Category: General

Qualcomm is getting into some of the nitty-gritty details of the Snapdragon C system-on-a-chip, the ARM-based platform it announced in June for laptops priced around $300.

The Snapdragon C is an 8-core Qualcomm Kryo CPU, with a single-core max frequency of 3 GHz and a multi-core max of 2 GHz. (In the fine print, Qualcomm claims you can get four cores at 2.0 GHz and three cores at 2.6 GHz, but doesn’t note all eight cores simultaneously. We’ve reached out to Qualcomm for clarification. There is 2MB of total cache.

It also has an integrated Adreno GPU with a max frequency of 900 MHz, and a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, though Qualcomm hasn’t listed how many TOPS it supports.

In updated slides, Qualcomm pits the Snapdragon C (in a reference design with 8GB of memory) against an Acer TravelMate with Intel’s N250 and 8GB of RAM. The company claims you get 67% better battery performance than the Intel N250 and up to 2.1 times better battery efficiency, though that’s measured with multi-threaded Cinebench. The company did not publish any benchmarks when the systems are plugged in.

Qualcomm claims that, on battery, the Snapdragon C is up to 44% faster in single-threaded Geekbench and 24% higher in multi-core. But its top victories were in Cinebench, running 50% faster single-threaded and 67% faster multi-threaded. But Geekbench and Speedometer 3.1 (+39%) are the real numbers to look at here, as they better showcase the type of work someone might typically do with a cheap notebook.

While Qualcomm is promising “all-day” battery life, it’s leaving the number of hours up to its OEM partners. That’s likely to vary depending on the display panels and other factors, but in Qualcomm’s test reference device, it used a 16-inch screen. Qualcomm notes in its footnotes that the TravelMate has an 11.6-inch display, with “total power configured to match 16″ screen.”

Qualcomm instead is claiming battery power efficiency over the Intel N250 across all of its tests, from Netflix running in Microsoft Edge (106% better), web browsing (68% better), and a Teams video call (74% better).

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If you received a notice from the Department of Finance (DOF) that says your primary residence may be subject to a pied-à-terre tax, you are not alone. “A lot of New York City residents got those notices,” said attorney Seth Feldman, partner at Romer Debbas. “Even though many may end up being exempt, it is really scary to get a notice that you may be subject to a minimum $40,000 additional tax bill come January 1st.” 

The notices follow the release of a database of roughly 900,000 properties for which the surcharge may be relevant. Although the notices—sent to around 17,000 NYC property owners—are not bills, recipients were asked to submit paperwork by September 18th to prove the apartment or townhouse is a primary residence. 

“It was a very sloppy rollout and it created far more panic and anger than was necessary,” Feldman said. 

A lawsuit pauses the rollout

The burden to prove primary residency prompted a group of property owners to file a lawsuit against the city last week. In response, a judge ordered a pause in the rollout of the pied-à-terre tax. This could delay the current timeline to respond to a second-home tax notice. The city is expected to appeal the decision. 

When the second-home surcharge was passed as part of the New York State budget at the end of May, attorney Benjamin Williams, head of the property tax department at Rosenberg & Estis, predicted the collection process was “going to be messy.” 

Why you should still prepare your paperwork

Even with the court-ordered pause, anyone with an original July surcharge notice should still get their paperwork ready. 

“If the city wins the lawsuit, the pied-à-terre tax is back in effect,” Williams said. “If the plaintiffs win, the city would get delayed in implementing the pied-à-terre tax, but it would eventually get back on track.”

The tax applies to non-primary residences worth $5 million or more on the open market. Because the city doesn’t currently use actual sale prices to calculate property taxes, the first phase of the tax’s implementation will use a DOF market value of $1 million as the equivalent of a $5 million market value.

What documents you’ll need to prove residency

To ensure your primary residence is exempt, the DOF has issued a list of the documents you need to upload to their portal. This might be a recently filed federal or state tax return, driver’s license or other DMV-issued identification, or voter ID card. 

If there’s a tenant living in the apartment, you will be asked to provide a copy of the lease and further proof of the rental arrangement like a utility bill or proof of the rent payment. 

The gray areas creating headaches

There are plenty of other situations where there is uncertainty. Feldman is looking for answers from the DOF for clients who own and live in two- or three-family homes with vacant ground-floor apartments that they use for visiting family members. If 75 percent of the property is exempt because it is the primary residence of New York residents but 25 percent of the property is a pied-à-terre, it’s not clear if the owner is subject to a percentage of the surcharge. 

“I certainly hope I will get answers before the filing deadline,” Feldman said.  

Another situation that needs clarification involves buyers who purchased a property as their primary residence but have not yet moved in because of ongoing renovations. These owners may still be subject to the surcharge. “There is no exception in the law for property that’s undergoing alterations,” Feldman said. “That is a huge miss.” 

