Donald Trump at the defense table during his hush-money trial in Manhattan.
Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images
Trump is unlikely to testify in his Manhattan hush-money trial, sources told The Washington Post.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said the presentation of evidence could end Monday.
Experts believe Trump would not benefit from testifying and would likely open himself up to perjury.
Donald Trump is unlikely to testify in his hush-money trial in Manhattan, despite previously saying he would, sources familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.
Four unnamed people close to the former president told the paper that they were not expecting him to take the witness stand next week. The jury is, therefore, expected to begin deliberations later in the week after the defense calls on a small number of witnesses.
John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School, told The Telegraph that the former president would be "mad" to take the stand, saying "he would open himself to a perjury indictment, even if he won in this case."
"An early question on cross [examination] if Trump testified would be whether he ever had sex with Stormy Daniels," he added.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the case, said on Thursday that the presentation of evidence could be wrapped up on Monday, per The Post.
Lawyers often advise defendants not to testify in their own defense.
"In almost every case, the risk of what could come out on cross-examination outweighs any benefit that could be gained from hearing directly from the defendant," according to the criminal defense firm Elmen Legal.
Despite this, Trump has previously insisted that he would "absolutely" testify in the trial.
"I'm testifying. I tell the truth. All I can do is tell the truth and the truth is they have no case," he said at a press conference in April.
On Friday, a centrist Washington DC-based think tank, Third Way, released an ad dubbed "Coward," daring Trump to take the stand.
"Donald Trump would never plead the Fifth Amendment," the narrator says in the ad.
The former president is then heard saying, "The mob takes the Fifth. If you are innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?
"Now he's on trial for hiding hush money payments to a porn star, but he won't take the stand," the narrator adds. "Donald, why won't you testify? After all, you believe only guilty cowards take the fifth."
But Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor, told The Post that Trump had "little to gain" by testifying, especially given that the defense has attempted to undermine the prosecution's case by poking holes in the credibility of Michael Cohen, Trump's former "fixer."
Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche sought to characterize Cohen as a liar when he questioned him earlier this week.
Nevertheless, Trump has a legal right to defend himself, Coffee told The Telegraph, and either way, Blanche "would have to respect his decision," he added.
"The Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with their comrades, continue to bring us closer to victory," the Ukrainian Navy wrote on its Telegram channel.
No information on where the attack took place or what weapons were used to target the Kovrovets, but Ukraine has had notable success in tormenting the Russian fleet with exploding drone boats.
The Kovrovets, a Project 266M Natya class minesweeper, was used for mine-sweeping operations, reconnaissance, and control sweeping, Euromaidan Press reports. It had also been deployed off the coast of in Syria.
The Soviet-era minesweepers were built in the 1970s and 1980s and carried a crew of 68.
In March, the Ukrainian Navy told AP News that Ukraine had destroyed or disabled one-third of all Russian warships that had been stationed in the Black Sea before the war.
The latest sinking of a Russian warship follows attacks on Novorossiysk on Friday. The Russian port has become an important base for the Black Sea Fleet after repeated attacks on its traditional base in Crimea.
As Ukraine maintains pressure on Russia in Crimea and the Black Sea region, its troops have struggled to fend off Russian advances along the eastern front, particularly near Kharkiv.
ranian President Ebrahim Raisi meets the governors and deputies of the East and West Azerbaijan provinces in Tehran, Iran on October 21, 2021.
Getty Images
A helicopter carrying Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi "crashed upon landing," state media reported.
Harsh weather conditions and heavy fog are complicating rescue missions.
Raisi was traveling with other senior officials.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior Iranian officials "crashed upon landing" on Sunday,Iranian state media reported, without providing further details.
The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said President Raisi was returning from a ceremony to open a dam on Iran's border with Azerbaijan when his helicopter crashed upon landing.
The incident is believed to have occurred near Jolfa, a city sitting on the border with Azerbaijan, some 375 miles northwest of Tehran, Iran's capital.
