• The super rich are spending tens of thousands of dollars to make sure their children don't fall behind while schools turn to remote education.
• One Los Angeles mother purchased a $400,000 home in Minnesota because the town's school district is conducting in-person classes this fall.
• Another parent decided to shell out $720 a week on private French lessons for her preschooler when his Dallas school closed for the year. 
• A mother in California spent $2,000 converting her guest house into a bonafide classroom for her child's exclusive pod.
• NYC parents are spending up to $70,000 on elite pod teachers, plus $2,500-a-month on studio apartments to serve as makeshift classrooms, plus an additional $50,000 to keep their kids enrolled at their private schools.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Kacey, a Los Angeles mother, was willing to pay anything to make sure her two kids attended elementary school in-person this year.

Even if that meant coughing up $400,000 to purchase a second home in Minnesota.

"We think kids need to be in school and they will get a better education when they're not learning from a computer at home," said Kacey, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of social backlash. 

Which is why, while on a lakeside vacation in June, Kacey, 37, and her husband decided to splurge on a five bedroom house in a school district planning to resume in-person this fall. 

"We're willing to make the move to ensure our children have the best options for learning," she said. 

They'll leave their home in Los Angeles furnished, but vacant, and they'll turn their Midwest home into a rental property whenever they decide to move back.

"The pandemic has proven that my husband can work remotely and I'll be able to work on the house while the kids are in school," she said.

Kacey's not alone in her willingness to pay up to make sure her kids don't fall behind during the pandemic. According to data from Common Sense Media, a site that provides expert media reviews for parents, more than 50 million public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade will be learning remotely from home this year. And while the study found that approximately 30% of public school students lack internet or adequate computing devices, the wealthy are sparing no expense during Covid, spending tens of thousands on private tutors and guest-houses-turned-classrooms.

Private preschool tutors

In July, when Noelle S. found out her four-year-old son's preschool school would be closed indefinitely, she refused to let him sit home and binge on Daniel Tiger episodes.

"We attend a bilingual private school and want to make sure he continues to learn French during these formative years. We don't want him to fall behind," said Noelle, a 36 year-old mother of two.

She's spending $720 a week for her son to have private French lessons alongside two friends.

"It's too difficult to get rapid tests regularly here, so everyone will be masked," said Noelle, who lives in Dallas, Texas and asked that her last name not be used to protect her family.

A $2,000 guest house-turned-classroom transformation

For Marie L., $2,000 was a small price to pay to give her first grader a "real" classroom experience.

Until last week, Marie's detached 250 square foot dwelling served as her husband's home office, but when the Los Angeles Unified School District announced a virtual learning program for the fall semester, Marie, 33, decided to transform the space.

She ordered desks, a white board, a 50 inch television to live stream zoom tutorials, and built a library and cubbies complete with personalized pencil boxes and workbooks. 

"Unfortunately, chairs were out of stock from Amazon because other people were apparently quicker than I was to furnish their new classrooms," said Marie, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her husband's professional reputation.

Marie, a former teacher, will teach her daughter and five other kids three days a week. 

"I bought a no-touch thermometer to perform temperature checks every morning and I bought an air purifier for the room to give us even more peace of mind," she added. Parents will get tested for coronavirus bi-weekly and students won't bring anything other than a snack to school to minimize the transfer of belongings.

Pandemic pods can run parents up to $100,000, on top of annual private school tuitions

Amanda Uhry, the NYC-based founder of Manhattan Private School Advisors, says parents are going to unbelievable lengths to make sure their kids maintain a competitive edge year.

"We worked with one family — the wife was South African — and they flew on a private jet to South Africa at the beginning of the pandemic in March with their children and two of their kids' private school teachers," said Uhry.

Since Covid hit, Uhry says she's helped form more than 40 educational pods for families, each with five kids and one teacher.  

And joining a pod isn't cheap. In Los Angeles, the going rate for a private tutor can run as high as $350 per hour with a nine hour minimum per week, one mother told Business Insider. 

In NYC, pandemic teachers are commanding roughly $60,000 to $70,000 for the school year — that is, if you can even find one who is available. Add to that, $2,500-a-month for the studio apartments individuals are renting to host the pods.

"People don't want other kids coming into their homes," said Uhry.

In addition to forking over up to six figures for a private instructor, parents are paying their normal $50k per year tuition at private school to hold their spot. 

Says Uhry: "Parents will do anything to make sure their kids succeed." 