Challenging your property’s valuation

There will also likely be many property owners who choose to challenge the market value determinations of their apartment or townhouse. These challenges are made through the NYC Tax Commission, an independent agency. Appeals for co-ops and condos must still be filed by March 1st, 2027 and for one- to three-family homes the deadline is March 15th, 2027. 

If you’re a homeowner getting ready to move, one question usually comes first: should you buy your next home before you sell, or sell your current house before you start looking?

There’s no single right answer. The best call depends on your finances, your local market, and your timeline. And a trusted agent can help you weigh all of it.

But in a lot of cases these days, selling first puts you in the stronger spot.

The Advantages of Selling First

Selling is usually the trickier half of a move today, so getting it done first clears your biggest hurdle. And that’s especially true right now, because there are more homes for sale than there are buyers, which means houses are taking longer to sell than they did a year or two ago.

So how does leading with your sale pay off? Let’s start with the money.

1. You Won’t Get Stuck Paying Two Mortgages

Buy before you sell, and you could end up carrying two mortgages at once. And especially since houses are staying on the market longer these days, that overlap may drag on for more time than you’d planned. And if unexpected repairs come up, it could get even more expensive.

Selling first takes that risk off the table, so you’re not multitasking homeownership. As Ramsey Solutions puts it:

“It’s best to sell your old home before buying a new one to avoid unnecessary risks and possible headaches.“

2. You Can Use Your Equity To Fuel Your Move

This is always true, but one of the biggest perks of selling first is that you’ll know exactly how much money you’re walking away with. And one of the big figures that matters in that conversation is how much equity you have in your current place.

Equity is basically your house’s value minus what you still owe on your mortgage. And it adds up fast. According to Realtor.com, homeowners who’ve been in their home for 5 years have about $180,000 in equity on average. And those who’ve had their home for 6-10 years? They have over $340,000.

After you sell, you can use that money to cover your down payment or even buy your next home in cash. And knowing that profit up front helps you plan your next move.

3. Your Offer Will Be Hard To Pass Up

When your house is already sold, you don’t have to make your offer contingent on that sale. In a market where buyers are taking their time, that’s exactly what a seller wants to see.

Picture it from the seller’s side. If their house has been sitting for a while, they’ll gravitate toward the offer most likely to close without a snag.

That can also give you room to ask for a little more, like repairs, since a motivated seller would rather keep things moving than lose you and wait for another offer to come in. Your agent can help you make the most of your upper hand in that scenario.

Is There a Catch?

Selling first has its tradeoffs too, and it helps to see the pros and cons side by side before you decide. Here’s a quick breakdown based on information from Zillow (see visual below):

The cons are manageable with the right plan, so talk about them with your agent. They can help you negotiate things like a rent-back, where you stay in your house for a set time after closing, or line up flexible closing dates to keep the transition smooth.

Bottom Line

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to buying and selling at once. But for a lot of homeowners, leading with the sale makes moving easier on their mind and their wallet.

Connect with a local agent, and they’ll help you navigate selling and buying with more confidence, more financial power, and less stress.

For years, a lot of would-be homebuyers have worried about the same thing. How do you compete with big investors who can swoop in, pay cash, and snap up the houses you want?

Well, worry a little less. Because right now, those big investors aren’t buying up the market. They’re backing out of it.

Investors Are Buying Fewer Homes Than They Have in Years

According to Redfin, investor home purchases just fell to their lowest level since 2020 – when the start of the pandemic temporarily caused pretty much all homebuying to pull way back. Before that, you’d have to go all the way back to 2016 to find a time when investors bought this few homes (see graph below):

Why the step back? Two big reasons.

First, Washington passed a housing law that takes aim at large institutional investors. To be clear, these mega investors were never as big a part of the market as the headlines made it sound. They’ve always made up a relatively small slice of housing pie. But the law still targeted the largest ones, and it worked fast. According to Thom Malone, Principal Economist at Cotality:

“When Washington announced its intention to curb institutional investors’ homebuying, the market reacted. . . Cotality data shows that investment by mega investors who own 1,000 or more properties retracted almost instantly.”

Second, the housing market has cooled. Price growth has slowed in much of the country, and in some markets, prices are dipping. That makes the math a lot less appealing for investors betting on quick gains. Lance Lambert, CEO of ResiClub, explains:

“Ever since rates spiked and the Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out in spring 2022, institutional single-family rental (SFR) operators have pulled way back from buying up homes on the resale market—the math just isn’t as appealing right now. Home prices and rents are no longer ripping, holding costs (property taxes and insurance) have jumped, capital markets have shifted their attention elsewhere, and elevated materials prices make renovations expensive.”

They’re Not Just Buying Less – They’re Selling More

This is the part most people miss. Big investors aren’t just slowing down their purchases. Data from Parcl Labs and ResiClub shows the largest institutional investors are now selling more homes than they’re buying – and that gap is growing these past 4 quarters (see graph below):

Every one of those homes goes right back into the market for buyers like you. And since big investors tend to own homes at the lower end of the price range, a lot of what they’re selling is exactly the kind of home first-time buyers are looking for. As Malone puts it:

“. . . this sudden dropoff in institutional investment is a signal to first-time homebuyers that there’s an opening.”

