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Newsweek
a day ago
- General
- Newsweek
Residents Move Into 1950s Home—Years Later Make Shock Discovery in Basement
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A Minnesota homeowner has sparked intrigue across Reddit after discovering an unusual key hidden in the rafters of their basement—years after moving into their 1950s-era house. The post, titled "Odd key in the basement rafters..." was shared by u/edrift101 to the r/Weird subreddit on June 16 and included a couple of images showing a tarnished old key. "We found this years after moving into our new home," the user wrote in the caption. "No idea how long it's been there, but the house was built in the 1950s (Minneapolis, MN). Doesn't match anything in the house or the garage," the poster said, adding "maybe there's a secret keyhole somewhere in the house, ala Locke & Key [fictional television series]? That could be fun." The discovery in the Reddit post comes as U.S. homeowners face soaring housing costs. According to a 2024 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, millions of potential homebuyers have been "priced out of the market by elevated home prices and interest rates." The home price surge was reported in 97 of the top 100 markets, with higher rises in the northeast and Midwest regions, the report found. 'Treasure Stashes' The recent post drew a wave of speculation and amateur detective work from Reddit users eager to weigh in on the mysterious artifact, which bears a resemblance to what many call a "skeleton key." "That appears to be a warded lock key," wrote u/whitecholklet. "Sometimes called a skeleton key or warded lock pick, it could be used to open a lot of older style locks. People hid them in their house in case they lost a key or sometimes just used it as a key." Other Redditors chimed in with their own theories—ranging from the practical to the imaginative. One user, u/la_picasa, speculated that the original lock was likely replaced at some point, saying "the lock(s) it was used for probably got changed at some point in time. If you're just now finding that though, I would be searching the rafters in hidden spots for treasure stashes! People used to hide cash up in there." Some comments ventured further off the beaten path. "Similar keys work in some old mouse and rat traps I have seen," noted u/TheSunRisesintheEast. "It is supposed to keep the poisoned bait from being accessed." Others considered more sentimental or historical origins. "Maybe it is the very first key for the first front door when the home was built???" suggested u/SILVERSKID70. Another user, u/NoVillage7217, said: "If it's in the basement, it could have gone to a hope chest stored there in the past." Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system. A stock image of a rusted key on a wooden table. A stock image of a rusted key on a wooden table. Getty Have you ever made a unique discovery in your home? Let us know via life@ and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Woman Buys $97,000 'Treasure House'—but There's a Twist
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A woman who purchased a home for $97,000 was met with an unexpected surprise—the entire property came fully furnished with the previous owner's belongings, including what she now dubs the "Narnia dresser"—a basement chest of drawers filled with strange and nostalgic items. The viral moment was shared by YouTuber @chloeisag on June 10, and has since garnered more than 610,000 views. In the video, the woman cheerfully announces: "I bought this house for $97,000 with everything in it. I'm calling it the treasure house and today we are back in the basement guys." The clip features a bewildering inventory session as she sorts through the "mystery Narnia dresser," a reference to the wardrobe from The Chronicles of Narnia series that concealed a magical world. "Today we are going to go through the mystery Narnia dresser," the woman says. "So I found this dresser when I was going through the basement. Let's see what is in it." Americans face soaring housing costs. The 2024 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University outlines a grim national backdrop: soaring home prices; rent hikes during the COVID-19 pandemic; and widespread affordability struggles. The report found home prices rose in 97 of the top 100 markets, with sharper increases in the Northeast and Midwest. Around 12.1 million households in the U.S. are now considered "severely cost-burdened," meaning they spend more than half their income on housing, according to the report. As traditional paths to homeownership grow increasingly out of reach, viral moments like this one—of a seemingly affordable and unexpectedly enchanting home—offer a glimpse into a rarer reality. 'Who Knows What This Is' The drawers in the viral video reveal a curious mix of household items. "We got some utensils going on, we also have lots of chopsticks … we have some scissors and a whisk … and then this is fun … an ice-cream scoop, how long has this been there?" the homeowner asks. A subsequent drawer yields even more oddities, including some beeswax, some silverware and a pair of "Charli XCX glasses from 1994," and some containers of glitter, the woman says, lifting the items. The contents of the next drawer escalate the intrigue, featuring a couple of doorknobs and "a baby watch that's literally the size of my pinkie finger," she says. The woman also uncovers a box marked with a warning from the United States Treasury that reads, "store in a cool dry place … penalty for private use $300." The woman said: "I didn't end up opening this actually because it's sealed, it's from 1991. Who knows what this is, I'm so curious," she adds, noting that the drawer contained other boxes with addresses. "I need to figure out how to be sensitive with that info." The video wraps up with the woman showcasing more items, including aged Bacardi liquor and cotton bandannas. In a follow-up clip, the poster reveals that she also discovered a meticulously preserved scrapbook, complete with every card that a couple received on their wedding day. Viewers on YouTube were amazed by the poster's finds, as well as the dresser itself. User @cherylemaybury9967 wrote: "Those sealed boxes are mint sets of coins. They might be worth a lot of money." User @JudyWiggins-k2z said: "That's my favorite ice cream scoop. I have one !! I found it at an antique store. My process at any antique store is don't buy anything to collect dust. Buy to use!!!" User @JHS-n3r posted: "That would be a gorgeous dresser if it was refinished, absolutely love it." User @melaniehickman5389 commented: "You must refinish that dresser. It's amazing." Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via YouTube. This video has not been independently verified. Stock image: An old worn chest of drawers stands on tiles. Stock image: An old worn chest of drawers stands on tiles. Getty Do you have a home-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@ and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Want to understand why the Massachusetts housing market is broken? Look at this chart.