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Belgian beer brand Stella Artois has launched a new virtual hotel experience that brings the comforts of a five-star hotel to a few lucky guests at home.
• Called Hotel Artois @ Home, the experience includes a wake-up call from actor Liev Schreiber, branded robes delivered to guests' doors, room service prepared by "Desperate Housewives" actress Eva Longoria in coordination with local chefs, and a virtual chat with Bravolebrity Andy Cohen.
• Today through August 20, Stella Artois will be sporadically releasing four free reservations for September 2 on its booking portal and dropping hints about timing on Twitter.
• Hotel Artois @ Home points to a new trend in luxury hospitality: With more Americans staying close to home, hotels and brands are pivoting to meet travelers where they are. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Five-star hotels have gone virtual. 

Today, Belgian beer brand Stella Artois launched Hotel Artois @ Home, a new at-home luxury hotel experience curated by a cast of celebrities including Liev Schreiber and Eva Longoria.

Through August 20, four free hotel reservations for September 2 will sporadically appear on the Hotel Artois @ Home booking portal.

In place of in-person experiences, Hotel Artois @ Home will rely on video conferencing and door-side delivery. Those who snag a reservation will receive a "white glove welcome" prior to their virtual stay, including a personalized itinerary delivered to their door as well as a mini-fridge filled with beer and snacks, a fluffy branded robe and slipper set, and a tablet for interacting with the hotel's celebrity "staff."

The day of their stay, guests will get a personal wake-up call from Liev Schreiber and participate in select virtual sessions with influencers organized by pro basketball player and "hotel concierge" Blake Griffin. These include a mixology class with Elliott Clarke of Apartment Bartender and a meditation class led by yogi Tie Simpson.

Guests will also be able to attend a one-on-one virtual gab session with Bravo host and "bartender" Andy Cohen and enjoy Eva Longoria's Arroz con Pollo dish, prepared in coordination with a local chef, for lunch or dinner depending on their location. 

Amid the pandemic, hospitality and travel companies have pivoted to meet travelers where they are: at home

While we've already seen Airbnb experiences and online wine tastings expanding hospitality to the virtual realm, a complete hotel experience coming to you via the internet is a newer and less explored concept — and one that Hotel Artois @ Home might kickstart in full force, as more people decide that a simple "staycation" on their couch in loungewear just isn't cutting it.

"For many people, our homes became 'the office' this year, so it can be hard to embrace it as a comparable location to the faraway summer getaway you were envisioning," Lara Krug, VP of Marketing at Stella Artois, said in a statement.

As the coronavirus has brought travel to a screeching halt, many people have had to redefine their concepts of vacation and downtime. Schreiber told Business Insider that the pandemic has shifted what "luxury" means to him.

"I think the pandemic has helped me realize that the real luxury in my life is time. Whether it's time with my kids, Stellas in the driveway with friends, or just being able to kick back and read a book," he said. 

SEE ALSO: Virtual tours, workshops, tastings, and cooking classes are now stand-ins for food and travel experiences. Here are 7 we recommend.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak

• Elon Musk has made more money than any other billionaire throughout the course of the coronavirus pandemic, more than tripling his net worth in the past five months.
• He is now the fourth-richest person in America.
• Musk and Canadian recording artist Grimes welcomed a baby boy named X Æ A-12 in May.
• A notorious workaholic, Musk doesn't spend his money on lavish vacations or expensive hobbies; he even said he planned to spend his 48th birthday improving Tesla's logistics.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus pandemic has been an economic disaster for most Americans, but not for Elon Musk.

The Telsa CEO has made more than $48 billion between March 18 and August 13, an increase of more than 197%, according to a new analysis by left-leaning think tank the Institute for Policy Studies released Monday. That's significantly more than any other billionaire made during the same time period.

Remarkably, Musk made his billions without ever taking a paycheck from Tesla. The CEO refuses his $56,000 minimum salary every year. In January 2018, Tesla announced it would pay Musk nothing for the next 10 years — no salary, bonuses, or stock — until the company reaches a $100 billion market cap. If and when that happens, Musk could potentially overtake Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world.

Keep reading to find out what we know about how Musk amassed his fortune and how he spends it.

SEE ALSO: A look at the demanding schedule of Elon Musk, who plans his day in 5-minute slots, constantly multitasks, and avoids phone calls

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Decades before becoming a father of six and amassing an $84.8 billion fortune, Musk taught himself to code as a child growing up in South Africa. By the time he was 12, he sold the source code for his first video game for $500.

