to become very attractive for value add investors because you can now buy for less than you can build it for.
Kathy:
Yeah, in a lot of cases. And listen, I’m on both sides of that. I’m on the side of being a builder and trying to sell stuff and having a really difficult time, but that’s kind of how it is for you guys. If you’re in flipping, you got to be able to find the deal so you love a buyer’s market, but then you got to sell it so you hate a buyer’s market. That’s the
Henry:
Game.
Kathy:
When are you going to time it perfectly where you’re buying in a buyer’s market, then you’re selling in the seller’s market? You just have to figure it out, right? It’s a balancing act, which is why if you are buy and hold, all you really have to focus on is the buy. And then the hold being what are the rents? How are rents doing? Are they going up or down versus I got to think about what I’m selling because if you’re buy and hold, if you want to sell, you just sell when the timing’s right.
James:
Well, Kathy, I want to talk about some serious money getting put into the market, but before we do that, we’re going to take a quick break. Welcome back to the On the Market Podcast. Kathy, someone’s about ready to drop some serious money into the housing market. I want to know where the money’s getting spent because I can go follow it.
Kathy:
Yeah. My article today really contradicts the sort of doom and gloom we just talked about. This is an optimistic article, I guess you could say. It’s from JP Morgan Chase and it’s basically JP Morgan Chase is doubling down on housing. So they see something that maybe others don’t see. Those who are sitting on the sidelines should probably sit up and pay attention. They are deploying 750 billion through 2035. That’s up by more than $200 billion through their American Dream Initiative. This is nearly 40% more than the firm’s housing capital deployment over the past decade. So again, we’re seeing big companies like Berkshire Hathaway investing in builders. You’ve got JP Morgan Chase upping what they’re going to be lending and also kind of coming in as debt and equity to build affordable housing. And you’ve got Japanese companies buying American builders. So these huge firms are a little more positive than we just were.
They see this demand coming, they see this lack of housing and they are all in. I mean, this is huge. My guess is that a lot of times companies will follow legislation and clearly we just had this new legislation really pushing for new housing and maybe they’re getting incentives for doing it. Maybe they know something we don’t know about the new housing bill getting tax credits, but there’s more momentum towards bringing on that affordable housing and the big players are jumping in and taking advantage.
James:
You always want to follow the money, right? I mean, it’s kind of like, I remember 2008, nine, and 10 when Blackstone started buying all the single. Or no, it was 2010 and 11 started
Kathy:
Getting hard. It was 2012. It’s when Warren Buffet said on national TV, “If I could buy a few hundred thousand houses, I would if I knew how to manage them.” That was the second part, if I knew how to manage them. Instead, he went into creating Berkshire Hathaway and be on the real estate sales side. But a bunch of institutional investors at that time said, “Well, golly, I’ll learn how to manage them.” And let’s face it, they didn’t know how in the beginning, but they figured it out and they brought in new systems. So I do feel like that’s kind of happening right now. There’s a lot of signals that we should be paying attention to because there’s big money coming in and those people sitting on the sidelines waiting for prices to drop, do you think Warren Buffet’s company might know a thing or two?
Do you think JP Morgan Chase might know a thing or two? Listen to them. Sure, it’s probably easier for them to make bets, but to me, it does feel like a similar signal that we got in 2012 that we’re getting now.
James:
Part of this is for financing too.
Kathy:
Yeah, they’re going to be lending. Being a lender is one of the more safe positions, but trying to be able to help more people get into housing, be able to buy their own home, but also building, bringing on new affordable housing as debt and equity.
Henry:
I was looking at this article and it got me thinking, so what does it really mean when JP Morgans are deploying more money into the single family real estate space? And when I was reading through it, it looks like it breaks it down in buckets. So it’s saying one of the buckets is they’re going to be lending more money to developers to build apartments. So that increases housing units, increases apartment units. There’s another bucket where they’re going to be writing more mortgages. So this is what I though the article was mainly talking about. So in other words, they’re saying, “We’re going to be writing more mortgages. More people should be able to buy a home, get a loan from us. We want to put money out there for people to buy homes.” And then the third bucket is investments in affordable housing funds, which is interesting.