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan province, Malik Rahmati, and other officials were on board the helicopter, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
One local government official used the word "crash" to describe the incident, but he told an Iranian newspaper that he had yet visited the site himself, the Associated Press reported.
State media did not provide any information on Raisi's condition or the other officials on board the helicopter.
The harsh weather conditions and heavy fog have complicated the efforts of rescue teams, who arrived at the crash site an hour after the incident occurred, IRNA reports.
Video footage from the crash site reveals the state of the weather conditions.
Raisi, 63, had been traveling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province for the inauguration of the Qizqalaasi dam on the Aras river, which runs along Iran's border with Azerbaijan.
The hardline president is seen as a favorite of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He is sanctioned by the US, at least in part because of his role in the execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the Iran-Iraq war.
Last month, Iran launched more than 300 drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles at Israel.
You'll see this one-page document in its succinct entirety just a few paragraphs down. Then, I'll walk you through it, section by section.
People's 35 is the fulcrum for the entire case. As they make their closing arguments next week, prosecutors are sure to say it proves Trump is guilty, while the defense will say it proves he's innocent.
And which side wins will depend in large part on whether jurors believe key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer who testified last week that Trump personally saw — and approved — the document's contents.
People's 35 looks a little complicated, but I promise this won't hurt a bit. Go ahead, scroll through it, just to see what it looks like, and I'll meet you on the other side, where we'll take it apart.
People's Exhibit 35
Manhattan District Attorney's Office/BI
As you can see, People's 35 is a one-page bank statement from October 2016 for something called "Essential Consultants," an LLC controlled by Cohen.
The highlights, but not the handwriting, are mine.
It may not look like a lot, but I bet you when prosecutors found this hardcopy sheet of paper among hundreds of thousands of pages of subpoenaed Trump Organization documents, somebody shouted, "Holy @#$%!!!!"
People's 35 encapsulates almost the entirety of the alleged hush-money-conspiracy. It has almost everything, and all on one page.
The block I've colored turquoise shows Cohen wired $130,000 of his own money to a lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels on October 27, 2016, just 11 days before the election.
The green block? That's where Cohen scribbled that Trump owes him $180,000, which is the hush money plus a $50,000 outlay Cohen previously made. (That "TECH SERVICES" outlay is a funny story of its own, which we'll get to.)
And the yellow block shows where Trump's former top money man, ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg, scratched out how much Cohen was owed. Weisselberg then worked out how that total would be (allegedly illegally) doubled to account for income taxes and how that grand total would then be (allegedly illegally) reimbursed.
No fingerprints, though
Yes, People's 35 has almost everything — the $130,000 hush-money payment itself and the actual chicken-scratched math behind what prosecutors call a conspiracy to falsify the business records for Cohen's reimbursement.
What People's 35 does not have is Trump's fingerprints, a point that the defense is sure to point out in closing arguments set to begin as early as Tuesday.
To connect Trump to the alleged scheme, jurors will need to believe Cohen — who told them last week that when all the calculating and scribbling was done, he and Weisselberg marched this very page into Trump's office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan.
It was mid-January 2017, and Trump was days away from his inauguration.
Prosecutors say that Trump's schedule was packed at the time with teleprompter training sessions and meetings with future chief of staff Reince Priebus.
But Trump carved out a moment nonetheless to sit with Weisselberg, his loyal CFO, and with Cohen, his attorney, who prosecutors say had just fronted $130,000 of his own cash to pay off a porn actor and was eager for repayment.
The defense counters that this meeting never happened and that Cohen and Weisselberg are solely responsible for any falsified documents.
They are expected to tell jurors next week that Trump was too busy running the country in 2017 to have had a hand in the year's worth of bogus "retainer" reimbursement checks to Cohen — including nine checks he signed personally.
Prosecutors allege that Trump's payments to Cohen were falsified to conceal hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Jon Elswick/AP
'He approved it'
"Did he show this document to Mr. Trump?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen during his direct testimony on Monday, the "he" being Weisselberg.