Source: MONEY

Just before his 18th birthday, Musk moved to Canada and worked a series of hard labor jobs, including shoveling grain, cutting logs, and eventually cleaning out the boiler room in a lumber mill for $18 an hour — an impressive wage in 1989.

Sources: MONEY, Esquire - Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Musk got a pay cut to $14 an hour when he started a summer internship alongside his brother, Kimbal, at the Bank of Nova Scotia after cold-calling — and impressing — a top executive there.

Sources: MONEY, Esquire - Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

After he arrived for his freshman year at Queens University in 1990, Musk quickly picked up a side hustle selling computer parts and full PCs to other students. "I could build something to suit their needs like a tricked-out gaming machine or a simple word processor that cost less than what they could get in a store," Musk said.

Sources: MONEY, Esquire - Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Within two years, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania on a partial scholarship.

Sources: MONEY, Esquire - Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

To cover the rest of his tuition, Musk and a buddy would turn their house into a speakeasy on the weekends, charging $5 at the door. "I was paying my own way through college and could make an entire month's rent in one night," Musk said.

Sources: MONEY, Esquire - Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Musk graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics and an economics degree from the Wharton School and moved to Stanford to pursue his PhD.

Source: MONEY

He left the program within days to found an internet startup with his brother. They started Zip2, a city guide software for newspapers, with $28,000 in seed money from their father.

Source: MONEY

Four years later, in 1999, they sold Zip2 for $307 million, earning Musk $22 million. He invested more than half of his earnings to cofound X.com, an online banking service.

Source: MONEY

The company quickly merged with its rival and became PayPal, with Musk as the majority shareholder. In 2002, eBay bought PayPal and Musk walked away with $180 million.

Source: MONEY

Musk turned his attention to his new space exploration company, SpaceX, after leaving PayPal. A few years later he cofounded electric-car maker, Tesla, and then SolarCity, a solar power systems provider. The success of these companies eventually launched him into the billion-dollar club — but not before he went broke.

Source: VentureBeat

In late 2008, Musk divorced his first wife and it took a toll on his finances. A year later, Musk said he "ran out of cash" and had been living off loans from friends while trying to keep his companies afloat.

Sources: VentureBeat, Forbes, TechCrunch

But when Tesla debuted on the stock market in 2010, Musk's fortune sky rocketed. By 2012, he appeared on Forbes' richest list for the first time with a net worth of $2 billion.

Source: Forbes

Over seven years later, Musk has amassed an $84.8 billion fortune — and he's not shy when it comes to spending it.

Source: Bloomberg

The CEO bought more than $100 million worth of residential property in California. He has since offloaded much of his real estate after vowing to sell it all and "own no house" on May 4.

Source: The Real Deal, Variety, Business Insider

Musk went on a buying spree in Los Angeles' ritzy Bel-Air neighborhood starting in late 2012, when he purchased a 1.67-acre estate for $17 million. The mansion has a two-story library, a home theater, a gym, and 1,000-bottle wine cellar.

He also listed the neighboring ranch-style home he owns, which once belonged to Gene Wilder, at the same time.

Source: Variety, CNBC, Business Insider

As the leader of one of the preeminent auto-makers, it's no surprise Musk has an affinity for cars. Back in 2013, he paid $920,000 at an auction for the Lotus Esprit submarine car used in a James Bond movie.

Source: MONEY, CNBC

In addition to driving Teslas, Musk owns two gas-powered cars: a Ford Model T and a Jaguar E-Type Series 1 Roadster.

Source: MONEY, CNBC

Despite having funds to spare, Musk isn't a fan of lavish vacations — or any vacations for that matter. In 2015, he said he'd only taken two weeks off since founding SpaceX about 12 years earlier.

Sources: Inc., Quartz

Musk has five children with his ex-wife Talulah Riley. In a 2014 tweet, Musk said he takes the kids on an annual camping trip. "I'm a pretty good dad," he said. "I have the kids for slightly more than half the week and spend a fair bit of time with them. I also take them with me when I go out of town."

Sources: Twitter, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Musk and Canadian singer Grimes, his on-again, off-again girlfriend, welcomed a baby boy on May 4. They named the child X Æ A-12 Musk.

Source: Business Insider

But by August 2018, Musk told The New York Times that he had taken to working 120 hours a week. "There were times when I didn't leave the factory for three or four days — days when I didn't go outside," he told The Times. "This has really come at the expense of seeing my kids. And seeing friends."