I hadn’t thought this was something they do, but essentially putting their own money at risk as an investor and investing in affordable housing funds, which is pretty cool, but that’s a lot of capital to be all thrown at one specific asset class. So I mean, I like it. That’s good for me. I’m a single family and small multifamily investor. So to me, that means that the asset that I own has some demand attached to it. Yeah.
James:
It’s funny. There’s so much weird bad taste in people’s mouths about these big companies buying in real estate. They don’t want hedge funds buying up all the housing, right? And when you really dig into this article, they’re providing a lot of money for first-time home buyers, different types of financing options. And the good thing is, I always look at this as the banks are very quick to change their mind, the big banks. That’s why as an investor, I only work with small banks because once the big bank gets sick of real estate, they don’t really want to give you too much money on it.
The good news is when you are seeing bigger banks, they have a lot of money, they spend a lot of money on research, deploying that much capital into the housing market. They’re not really predicting a massive crash because why are they going to provide so much financing for first-time home buyers that are putting down a low down payment if they think their asset’s going to be worth 10 to 20% less in three years? They’re predicting stability is how I look at that. So anytime they’re providing this kind of financing, it makes me feel more confident, especially when you have a flatter market right now. And that’s what you want, is you want confidence in this market because when the market is flat, you start to double guess yourself on everything. You’re like, “Is this a deal? I know what a deal is. I’ve been buying deals a long time, but on paper it’s a deal, but is it really a deal?” And so these are important things to look at because it shows stability coming forward.
And so I like these things, just gives me a little bit of that spinach courage to where I’m like, “All right, let’s go buy some stuff.” Well, we’re going to dive into the CPI report and what’s going on with inflation and what that could mean for rate cuts soon as we take this break.
All right, we are back on On the Market Podcast and we’re going to jump right into the CPI report. So I pulled the article from Fox Business about the inflation. So CPI report came out yesterday, December 12th, and we had some good news. It didn’t rise very much.
Kathy:
That’s real good news.
James:
The CPI report came out yesterday, August 12th in July. CPI rose just 0.1% for the month with an annual inflation down to 3.4% from 3.5%. The core CPI at two and a half percent is the slowest it’s been since the post-pandemic surge. So we’re finally starting to see inflation kind of slow down. Now, a lot of what this article does talk about is we’ve seen some slowdown on inflation, but that’s also because energy has fallen in July. The cost of fuel, gas, those things had all kind of dropped down, but they also are predicting that this could make the Fed keep their rates steady and we should not anticipate any sort of increase, which is the biggest thing because the last thing we want is increase going on. Stability works, but we don’t need it to rise. And so we are seeing a little bit of good news on that as far as the inflation goes.
Now, I feel like every month it’s just going to bounce around until this Iran conflict gets sorted out, but it is good news. And what I did see is we saw a flurry of activity the last couple weeks. We did sell more homes, I think in the last two weeks than we did in the month before. And part of that has to do with part of inflation hasn’t. I don’t feel like it feels as bad as it did 60 days ago, and consumers are really sensitive to that. When inflation is jumping up, when fuel and gas is at seven bucks a gallon, people get really nervous and the fear kind of locks in and they don’t make a decision. And so as they’re starting to see a little bit of stability in the energy market with food and groceries, that people are starting to move and actually start getting some activity going because even I saw the financial reports for a lot of these tech companies, they posted some pretty good earnings and people made some good stock bonuses and we’re starting to see a little bit of stability, which is good because it’s all about consumer confidence.
There is so many buyers on the sideline right now, they’re just confused in what to do.
Henry:
Who could blame them if the market is so confusing?
James:
Yeah. What we’re hoping for is just stability and inflation. If we can get it to where it stops going on this rollercoaster ride, I mean, what do you think, Henry? You sell a lot of property. When I see stability on those fronts, it’s much easier to move a deal.
Henry:
Yeah. When people are comfortable with what’s happening in the market, then the transaction volume goes up, people take action. And I think I’m curious at how inflation is going to impact interest rates over time because the Fed just chose to keep interest rates where they’re at. But if you look at the vote, it was actually voted on nine to three. So there were three people who voted to actually raise interest rates. And so that to me says that they’re planning on rates going up as long as things remain the same. That’s the forethought I’m giving that. And that’s again, going to cause more of an affordability problem and that’s going to keep more people out of the market, which is going to seem like things are slowing down. But at the same time, housing prices have continued to rise. And so that’s what I mean by it’s confusing is because it’s unaffordable, it’s scary.