"Yes," Cohen answered, as Trump watched from the defense table
"And what, if anything, did Mr. Trump say at the time?" the prosecutor asked.
"He approved it," Cohen answered, referring to Trump. "And he also said, 'This is going to be one heck of a ride in DC.'"
Ready? Here's a closer look, starting with the purple-highlighted section at the top.
Manhattan District Attorney's Office/BI
Prosecutors allege that less than two weeks before the 2016 election, Cohen tapped his own home equity line of credit in order to purchase Daniels' silence.
But Cohen obscured his role as a hush-money bag man. Instead of sending the money directly, he first wired the $130,000 into the bank account for a newly created shell company called Essential Consultants, LLC.
The LLC's sole purpose was to handle the hush-money payment, Cohen testified.
"Can we put up People's Exhibit 35, please, in evidence?" Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asked just after Monday's lunch break.
The document was displayed on personal screens for each of the jurors, and on four large overhead screens for the audience.
"Do you recognize this document?" Hoffinger asked.
"I do," Cohen answered. "This is the bank statement for Essential Consultants for the period of October 26th of 2016 through the 31st of October of 2016," Cohen explained.
Next, let's turn to the pink-highlighted section.
Manhattan District Attorney's Office/BI
Here, we see the $130,000 hush-money payment moving in, and then out, of the Essential Consultants bank account.
Cohen testified last week that he took the money from his HELOC, or home-equity line of credit, so he could hide the big outlay from his wife.
Her name was on the HELOC, but the billing was paperless, Cohen explained.
"You decided to do it this way, it was quick, you could move the money quickly, because you wanted to conceal it from your wife, correct?" defense lawyer Todd Blanche asked Cohen during cross-examination on Thursday.
"Correct," Cohen answered.
Let's move to the turquoise section, highlighting where the money went.
Manhattan District Attorney's Office/BI
So long, hush money.
People's Exhibit 35 shows that on October 27 — only 11 days before the election — Cohen wired the $130,000 from Essential Consultants to Keith Davidson, who was Daniels' lawyer at the time.
Davidson also repped Karen McDougal, the former Playboy Bunny who had been paid $150,000 just weeks prior to keep her silent about a nearly yearlong affair she said she had with Trump.
Both the porn star and the pinup model say they slept with Trump at the same Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament in 2006. Trump's son with Melania Trump was then four months old.
Trump has consistently denied having sex with the two women.
Davidson's testimony in early May was noteworthy for its name-dropping. The attorney told jurors he peddled salacious celebrity stories to the National Enquirer, including stories targeting Charlie Sheen, Hulk Hogan, Lindsay Lohan, and Tila Tequila.
The defense used its cross-examination of Davidson to imply that Trump was no mastermind and was instead a helpless victim of something akin to celebrity extortion.
Next: Cohen's handwriting, highlighted in green, from the bottom right corner.
Manhattan District Attorney's Office/BI
Here is where Cohen testified he made a jotted note of another personal outlay Trump owed him for, on top of the $130,000 and the wiring fee of $35.
This was a reimbursement for $50,000 paid to the Virginia tech company RedFinch Solutions LLC.
RedFinch did polling for the Trump campaign and set up the Twitter account @WomenForCohen, touting him as a so-called "pit bull" and "sex symbol."
"He told me to add up the 130 with the 50,000 for RedFinch — total it to 180,000," Cohen testified Monday, referring to a talk he said he had with Weisselberg before the two men marched People's 35 into Trump's office.
Cohen never reimbursed RedFinch for the whole $50,000, he testified.
Finally, let's look at the bottom left section, highlighted in yellow.
Manhattan District Attorney's Office/BI
"And whose handwriting is at the bottom left and middle?" Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asked Cohen as People's 35 was displayed.
"That's Allen Weisselberg's," Cohen answered.
Weisselberg has been unavailable to testify. He is currently serving a five-month perjury sentence for lying on Trump's behalf at last year's civil fraud trial.