Source: The New York Times

Musk said on an earnings call in 2017 that he doesn't have a desk at the Tesla factory: "I always move my desk to wherever — I don't really have a desk actually — I move myself to wherever the biggest problem is in Tesla. I really believe that one should lead from the front lines, and that's why I'm here."

Sources: Business Insider, Fortune

Musk admitted to spending "many late nights" at Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory re-writing software during a production sprint for the Model 3.

Source: Fortune

For a story published in August 2018, Business Insider reporters spoke with 42 Tesla employees, who said Musk is a visionary, but also unpredictably demanding.

Source: Business Insider

Musk said in June 2019 that he even planned to spend his 48th birthday on June 28 at work, improving the company's "global logistics."

Source: Business Insider

Musk told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he is, in fact, "somewhat impulsive" and doesn't "really want to try to adhere to some CEO template."

Source: Business Insider

Not only does Musk spend a ton of time at Tesla, he also spends a lot of his money on the company. In the first six months of 2018, he bought more than $35 million worth of shares in Tesla.

Source: CNN

Musk also invests a lot of time, energy, and resources into SpaceX.

Source: Business Insider

SpaceX has raised more than $2.2 billion to develop, build, and launch Starlink, an effort to cover Earth in ultra-fast broadband internet and build the prototype of Starship, a gargantuan reusable space vehicle designed to bring people to Mars, reported Business Insider's Dave Mosher. The company was valued at $33.3 billion in June 2019.

Source: Business Insider, CNBC

Musk also helms The Boring Company, which he founded in 2016 to develop and construct an underground tunnel in Los Angeles in an effort to mitigate traffic. In December 2018, Musk debuted the first prototype.

Source: Business Insider

According to The New York Times, The Boring Company raised over $112 million in 2018 — and more than 90% of it came from Musk.

Source: The New York Times

In 2012, Musk signed The Giving Pledge, vowing to donate the majority of his wealth during his lifetime. Though he's already in the business of improving our environment and the future during his day job, Musk has made sizable donations to causes he cares about, including a $10 million gift to the Future of Life Institute to regulate artificial intelligence.

Sources: Twitter, Business Insider

Musk found himself in legal trouble with the SEC in 2018 after he tweeted that he had obtained the funding to take Tesla private, which moved the company's stock price. Musk reached a settlement with the SEC in April 2019.

Source: Business Insider

Musk moved Tesla share price again on May 1, sending it down 13% after tweeting "Tesla stock price is too high imo."

Source: Markets Insider

At the end of the day, the multibillionaire says he enjoys inexpensive hobbies like listening to music, playing video games, and reading books. "Hang out with kids, see friends, normal stuff," he said. "Sometimes go crazy on Twitter. But usually it's work more."

Source: Quartz

Musk's Twitter habits once again got him into legal trouble after Musk called the British cave diver who helped rescue a Thai soccer team a "pedo guy"; the diver sued Musk for defamation. A jury ruled in Musk's favor in December 2019.

Source: Business Insider

Musk has had plenty of headline-making outbursts both on- and offline. When a metal ball shattered the "armored glass" of Tesla's Cybertruck during a demonstration in November, Musk said "oh my f---ing god."

Source: Business Insider

The billionaire has more than tripled his net worth in 2020 so far, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: Business Insider

• Britney Spears' conservatorship, also known as a legal guardianship, was implemented in 2008 after Spears experienced several mental breakdowns.
• Under the arrangement, Spears has no legal control over her estate or financial and personal assets — those rights were granted to her father and a lawyer.
• While supporters of the #FreeBritney movement say Spears is being manipulated, those involved in the conservatorship say she's very involved in decision-making.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Britney Spears hasn't legally controlled her life and fortune in 12 years.

The conservatorship— a legal guardianship typically enacted for those incapable of making their own decisions — was approved by the court in 2008 after Spears had several public mental breakdowns. The arrangement put her estate, financial assets, and some personal assets under the control of her father and a lawyer. Earlier this year, it was extended until at least August 22.

And most recently, Spears asked for her father to be removed as sole conservator of her estate, according to court documents.

Since its implementation, the conservatorship has generated a lot of controversy among Spears' fans. Some think she's being controlled and manipulated, which has fueled the #FreeBritney movement. But those close to Spears have told several media outlets over the years that the conservatorship is meant to help the pop icon and that she is very involved in business decisions.