Less competition from deep-pocketed buyers. More homes hitting the market. And many of them at prices that work for a first purchase. That’s a shift that works in your favor.

Bottom Line

Big investors are stepping back, and they’re adding homes to the market as they go. If you’ve been waiting for a better shot at buying, this could be it. Connect with a local agent to find out what’s popping up in your area. You may have more options than you think.

If you’re waiting for mortgage rates to fall a lot before you buy, you may be waiting a while. But before you get discouraged, there’s a number working behind the scenes that’s actually good for you right now. It’s called the spread, and once you understand it, you may see today’s rates in a whole new light.

The Pattern That’s Held for 50+ Years

For starters, mortgage rates don’t move on their own. They tend to follow the 10-year treasury yield, a number tied to how investors feel about the economy.

It’s not an exact science, since plenty of other factors can move it day to day, but broadly speaking, when the economy looks strong, that yield tends to climb over time. When the outlook gets shaky, it tends to ease. For over 50 years, the 10-year treasury yield and mortgage rates have moved almost in lockstep (see graph below):

The gap between them is called the “spread.” On average, that gap runs about 1.76 percentage points. And that spread impacts your mortgage rate. A wider spread tends to push mortgage rates higher than the treasury yield alone would suggest, while a narrower spread keeps rates closer to the treasury yield.

One of the Big Reasons Rates Likely Won’t Drop Dramatically Anytime Soon

If you’re hoping mortgage rates will drop a lot, here’s the reality – they probably won’t, at least not anytime soon. One of the big reasons why comes down to that spread between the 10-year treasury yield and mortgage rates.

A few years ago, that gap got a lot wider as uncertainty in the economy pushed it as high as 3.19 points in 2023.

Now here’s the part worth noting – that gap has been narrowing lately. It’s down to about 2.01, just above the long-term average of 1.76 (see graph below):

When the gap is wide, there’s more room for rates to fall. But when it’s relatively normal, like it is now, there’s less wiggle room for rates to fall.

Why Mortgage Rates Aren’t Higher Right Now

Today’s mortgage rate is basically the treasury yield plus the spread. So, when either one moves, your rate moves with it. Here are 3 different rates, all built off today’s 10-year treasury yield of 4.68% to show you just how much the spread matters for your bottom line (see graph below):

If the spread were still stretched out like it was in 2023, rates would be pushing close to 8% right now. That’s because the spread was over a full point wider than it is today.

But now, thanks to the spread narrowing recently, today’s rate sits around 6.69%. That’s the middle scenario in that visual. That’s a big difference in your monthly payment compared what we could see if the spread was as big as it was 2023. As Logan Mohtashami, Lead Analyst at HousingWire, put it:

“Of course, mortgage spreads being better in 2026 is the housing hero story of the year . . .”

Now compare that middle bar to the 3rd one. If the spread were sitting at its exact long-term average, rates would be around 6.5%. That’s only about a quarter of a point away from where rates actually are today. That means most of the improvement in mortgage rates we should realistically expect from a shrinking spread has already happened.

In other words, the same narrowing spread that’s the reason rates aren’t close to 8% today is also a big reason why they’re not likely to fall a lot further.

Bottom Line

That’s the trade-off with a narrowing spread. Rates may not be where you want them, but they’re better than they could’ve been. If you want help figuring out what that means for your monthly payment, reach out to a local lender

Intel’s upcoming Nova Lake CPUs have been a part of the rumor mill for months as excitement builds up for a potential CES 2027 announcement. The latest leak comes from reliable tipster Jaykihn, who’s actually updating an older report that said SKUs with cut-down E-cores would also have reduced cache. Now, his new leak claims Intel will keep the L3 cache unaltered, even on chips with partially disabled E-core clusters.

Previously, it was rumored that some Nova Lake configs, such as the 8+12+4 silicon, would only have 33MB of L3 cache since the 12 E-cores are cut down from the 16 we expect on the full-fat variant of this SKU. Now, Jaykihn reports that this config will now have 36MB of L3 cache instead, just like the uncut 8+16+4 config. Similarly, the 4+4+4 config is said to retain 18MB of L3 cache instead of 15MB, same as the fully enabled 4+8+4 SKUs.

Intel’s Panther Lake processors have brought powerful graphics and efficient performance to laptops. Now, mini PC companies are packing them into small desktops. With the Evo-T2 GMKtec stretches the form factor by fitting it in a spacious – for mini PCs – twin fan chassis, and equipping one of the most capable of Intel’s 18A (laptop) processors with 64GB of fast DDR5. While GMKtec calls it an AI system in its marketing, the Arc B390 iGPU and OCuLink port mean that the potential gaming capabilities are one of the big focuses for this quiet, compact, and expensive device.

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