"And how were you able to recognize Allen Weisselberg's handwriting?" the prosecutor asked.
"Well, I recognize the handwriting, but I was also there in the room when he was writing it," Cohen answered.
Weisselberg, in his handwritten note, started with the $180,000 Cohen said Trump owed him.
The CFO underlined the amount. Below that, he wrote, "Grossed up to $360,000."
"He told me what he was going to do was to — it's called 'gross it up,'" Cohen explained to the jury.
Weisselberg's idea — approved by Trump — was to falsely process Cohen's $180,000 reimbursement as legal fees, paid in monthly installments throughout 2017, Trump's first year in office, prosecutors say.
But because Cohen faced a 50% tax penalty on that income, Weisselberg doubled — or "grossed up" — the $180,000, Cohen testified.
Michael Cohen, center, is surrounded by reporters as he arrives for grand jury testimony last year.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
"So in order to get back the 180, what he did was, he then wrote down 360,000," Cohen testified. Cohen could then take his 50% tax hit, paying the IRS $180,000 and still pocketing the $180,000 he was due.
Weisselberg tacked on an extra $60,000 year-end bonus, arriving at a grand total of $420,000, Cohen testified, continuing to translate the CFO's handwriting to jurors.
Cohen said he was told the $420,000 should be divided into monthly "retainer" checks of $35,000.
That was bad news for Cohen, who had walked into the meeting with Weisselberg and Trump assuming he'd be reimbursed in one lump sum.
But Trump and Weisselberg had figured it all out in advance, Cohen said he soon realized.
"Did Mr. Weisselberg say in front of Mr. Trump that those monthly payments would be, you know, like a retainer for legal services?" Hoffinger asked Cohen.
"Yes," Cohen answered.
"Did you say something to the effect of, that you had the sense that they had spoken about this previously?" Hoffinger asked.
"Yes," Cohen answered.
"Why do you say that?" the prosecutor asked.
"Because they always played that sort of game — a 'frick and frack' type game," Cohen said.
People's 35 was still displayed on the courtroom's screens, both large and small, as Hoffinger asked what happened when Weisselberg "showed Mr. Trump this document."
"Did Mr. Trump try to renegotiate?" Hoffinger asked.
"No," Cohen answered.
"So he approved it at that point?" the prosecutor asked.
"Yes," Cohen answered.
Closing arguments could come as soon as Tuesday, with jury deliberations starting as early as Thursday. Trump faces anywhere from no jail to four years in prison if convicted of felony falsification of business records.
A woman claimed that an Atlantic City casino refused to pay her a seven-figure jackpot win.
The woman, who is from New Jersey, said she was told the slot machine had malfunctioned.
It is not the first time a casino has disputed such a claim.
A woman from New Jersey claimed that an Atlantic City casino refused to pay her a more than $1.2 million jackpot win, 6abc Philadelphia reported.
Roney Beal, 72, claims she won the jackpot in February while playing a "Wheel of Fortune" slot machine at Bally's Casino.
"It went off, says, 'you're a winner,' and gold coins popped out," she told the outlet. "This very nice guy says, 'Oh my God, you hit, you hit!' He said, 'Lady you're a millionaire.'"
But after using a button to call for help, a "tilt" message appeared, suggesting that the machine had experienced an issue.
Beal said that an employee of the casino quickly appeared on the scene and told her that she had "won nothing" as the machine had suffered a malfunction known as a "reel tilt," which she said she was told voided the win.
Beal and her attorney Mike Di Croce say the total jackpot figure would have come to $2.56 million, as Beal hit the multiplier, the New York Post reported.
They are preparing a legal complaint against Bally's Casino and its gaming company International Game Technology (IGT) over the disputed win, per the Post.
Di Croce said he also planned to file a more than $1 million emotional distress claim, the report said.
Business Insider has contacted Bally's Casino and IGT for comment.
In a statement to the New York Post, a Bally's spokesperson said: "Bally's has no comment on this incident as we're only the casino who houses the machine. IGT handles the payouts and would be best to get a comment from at this time."