A representative for Spears didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on this story.

Here's a look inside the complex arrangement that is Spears' conservatorship.

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In the late 2000s, Britney Spears had several highly publicized mental breakdowns.

During this time, Spears was spotted driving her SUV with her son Sean on her lap and not strapped in a car seat. She also famously shaved her head and was seen hitting a photographer's car with an umbrella.

In 2008, Spears made several trips to rehab and was committed twice to a psychiatric hospital — also known as a 5150 hold in California, where Spears lives, Laura Newberry reported for the Los Angeles Times. Newberry spent three months examining Spears' conservatorship.

This tumultuous period led to Spears' court-approved conservatorship, which was implemented at the end of 2008.

Her father, Jamie Spears, petitioned for an emergency "temporary conservatorship" after Britney's second psychiatric hold, Newberry reported. 

A conservatorship is also known as a legal guardianship. It's granted to those who are incapable of making decisions, such as people with mental disabilities and those with dementia. Law experts told Newberry a conservatorship was "unusual for someone as young and productive as Spears."

Under the conservatorship, Spears has no control over financial or personal decisions. That power was granted to her father and her attorney.

Jamie Spears was granted oversight of her estate and health, which involves everything from negotiating business opportunities to restricting visitors, while attorney Andrew Wallet was assigned to help manage her financial assets.

Wallet once called the arrangement a "hybrid business model." Newberry said this could mean that the conservatorship has helped Britney Spears seal business deals she wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

In 2019, Jamie Spears requested to extend his daughter's conservatorship to more than 10 states, including Hawaii, Florida, and Louisiana, Newberry reported.

The exact details of the arrangement aren't known, but all of Spears' financial decisions must be documented in court reports.

Britney Spears' most recent financial documents showed that as of 2018, she had a net worth of $59 million. That year, she spent $400,000 on living expenses and $66,000 on household supplies.

She also spent $1.1 million on her legal and conservator fees that year. Her father took home $128,000 of that, according to the documents cited by ET.

The conservatorship is intended not only to prevent Spears from making poor financial and business decisions but also to protect her from potentially toxic people.

Spears was granted a restraining order against Sam Lutfi in 2009 and 2019. He was accused of saying he was her former manager and being a bad influence during her mental breakdowns, CNN reported, citing a court filing.

The pop star's lawyers accused Lutfi of attempting to "insinuate himself into Ms. Spears' life with disastrous results for her," Lisa Respers France reported for CNN, citing court filings. He was also accused of sending her mom disparaging texts to disrupt the conservatorship.

The most recent restraining order says Lutfi must stay at least 200 yards away from Spears and can't make "disparaging public statements" about her, her family, her conservator, or her current manager, according to CNN.

But not everyone feels the conservatorship is a good thing. Some fans think Spears is being controlled and have pushed the conservatorship in and out of the spotlight with the #FreeBritney movement.

A fan site began the #FreeBritney campaign in 2009 as a response to the conservatorship, Julia Jacobs reported for The New York Times. Even celebrities like Taryn Manning and Miley Cyrus have publicly expressed concern for Spears.

Sources close to Spears have insisted she hasn't been manipulated, saying fans don't grasp the mental-health and legal specifics behind the conservatorship.

Newberry said she found no "independent evidence" that the conservatorship was harming Spears. The singer's attorney Stanton Stein told Newberry that Spears was involved in all career and business decisions. Two anonymous sources also told Chloe Melas of CNN that Spears had more control over her life than it appears.

"The conservatorship is not a jail," Larry Rudolph, Spears' manager, told Emily Yahr of The Washington Post. "It helps Britney make business decisions and manage her life in ways she can't do on her own right now."

And Spears has remained incredibly active in her career since her conservatorship was implemented.

Until 2019, Spears dropped an album every two to three years. She also had a four-year Las Vegas residency; her final performance grossed $1.1 million, the highest ever reported for a single theater Las Vegas residency show, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. That's not to mention her "Piece of Me Tour" in 2018 grossed an estimated $54.6 million, according to Touring Data.

During this time, Spears also launched clothing and perfume lines, landed a luxury fashion campaign, and served as a judge on "The X Factor."

But in the beginning of 2019, Spears took a step back from her career to check into a mental-health facility, which prompted the #FreeBritney supporters to express concern yet again.

Spears had put her new Las Vegas residency, "Domination," on hold to focus on her mental health.