We don’t know if interest rates are going to go up causing more unaffordability, but somehow prices keep rising. So somebody’s buying and it’s our job as investors to make sure we stay very local in the data so that we can have a clear understanding of who the buyers are, what they’re buying so that we can position ourselves to be able to provide that product to them because transactions are happening. And I don’t want everybody to listen to all this and think it’s so doom and gloom in the real estate market. People are making money out here in real estate, but the people that are making money are the ones that are studying the data, they’re studying their market, they’re seeing who the customers are that are actually transacting. How are they transacting? Where’s that money come from and what are they buying and how can I provide that to them?
It’s business 101, but it’s harder now. You can’t just buy anything at a discounted price anymore, throw it on the market and make money. You used to be able to just say, “Hey, if I get something at a 30 or 40% discount, I’m going to be able to make money.” That’s just not the case anymore. It’s very, very niche.
Kathy:
Yeah. Inflation is bad. It’s still bad. It has come down, but what I want to really emphasize is that the growth rate of price increases has slowed. The prices haven’t come down. So the consumer is extremely stretched. And even though oil prices, energy prices have fallen, they’re still up 14% from a year ago. Now, how many people got a 14% raise? The inflation is still 3% above last year over that. How many people got a 3% raise? If companies aren’t doing as well, then they’re not maybe going to be giving the raises. Or if you’re self-employed, it’s hard to give yourself a raise if you’re just trying to make ends meet. So I think if we look at the consumer, they are stretched. I see it every day. And when I say the consumer, there’s a tale of two worlds, right? We have some people who are doing just fine and don’t notice the difference in the cost of eggs.
They don’t even think twice about it. But if you are on a fixed income or you are on an hourly wage, you feel it and it’s painful. So just even the concept of buying a house is so out of reach, but they’re focused on rent and that’s hard too. That’s hard too. And for those of us who are buy and hold investors, we’ve got to pay attention to that consumer because that’s our customer, right? That’s who’s going to be renting from us. And how are they doing? How is their health? It’s tough. It is tough. So the more that we can find those properties, get discounts, find cheap properties and renovate them at a good price, be good at that and provide that affordable housing, we are helping people. We’re solving a problem, which is living. So I like to put that message out there for landlords who are truly providing a service.
I could just speak for us in some of the properties that we bought, we got them cheap, so we’re able to rent them for less. We’ve always focused on that niche of the worker. How are they going to afford to live and how can we provide that for them?
James:
Why this is so important is we’re trying to look, as investors, we’re trying to look down the road, what is the market going to look like in 12 months? Because when you’re buying deals today, they’re really good buys. We’re buying stuff for substantially cheaper than we were 12 to 24 months ago. And that’s what we have to keep focused on as an investor is, okay, what do we think is going to happen in 12 months and what is that going to look like? And what this says is the July CPA inflation report shifted the outlook for the Federal Reserve next monetary policy meeting. They were saying that according to the CME FedWatch tool, the market now sees a 61.9% probability of rates remaining current, and that was only at 51% a day ago. And so we want stability. If rates were going to go up in 12 months, I’m going to want to buy even deeper today.
But if I think there’s stability, what I don’t want to do is pass on deals that were great deals, but my fear dictated my decisions
Because fear will make us do bad decisions. It will make us sell something for too cheap. It will make us pass on good opportunities. And these are things that we want to pay attention to because we got to go, what is it going to look like? Because you can’t stop buying when you’re an active. Henry is an active operator. Kathy, you’re in a lot of deals. If you stop and you go on the sidelines, I heard people say this for the last 24 months, “I’m taking a break. I’m going to wait.” You never time it right, ever. But if you consistently buy, you can get a consistent average through because you’re going through all the waves. If you pull out, that’s what I’ve learned over 20 years investing is don’t pull out. Be cautious, but you can’t get all the way out the door because if you do, A, you’re out of touch with the market, you’re not in the market anymore, but then you’re jumping usually back in when it’s too late again.
I don’t
Kathy:
Know. It depends on the asset class. I have a lot of respect for people who just sat it out from 2020 to 2024, 25 even because they could just see the bubble inflating and then it was going to take some time for it to deflate and they’re just now coming. I mean, I know a guy who just kind of sold all his stuff when he saw it peaking and he just went on vacation for a few years. I think that’s okay, depending on your asset class, if you’re really aware. But James, that’s not for you. You can’t stop. You’re not stopping.