IGT told the Post it was "cooperating with the casino operator's investigation of this matter."
Complaints against casinos run into the thousands each year. Gambling complaints service AskGamblers said it received 8,044 complaints regarding disputes between gamblers and casinos in 2023. It said 2,267 of the complaints were resolved, with just over $9 million returned to the "rightful owners."
It's not the first time IGT has been at the center of such a claim.
In 2000, a man claimed he had won a $1.3 million jackpot at Harrah's Casino in New Orleans but that the Wheel of Fortune machine he had been playing also indicated a reel tilt malfunction, the Las Vegas Sun reported at the time.
The IGT website says that its Wheel of Fortune slot machines, which it calls "the millionaire maker," have created more than 1,180 millionaires, with over $3.5 billion in jackpot prizes awarded on the machines.
Election duty staff cast their votes on May 13, 2024, in Mumbai, India.
Hindustan Times/ Getty Images
Indian authorities have seized over $1 billion in cash, drugs, and goods in the country's elections.
The amount has surpassed the total seized during the whole of the last general election in 2019.
The winner of the election is due to be announced on June 4.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) said it has seized 88.9 billion rupees, or around $1.1 billion, in drugs, cash, and other goods like precious metals and liquor as part of its efforts to stamp out illegal vote inducements in the country's general election.
The Indian government's Press Information Bureau said in a press release on Saturday that the "Election Commission's determined and concerted assault on money power and inducements in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections has resulted in staggering seizures worth Rs 8889 crores by the agencies."
The commission said it took a "'zero-tolerance' approach to any form of inducements which may influence the voters," adding that the haul had already surpassed the total seized during the whole of the last general election in 2019.
The press release adds that drugs have made up 45% of the value of the seizures so far.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images
The winner of India's general election, which began on April 19 and ends on June 1, will be announced on June 4.
The governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to come out on top once again, which would see Narendra Modi, 73, return for a third term as prime minister.
But critics of the prime minister and his party say he is a divisive figure that has attempted to demonize minorities in the country.
The Economist Intelligence Unit said in a report in May that it believed the BJP's reelection had "the potential to deepen communal rifts within the country," noting "the party's Hindu-nationalist agenda" and previous instances of unrest.
It added that "although multinationals will remain wary about India's domestic track record on communal relations, its large market and growing economy will overshadow these considerations."
Russia's Black Sea Fleet warships taking part in the Navy Day celebrations in the port city of Novorossiysk in July 2023.
Stringer/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian drones hit Novorossiysk port, causing a fire and power outages, reports say.
The attack follows heightened defenses at the port after previous Ukrainian strikes on Crimea.
Novorossiysk is vital for Russia's oil exports and naval operations in the Black Sea.
The Russian port of Novorossiysk, which has become an important base for the Black Sea Fleet after repeated attacks on its traditional base in Crimea, has been targeted by Ukrainian drones and missiles.
The Novorossiysk Fuel oil terminal and Transneft terminal were attacked on May 17 in yet another wartime hit to Russia's oil industry, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Satellite images taken on May 18 show traces of a fire on the territory of the sea trade port.
Astra reported there were no casualties.
Footage emerged on social media on May 19 that appeared to show two Ukrainian drones being blasted by machine gun fire as they flew over the port. Business Insider was unable to verify the video.
Residents of Novorossiysk told Astra that they heard more than 35 explosions in the city. The governor officially announced an "unsuccessful attempt to attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces" and the downing of 10 UAVs.
The deputy mayor barred residents from leaving their homes early in the morning. Traffic was also blocked in the city, and public transport was suspended.
Russia's Ministry of Defense later said that 44 UAVs were shot down over the region overnight.
A general view shows the Novorossiysk Fuel Oil Terminal in Novorossiisk
Thomson Reuters
The Novorossiysk port on Russia's Black Sea coast in Krasnodar Krai is a strategic hub for oil exports and naval operations.