In other words, housing costs in Massachusetts have grown much faster than incomes, creating a financial gap that, to many, can feel insurmountable. 'The gap between what people make and what homes cost is completely outrageous,' said Albert Saiz, an associate professor of urban economics and real estate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 'And this data does not even represent the situation for working-class families who are making minimum wage. A large portion of the state's population cannot afford to buy a home here, which is not how a housing market is supposed to function.' Economists consider the ratio of home prices to incomes to be a reliable indicator of the state of a housing market. Typically, a house-price-to-income ratio of three — a median household income of $100,000 and median home price of $300,000, for instance — is seen as healthy. Related : Advertisement In Greater Boston in 2023, that ratio was 6.3, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, more than double that healthy rate. Advertisement It wasn't always this way. In the 1980s, the region's house-price-to-income ratio hovered around three, before beginning a slow ascent leading up to the 2000s, when it began to climb rapidly. An apartment building under construction in Revere in 2023. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff The last time the price-to-income ratio here was this high was in the mid-2000s, in the lead-up to the housing market crash that spurred the Great Recession. The force behind the growing gap between incomes and prices is The rise in home prices is not just about how many homes the state builds each year, said Keren Horn, an associate professor of economics at UMass Boston. It is also about the kind of homes developers build. For decades, builders here built smaller, relatively affordable 'starter homes' in the suburbs of Boston. Today, most single-family homes that are built are larger 'McMansions,' in many cases on the lots of older starter homes that are torn down to make way. That trend is partially related to the high cost of land, especially in Greater Boston, but it contributes to rising house prices nonetheless. 'We're seeing decades and decades of bad housing policy catching up to us,' Horn said. 'Housing is supposed to be affordable to the people who need it. We can't expect to have a healthy region if the current price trajectory continues.' The soaring price tags for homes wouldn't matter quite as much if incomes were keeping pace, but they haven't. From 1987 through 2022, the median income in Massachusetts grew by roughly 190 percent, while the price for the typical single-family home grew by close to 300 percent. Advertisement Housing has always been expensive in Massachusetts, by national standards. But Massachusetts, especially Greater Boston, also has higher incomes than most of the rest of the country. Still, now, to afford the typical house here, a household needs to earn roughly $217,000 a year, according to Harvard's housing center. Related : What the yawning gap between house prices and incomes amounts to is, effectively, a change in who can hope to own a home here. In the 1980s and before, when incomes and home prices were in sync, homebuying was an accessible tool of wealth-building for the working and middle classes. Many families who bought in those days have seen their home values double, triple, or even quadruple, becoming an asset for younger generations. That same pathway to generational wealth is now far more difficult to access. That leaves many average earners in younger generations two options: rent, seemingly forever, or leave the state. 'We are going to witness a huge generational divide, in terms of access to wealth,' Saiz said. 'Or people are just going to find somewhere else to live.' Andrew Brinker can be reached at
Newsweek
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Woman Relaxes in High-Rise Bedroom—Then Sees Someone at the Window
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A video of an apartment resident caught in an unexpected "embarrassing" moment while attempting to enjoy a lazy day in bed has gone viral on TikTok. The clip was shared by @sweatyratz and has garnered more than 24.1 million views since it was first posted on April 9. The footage begins with a view of a couple of window cleaners strapped into harnesses while dangling outside a floor-to-ceiling glass bedroom window. The camera later pans to a woman in the bed wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Text overlaid on the video reads: "POV [point of view]: Thought you'd be safe to bed rot in ur high-rise apartment but ppl [people] come out of the LITERAL sky to judge u." "Stay safe," the poster advised in the caption shared with the post. There are soaring housing costs in the United States. A rise in rent prices during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an "unprecedented affordability crisis," with around half of U.S. renter households burdened by housing costs, according to a 2024 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Around 12.1 million households are "severely cost-burdened," with more than half of their income spent on housing expenses. Millions of potential homebuyers in the United States have been "priced out of the market by elevated home prices and interest rates," the report found. 