In April, a fan podcast called "Britney's Gram" released a voicemail from an anonymous source who said he was a former paralegal involved with the conservatorship. He said Spears was forced to go to the mental-health facility. The podcast hosts told Yahr they verified the source's employment but didn't give specifics.

But a source close to Spears told Melas that she checked in to the mental-health facility voluntarily to deal with the serious health issues her father was facing and because her medication stopped working. And Newberry reported that three weeks after she checked in, Spears wrote on Instagram, "Don't believe everything you read and hear."

Around this time, Spears' lawyer resigned as co-conservator but didn't give a reason for his resignation. This left Jamie Spears as the sole conservator.

Wallet wrote in court filings the "conservatorship is engaged in numerous ongoing business activities requiring immediate attention" and that it was best he resign immediately, Newberry reported. Otherwise, Britney Spears would suffer "substantial detriment, irreparable harm, and immediate danger," he wrote.

Wallet has said he has prevented "the many hundreds" of people working with Spears from giving her drugs, saving her from a financial crisis. The resignation might be a sign that he disagreed with Spears' father on the conservatorship terms, a lawyer whom Spears once spoke with about contesting the conservatorship told Newberry.

During a status hearing in May 2019, Spears reportedly asked the judge to consider ending the conservatorship.

A source close to Spears told Melas this was nothing new: "Of course she wants it to end, because she's not of the right mental state to understand her issues."

A lawyer who said he represented Spears tried to end her conservatorship in 2009 but was denied by the judge, Yahr reported, adding that Spears' conservatorship terms wouldn't have allowed her to hire him.

After the May hearing, Rudolph, Spears' manager, said he wasn't "sure if or when she will ever want to work again."

In a second hearing in September 2019, Jamie Spears asked to be temporarily removed as a conservator. The role was temporarily appointed to Britney Spears' care manager.

TMZ reported that Jamie Spears filed paperwork to temporarily step down as conservator so he could focus on his health.

However, the move came after Jamie Spears was accused of having an altercation with Spears' son Sean, Kat Tenbarge reported for Insider. The singer's ex-husband and the father of her two children, Kevin Federline, filed a police report that led to a child-abuse investigation. Charges weren't filed, but the children were granted a restraining order against Jamie Spears, according to People.

The judge allowed Jamie Spears to step down from his conservator role over his daughter's personal life but not her financial life. Jodi Montgomery, Britney Spears' "care manager," was appointed as temporary conservator of Britney's personal life at Jamie's request, according to People.

Jamie Spears received another court win that year after suing the Absolute Britney blogger Anthony Elia, a source of the #FreeBritney movement, accusing him of spreading false and defamatory information.

Jamie Spears alleged that Elia falsely suggested that Jamie and his team were using social media to hurt his daughter's image and making it seem that Britney was unstable and needed a conservatorship, Cori Robinson reported for Above The Law. Jamie Spears said the suggestions sparked several death threats against those involved in the conservatorship, Above The Law reported.

In December, the court ordered Elia to stop the allegations against the conservatorship, particularly those suggesting the conservatorship is harming Britney Spears.

Spears' mother, Lynne Spears, made attempts in 2019 to get involved in the conservatorship. She's also reportedly engaged with the #FreeBritney movement.

Lynne Spears, who is divorced from Jamie, filed a legal motion in 2019 to be involved in the conservatorship process — she wanted to stay informed and have a say in her daughter's medical issues, Melas reported, citing court filings. She was present at Britney's court hearings that year, TMZ reported.

Lynne Spears was also spotted "liking" comments on Instagram about the #FreeBritney movement, Yahr wrote. And when fans noticed that positive comments were being deleted from Britney Spears' social-media accounts, Lynne responded to an Instagram post and said she also noticed the comments had disappeared, Guy reported.

Spears' conservatorship has already been extended twice in 2020.

In February, an LA county judge extended Spears' conservatorship until April 30. Montgomery will also remain temporary conservator until that date, the International Business Times' Sarah Guy reported.

According to The Blast, which obtained new legal documents, the judge extended the conservatorship while those involved "figure out what is best" for Spears.

They decided to extend the conservatorship again until at least August 22, Entertainment Tonight's Liz Calvario reported. According to court documents obtained by ET, a hearing on the matter never took place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The news comes around the same time Spears posted a video to her Instagram revealing that she accidentally burned down her home gym after leaving candles lit.