The recent spate of attacks targeting Russia's oil industry includes a confirmed drone strike by Ukrainian forces on an oil base in Rostov Oblast on May 15.
As Ukraine maintains pressure on Russia in Crimea and the Black Sea region, its troops have struggled to fend off Russian advances along the eastern front, particularly near Kharkiv. Despite progress made by Russian forces, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was not experiencing a shortage of artillery shells for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Travelers are still choosing short-term rentals in large numbers, but there is a glut of places to stay left over from the Airbnb gold rush of recent years.
Ahead of summer 2024, hosts face pressure to stand out from all the other listings in their areas. Adding additional stress is the increased unpredictability of travelers themselves — hosts say guests are booking trips more last-minute than the advance-planning of years past.
As recently as March, listings across Airbnb and Vrbo stood at 1.57 million across the country, a 12.3% increase even from the same time last year, according to analytics site AirDNA. Average occupancy for hosts, or the number of nights they're booked each month, improved slightly by 2% compared to last year, though March 2023 represented a 4% drop from 2022.
To protect their margins, hosts are turning to different strategies to bring in returns.
Some hosts are turning to social media to lure summer guests, hiring local influencers to create video reviews of their properties and trading free getaways for promotional photos. Meanwhile, professional hosts, which AirDNA defines as anyone with more than 20 listings, look to leverage their brands and manpower into booking directly with guests — bypassing the fees associated with the major platforms.
"If I could, I would want them all to be direct bookings," said Emily Burke, a host who manages 40 listings in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Big-time hosts turn to direct booking, but it comes with risks
Direct booking is when a guest reserves their stay on a property's personal website instead of through a major platform like Airbnb, Vrbo, and others.
Arizona host Rick Kenworthy, who manages91 listings in the Scottsdale area near Phoenix, said he's made direct booking a priority.
Kenworthy said he increased the percentage of direct bookings to 25% in the first quarter of 2024, up from 10% during the same period last year — which he said translates to $500,000 morein revenue. Kenworthy offers a 5% discount if guests book direct, bringing a $350-a-night stay down to $330.
The proposition in direct bookings is that both parties save on fees, creating a lower price per night for guests and allowing hosts to keep the entirety of the earnings.
Kenworthy's strategy has been twofold. First, he tripled his property-management company's email distributionlist by using Wi-Fi capture technology that stores emails when guests log in during their stays. He then emails out special offers with links to the direct-booking site.Second, he's invested in branded items like coffee cups and pens that fill each of his properties, hoping to build familiarity with customers.
"We're not force-feeding anybody," he told Business Insider. "But at the end of the day, it comes down to dollars and cents."
For some hosts, though, the prospect of striking out on their own is too daunting. They may be wary of stepping away from Airbnb, Vrbo, Expedia, and others, both for the insurance protection offered through those sites and the exposure that comes from their massive pool of travel-hungry users.
Missouri host Ryan Villines, who volunteers for Airbnb as a community leader for his region, believes the risk of direct booking is greater than the reward.
With direct bookings, hosts are responsible for collecting the proper paperwork for background checks and payment information, and they don't have the additional insurance offered by the major platforms.
"If something goes sour or someone lights your house on fire, there's some protection," said Villines, who manages four properties near the popular vacation destinationLake of the Ozarks. "If you're doing direct booking, that's super risky."
Hosts turn to influencers to tour their properties on social media
Burke, the host with 40 listings in Tulsa, said guests have been shifting toward last-minute stays — which is stressful for hosts relying on their business.
Burke predicts she'll end May with around 58% occupancy, but just weeks ago she was only booked for 30% of the nights in May.
In an effort to attract more bookings overall, she's begun working with a local influencer with 50,000 followers. So far, they've already filmed one of Burke's short-term-rental properties near the popular Tulsa park known as the Gathering Place and have plans to film another near a "hip shopping district" known as Cherry Street.
"Both of those are location, location, location. So people know they can stay in really cool areas and at beautiful properties with our business," Burke said.