James:
James.
Kathy:
We buy
James:
Everything, right? We buy apartments, we buy dirt, we buy houses. And so yeah, did we buy a lot of dirt the last two years? Absolutely not. We had already bought the dirt. We were getting through the projects, but there’s an opportunity in every market and that’s where you have to kind of pivot and go, “Okay, well, what I was buying doesn’t work anymore, so now I need to go buy this.” And for us as investors, if you want to be a professional investor to stay in the market, you have to pivot and you got to shift things around. I’m even starting to look at new construction now, which I’ve never bought, but I’m like, “Oh wow, there’s some really good buys out there.” There’s some
Kathy:
Great deals. Yeah.
James:
We don’t have identities as real estate investors, right? It’s like, I’m the short-term rental person. I’m the flipper guy. It’s like, no, no, no. How do you spread the money out and balance it out? And you want to do that when you’re seeing reports like this. Now, this is just one month. It’s a blip in the month, but we have to see what happens in August and in September and what goes on with this conflict because I think fuel is up right now. So this inflation report could also look a lot different for August. And so I think these are things to just watch, stay in the middle of and make sure that you kind of adjust your buy box based on actual data like Henry’s saying, not your gut. I’m
Kathy:
Going to be more positive now and say this is great. It’s great that we didn’t see inflation shoot up when it really could have. And that’s what we were hearing in the headlines. That’s why people are freaking out and scared because it was. I mean, even the Fed was saying we’re probably going to raise rates for a couple times because inflation’s looking bad. So I will end this part of the story saying, good, at least it is not runaway inflation.
James:
No, and hopefully it stays consistent. That’s what we’re looking for. Keep dropping. That’s what we want. Well, we got JP Morgan spending a lot of money, inflation’s settling down. See, it’s all Sunshine and Bunnies going for.
Kathy:
It’s a good day. It’s
Henry:
Always a good time to buy in my book, James.
James:
Yeah, exactly. You got to keep buying. You got to keep buying. So thanks for listening to On the Market. We will see you guys next time.
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Scaling loan officer growth without losing service quality
We’ve added a significant number of loan officers this year at Edge Home Finance while keeping production rates steady, and that combination is harder to pull off than the headcount number suggests. Loan officer growth only works if the newest producer gets the same experience as the 500th, which means protecting capacity before protecting the number of new hires. Growth is great until support hasn’t scaled with the company, and somebody who joined recently ends up with a worse experience than someone who joined a year earlier. Our focus this year has been standardizing onboarding and operational support so that adding another originator doesn’t take resources away from someone who’s already here.
Making the ramp intentional, not just fast
We can move a loan officer through sponsorship and onboarding quickly, but speed getting someone in the door isn’t the real measure of success. What matters is how fast they become comfortable and productive once they’ve joined. Our own data shows production increases materially with tenure, particularly in that first year, so the next phase for us isn’t making onboarding faster. It’s making the ramp more intentional while protecting the experience of our established producers. That means separating how we manage people rather than putting everyone on the same clock. A top producer who joins with a $20 million or $30 million book doesn’t need us teaching origination basics; they need a clean transition and access to the platform. Someone earlier in their career needs structure, mentorship, milestones and repetition instead, which is why we’ve built a structured first 90 days with first-file milestones and activity-based checkpoints before we shift to production-based evaluation.
Why outside capital changes the timeline, not the direction
In April 2026, Edge Home Finance announced a strategic investment from Presidio Investors, an Austin-based private equity firm, and I was promoted to president as part of that transaction. I wouldn’t say we were unable to fund our next steps organically. The difference outside capital makes is speed. At our size, you can see opportunities in technology, data, automation and operational infrastructure that you could fund one at a time through reinvestment, but then you’re sequencing those investments over several years, amid the wider wave of private equity entering the broker channel that’s reshaping how brokerages fund growth. A well-capitalized partner lets us pursue more of those investments at once while we keep funding the core business. Data is a good example. We have a tremendous amount of information about recruiting, production, training and performance, but having data and having a system that turns that data into decisions are two different things. Building that infrastructure at scale, so we know where someone came from, how quickly they ramped and where they need help, is different from adding another piece of software.