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Homeowners held record levels of equity last year. According to CoreLogic , the average borrower had $280,000 in home equity in early 2022 — a gain of $64,000 over the previous year and a whopping $125,000 over five years. Not much has changed. "While equity gains contracted in late 2022 due to home price declines in some regions, U.S. homeowners on average still have about $270,000 in equity, nearly $90,000 more than they had at the onset of the pandemic," says Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic . With house prices still high and near-record equity levels, now may be an excellent time to convert your equity into cash via a home equity loan or HELOC. Here's how. One of the biggest perks of homeownership is the opportunity to build wealth. As you pay down your mortgage, you build equity — the dollar amount of your home that you own. Of course, the housing market also plays a role: If home prices rise, your equity may increase, and vice versa. To estimate your … [Read more...] about Your home has never been a more powerful asset

In the new film “Lace Crater,” a young woman named Ruth has a one-night stand with a ghost named Michael. She catches something, and soon her body is covered in goo and she’s puking black ooze. We last see her pale and wrapped in a blanket, Michael by her side. We’ll get to how one obtains a supernatural lover in minute. But first: lace crater? Harrison Atkins, who wrote and directed the film, elaborated: “Lace is this word associated with traditional femininity that has to do with sexual shame,” he said. “Crater is this word that evokes an impact or an absence left after an impact. I think of the lace crater as this void that’s left in the world after Ruth disappears in it.” A meet-cute comedy mixed with Brooklyn ghost story, “Lace Crater,” with an opening date of July 29, is the latest entry in the horror genre’s long fixation on sexually transmitted diseases. Intimacy, illness and stigma have been ingredients of “It Follows” (2015), about a sexually transmitted condition … [Read more...] about As if Becoming a Vampire Isn’t Bad Enough

Kelly Ripa is opening up about her experiences with sexism on the set of her daytime talk show Live! , which she’s co-hosted since 2001. In a new cover story for Variety , the television personality claims that ABC refused to give her a permanent office while she hosted the show with Regis Philbin , eventually moving her into a janitor’s closet. “It was the strangest experience I’ve ever had in my life,” Ripa told the magazine. “I was told that I couldn’t have an office. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially because there were empty offices that I could have easily occupied.” The network told Ripa that the empty offices were reserved for executives visiting from the West Coast, according to the former All My Children star. After three seasons of Live! with Regis and Kelly, Ripa finally negotiated her own space. But the network offered her something less than ideal for a network talk show host. “It was after my fourth year that they finally cleaned out the … [Read more...] about Kelly Ripa Reveals Shockingly Sexist Working Conditions at ‘Live With Regis and Kelly’

GENEVA — Some Russian athletes can soon return to international sports, although their status for next year’s Paris Olympics is still up in the air. The International Olympic Committee recommended Tuesday that individual athletes from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to return to competition under a neutral status as long as they have no military links. But the IOC, facing increased pressure to ban Russia and Belarus from the Paris Olympics because of the war in Ukraine, held off on deciding whether they can compete at next year’s Summer Games. That decision will be taken “at the appropriate time,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. When it comes to other events, including Olympic qualifiers, it will be up to each individual sport’s governing body to make the final decision on whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can take part. IOC delays picking 2030 Winter Games host city due to climate concerns Dec. 15, 2022 04:11 While the … [Read more...] about Athletes from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to compete, IOC says

No one ever wants to give away too much in the sports world. But this year’s N.F.L. off-season is carrying the misdirection to a new level. Lamar Jackson is staying in Baltimore, or he is leaving. Aaron Rodgers hadn’t heard from the Packers, or maybe they haven’t heard from him. And the rapper Meek Mill is in the ear of his friend, the Patriots owner Robert Kraft, suggesting to whom he should turn for his next quarterback. What will happen next? Don’t count on the messaging to bring any clarity. Is Lamar Jackson Moving On? Let’s start with Jackson, the Ravens star who on Monday said he wanted out of Baltimore, where he has been the starting quarterback for nearly five seasons. Jackson said in a tweet that the Ravens had “not been interested in meeting my value” on a new contract, a point some of his friends, allies and even rival players have been making for months . According to Jackson, he requested a trade on March 2, news that somehow stayed under wraps for nearly a … [Read more...] about Your NF.L. Quarterback Questions, Unanswered

Arthur Blank, the Atlanta Falcons' owner, used a bit of New York humor when he made clear last summer that quarterback Michael Vick would never play for another team. "I said, 'You understand that the only way you're going to leave Atlanta will be in a box,"' Blank said yesterday during a news conference at the Falcons' practice facility in Flowery Branch, Ga. He used a bank instead to ensure that Vick will be, as Blank said, "a Falcon for life." Vick, 24, became the highest-paid player in the N.F.L. yesterday, when he agreed to a 10-year contract through 2013 that could be worth as much as $130 million, according to an executive with an N.F.L. team who had knowledge of the deal. It includes a $37 million bonus, outstripping the $34.5 million that Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning received with his seven-year, $98 million deal last spring. "This is big," said Vick, who is in his fourth season. "I'm very excited to know that I'll be here and have an opportunity to … [Read more...] about Vick Signs 10-Year Deal to Remain With Falcons