Burke declined todisclose how much she is paying the influencer to feature her properties but said comparable digital marketing services cost $1,000 a month andstill require Burke to do much of the editing, posting, and content strategy.
"That's not my jam," Burke said. "I'm not a video editor. I don't have a big following."
Villines, the host with four Lake of the Ozarks properties, said hehas struck deals with influencers, trading free stays at his listings for packages of content.
Villines said that even though he expects his 2024 summer bookings to drop by about 10% from last year, he's able to use those unbooked nights for content swaps to improve his marketing.
He's given content creators who've reached out to him through Airbnb two- or three-night stays in exchange for up to 50 professional photos he can use for the property's Airbnb profileor a well-composed marketing video that might otherwise cost $500 to $1,500.
"Because I'm down in numbers, I have more availability for nights that I could swap services," he said.
Influencers can also help promote direct booking, Burke said.
When the influencer eventually posts a link to one of her properties, Burke asks that it direct viewers to her business website instead of the Airbnb listing.
Burke said she hopes Tulsans following the influencer are inspired to book through her and save on fees.
"My approach is that she's really focused on bringing guests to our houses that are booking directly," she said.
Homebuyers in Austin and New Braunfels are finding more success as sellers lower their prices.
Maskot/Getty Images
Since last year, home prices fell 0.3% in and around Austin, and 4.6% in and around San Antonio.
Real-estate agents in those Texas spots said home sellers are slashing prices to attract buyers.
One house in Austin listed for $1.25 million and was sold for $850,000, Nicole Marburger said.
After years of sellers calling the shots in the real-estate market, the balance may finally be tipping towards homebuyers in some US cities.
Since 2022, high mortgage rates and expensive home prices have created a potent cocktail of unaffordability, sidelining many would-be buyers in some of the country's most popular cities.
But with fewer prospective buyers in the market for homes, home prices are now declining in several cities across the US.
The National Association of Realtors found that home prices dropped in 15 of 221 markets across the United States in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year, including two in the Lone Star State: Austin-Round Rock (-0.3%) and San Antonio-New Braunfels (-4.6%).
The Austin-Round Rock area had a median home price of $466,700 in the first quarter of 2024, down from $467,900 in 2023. The median home price in the San Antonio-New Braunfels area — New Braunfels is a satellite city of San Antonio between it and Austin, and one of the fastest-growing cities in the US — was $320,500 in the first quarter of 2023, and has now fallen to $305,800 in 2024.
The reason homes are getting a bit cheaper is because demand has slowed, real-estate agents in Austin and New Braunfels told Business Insider.
Demand from movers and other buyers, buoyed by record-low interest rates from 2020 to 2022, fueled a surge in home prices, driven by heightened competition.
But the higher prices and higher mortgage rates diminished affordability for many locals, leading to lower home-buying demand. Without eager buyers lined up at open houses, homes listed for sale are lingering on the market longer than they have in the recent past.
In April, the average time for homes to sell in Austin increased to 40 days from 38 days the previous year, according to Realtor.com. Similarly, in New Braunfels, homes are now staying on the market for an average of 53 days, compared to 49 days in April 2023.
The trend, has led many sellers to lower their prices — though prices still remain significantly higher than a decade ago.
Some Texas home sellers are slashing prices and offering concessions
Austin real-estate broker Nicole Marburger told Business Insider that the city's real estate market is finally coming down to earth.
"Most homes are no longer selling within a matter of hours or days," said Marburger, the founder and owner of Austin-based Legacy Real Estate Group at Compass. "Some might sell in two to three weeks, while for others, it could take two to three months — it just depends what area a home is listed."
As homes linger on the market, sellers are reducing their prices to draw buyers, she added.
Marburger said she recently worked with a client who purchased a home initially listed for $1.25 million for just $850,000 — it even came with a concession, which is when a home seller offers a buyer additional incentives such as money for home repairs or mortgage-rate buydowns.
"Sellers who are holding out for peak market prices may unfortunately find that, unless their property truly stands out, today's reality does not align with their aspirations," she said.