'So Embarrassing' Viewers on TikTok were mortified on behalf of the apartment resident in the viral clip, with several raising various concerns. User richindaisies posted: "THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING one time this happened while I had my back to my bedroom window & was scoffing down a big mac watching a movie. I thought it was raining til I realized it was a window cleaner." User @yourmomma876 commented: "Don't they send notices when they're gonna do a window cleaning on the building?" User bunnydollxo added: "How do you sleep without curtains." User YoinkerBadu wrote: "People who don't own curtains are just begging for this to happen." User kaylaaa_425 said: "idc [I don't care] HOW high my windows be, I will NEVER not have blinds idc, I'm convinced there's nosy ahh ppl across the skyline w[ith] binoculars, I ain't takin NO chances." User KO asked: "WHAT IF YOU WERE CHANGING??" User @finequeenbean posted: "This would be so problematic, I am a nudist at home. Do they warn you in advance at least??" Ems noted, "The things those guys must see," and Charlie said: "I can only imagine what those guys have seen." Shaq wrote: "they must love and fear their job." A screenshot from a viral TikTok video about a resident in high-rise apartment who is startled by window cleaners that appear outside her bedroom. A screenshot from a viral TikTok video about a resident in high-rise apartment who is startled by window cleaners that appear outside her bedroom. @sweatyratz on TikTok Do you have a home-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@ and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Boston Globe
14-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
If so many people are leaving Massachusetts, why aren't housing costs going down?
Nearly everyone agrees that perhaps the biggest threat to Massachusetts' economy is that But if so many people are moving away, why don't housing prices go down? The state's combination of slow population growth and sky-high prices would seem to contradict the basic laws of supply and demand. Related : The simplest explanation is this: Even if people leave the state, Massachusetts is so short on homes that There is no true estimate of exactly how many homes Massachusetts needs to meet demand right now, because different economists have different ways of measuring these things. Advertisement So researchers tend to defer to the most obvious indicator: the 'There is no one perfect measure of the housing shortage,' said Daniel McCue, a senior research associate at Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. 'The easiest thing to look at is the housing market and the way prices are growing here. That is indicative of extreme demand that the state isn't meeting.' One recent example: In many parts of the country, home prices have modestly dipped over the last two years due to rising interest rates. Not here. Statewide, Advertisement That alone, said McCue, is enough of an indicator that the state needs to build more, much more. And then there's the broader picture of the state's population trends. Related : Much of under President Trump. But immigration has driven population growth here for some time. Domestic migration was negative well before COVID — every year going back to 2014 — while international immigration has been positive. Then there are births in the state, which have outpaced deaths here for years, though that growth has slowed recently. So while people are leaving the Massachusetts, the population is still growing. And on top of the number of people who live in the state is the number of households they form. That number is also expected to grow over the next ten years, said McCue. Related : Advertisement Someone forms a new household when they move into a new living arrangement. The simplest example of this is when a young person moves out of their parents' home, and what was one household becomes two. Household growth has surged in the US in recent years — driven mostly by Millennials — and the same has been true in Massachusetts. Between 2025 and 2035, the state figures some 500,000 Millennial and Gen Z residents will form new households here, exceeding the pace at which Baby Boomer and other older households shrink or move away. A condo development under construction in Jamaica Plain. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff The easiest way to think of that dynamic and how it impacts the housing market in Massachusetts is like this: Picture a couple who raised two children in a Boston suburb. Eventually, those children will move out on their own, forming new households of their own that require housing. Most won't find any place to live in the town they grow up, unless that town has built new housing. At the same time, their parents will still be living in the house they grew up in, now with empty bedrooms, because there are so few smaller options. What this dynamic means is that the number of people who need housing in Massachusetts will keep growing, even if the overall population does not. Those are the new households the Healey administration accounted for when it called on the state to build 222,000 new homes between 2025 and 2035. The researchers who helped create that recommendation assumed zero population growth; if they're wrong, of course, the state will need even more. Advertisement One somewhat common refrain is that population loss wouldn't be such a bad thing for Massachusetts, because it could lower housing costs. Why is it such a bad thing if the kids move away from the town they grew up in, or even out of the state, if it means demand for new homes will go down? The answer, said McCue, is that those kids are future workers, who power the state's companies and economy. If they leave, good jobs will follow. Housing costs would drop because of a downturn in the state's economy marked by job loss, companies leaving the state, and a generally weaker Massachusetts. 'That is not a scenario that anyone should be rooting for,' said McCue. 'States with healthy economies don't shrink.' Andrew Brinker can be reached at