Some Texas cities have become buyers' markets
New Braunfels — an up-and-coming area located about 47 miles from Austin and 35 miles from San Antonio — is experiencing a similar shift in its housing market.
Broker Mercy Boatright, the owner and founder of real-estate agency House Hunters, told Business Insider that New Braunfels' homebuyers now have the upper hand.
"It's definitely a buyers' market right now," Boatright said. "Prices are going back to the norm. Homes are no longer being appraised at sky-high prices."
Boatright said that homes in New Braunfels with higher price tags are struggling to attract offers. Sellers who resist reducing their listing prices are learning their lesson, she added.
On the other side of the closing table, Boatright said she encourages her buyer clients to consider submitting offers on homes even if they're beyond their budget — a seemingly modest bid could still potentially secure a sale.
"I'm like, 'Hey, if it's the house you want, let's make an offer. I don't care if it's $30,000 off,'" she said. "We try it, and I've been getting them every time."
A caption accompanying the video reads: "Maneuvering in difficult conditions under constant enemy artillery fire, [the Kraken regiment is] responsible for the personnel and fire support for the units in Chasiv Yar."
Kraken unit navigates enemy shelling as it transports troops to the front in Chasiv Yar
Kraken Telegram
Business Insider was unable to independently verify the video's content, though Ukraine's Defense Ministry confirmed that it was taken in Chasiv Yar, a strategic town on elevated ground that has been relentlessly attacked by Russian forces in recent months.
The Kraken unit is showing how they are getting to their positions in Chasiv Yar. Ukrainian warriors are risking their lives to defend a free Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/jyseoW39oH
According to The Washington Post, the Kraken Regiment, which has become one of Ukraine's better-known volunteer forces, was formed by Azov Brigade veterans on the day Russia invaded Ukraine. The Azov unit became known worldwide in 2022 for its heroic stand inside the Azovstal steel complex in the port city of Mariupol.
Like the Azov fighters, whose name comes from the Sea of Azov, the regiment's name and insignia evoke the mythical sea monster, the Kraken, which resembles a giant squid.
Militarnyi reports that the vehicle in the video is a Turkish-made Cobra II.
The manufacturer, Otokar, describes the Cobra II as a "4×4 Tactical Wheeled Armored Vehicle."
Its modular platform has superior technical and tactical characteristics, allowing the vehicle to maneuver easily across difficult terrain.
"COBRA II provides higher ballistic and mine protection, increased payload capacity and internal volume," the description reads.
Kraken unit navigates enemy mortar attacks as it transports reinforcements to the front line in Chasiv Yar
Kraken Telegram
Chasiv Yar and surrounding areas have become highly contested in recent weeks as Russia steps up its offensive in the east, as well as launching a second front in the northern Kharkiv region.
The Washington DC-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update that Russian forces had "intensified their effort" to seize Chasiv Yar, seeking to "exploit how Russian offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast and ongoing offensive operations throughout eastern Ukraine have generated greater theater-wide pressure on Ukrainian forces."
In response to Russia's increased attacks, Ukrainian forces have transferred elements of a Ukrainian brigade defending in the Chasiv Yar area to the Vovchansk area, which has also come under increased fire, the ISW reports.
As a result, "Russian forces have likely intensified offensive operations near Chasiv Yar to quickly take advantage of weakened Ukrainian defenses."
A breakthrough in the frontline is most likely to come in Chasiv Yar, "where Russian forces have the most immediate prospects for an operationally significant advance." The front west of Avdiivka, the town that fell to Russia in February, is also a possibility.
One of Ukraine's top intelligence officials said earlier this month that Chasiv Yar was very likely to fall to Russian forces.
"Not today or tomorrow, of course, but all depending on our reserves and supplies," said Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy head of military intelligence.
In his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked soldiers who successfully repelled a Russian assault on Chasiv Yar.
"Our warriors destroyed more than twenty armored vehicles of the occupier. Well done, guys!" he said.