And the #FreeBritney movement was in the limelight yet again in July. It prompted Spears' former photographer Andrew Gallery to read a letter on TikTok that he says Spears wrote about her conservatorship.

Gallery said Spears wrote the letter at the beginning of her conservatorship, according to US Weekly. Gallery claims Spears gave him the letter at the time, which was "destroyed" by her conservators, but that he made a copy of it.

Spears wrote the letter from a third-person point of view.

"As for Kevin saying Britney divorced him, she was forced to by her lawyers because she went to visit him in NY and he wouldn't see her and the children and her lawyers said if she doesn't divorce him he's going to do it himself," reads the singer's alleged letter, in part.

Referring to the 2008 incident that resulted in her hospitalization, she allegedly wrote, "No one knows the truth. Her behavior when her children got taken away b/c of her locking herself in the bathroom is understandable considering her friend at the door kept telling her the cops are leaving don't worry stay in the bathroom."

"She was lied to and set up," the letter reads. "Her children were taken away and she did spin out of control which any mother would in those circumstances."

The Daily Mail published images of the handwritten letter in 2019.

In August, Spears reportedly asked the courts for the removal of her father as sole conservator of her estate.

Spears wants Montgomery, the temporary conservator who took over in September 2019, to take over as conservator permanently, TMZ reported, citing court documents filed by Spears' attorney.

Her current attorney, Samuel D. Ingham III, stated in the court filings that Spears wants a "qualified corporate fiduciary" managing the business affairs of her estate.

According to US Weekly, which reviewed the court filings, the pop star "is strongly opposed to having [Jamie] return as the conservator of her person" and "strongly prefers" that Montgomery "continue in that role as [she] has done for nearly a year."

In the court documents, Ingham broke down Spears' conservatorship into three phases in the court documents, according to PEOPLE:

• Stage 1: A "triage" when "conservators rescued her from collapse, exploitation by predatory individuals and financial ruin"
• Stage 2: Spears' "performing years" as a "world class entertainer"
• Stage 3: Spears has no desire to currently perform. "We are now at a point where the conservatorship must be changed substantially in order to reflect the major changes in her current lifestyle and her stated wishes," the documents read.

To end the conservatorship, Spears needs to prove she doesn't need it to get through life.

"Here we have a 37-year-old woman strong enough to be in the public eye and perform, but is supposedly not strong enough to look after her own children and her money," the pop-culture researcher Marc Brennan told Newberry.

Rudolph told Yahr that Spears' father wanted her to be free of the conservatorship. "He doesn't want this to continue forever," he said. "It's his daughter. He wants to see her happy. A functional life without any intervention like this."

• From Saint-Tropez to Marseille and Nice, parties across the French Riviera this summer have been making international headlines.
• In conversations with Business Insider, several French residents described a scene of non-stop partying and minimal mask-wearing.
• In recent weeks, restaurants and night clubs across Saint-Tropez have been forced to close down.
• According to a release from the public health department of France, the positivity rate in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, which includes the French Riviera, has climbed from 1.7% on August 5 to 2.8% on August 12. 
• Business Insider talked to French locals, parsed through local and national reports, and dove into social media posts to piece together the story of the French Riviera's pandemic party summer. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

At Nikki Beach Saint-Tropez, the party was on but the masks were off.

Half-naked bodies in neon bathing suits danced under towering palm trees at the A-list beach club. Champagne was flowing, and phones were out to document it all. It was the prime setting for a social media firestorm.

As one 20-year-old Parisian told Business Insider of her two-week Saint-Tropez vacation in July: "Mostly, I partied."

During France's two-month lockdown from March to May, Saint-Tropez had been what The Washington Post's Dana Thomas dubbed a "coronavirus-free bubble on the Mediterranean," with few reported coronavirus cases. Beach clubs and restaurants reopened in June with limited capacity and mask mandates.

But from July 25 to August 1, per the regional health agency, Saint-Tropez saw 65 new cases. As a result, the town shuttered several restaurants and dayclubs and issued a new mask mandate. Similar stories are unfolding in other towns across the French Riviera.

Business Insider was not able to obtain statistics for each city's new coronavirus cases, but various reports indicate what the situation looks like across the French Riviera. Nice and Marseille each have an infection spread rate of 1.55, higher than France's infection spread rate of 1.2. In Marseilles, there are 57 coronavirus cases for every 100,000 people— higher than the national average of 34 cases. And per a release from the public health department of France, the positivity rate in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, which includes the French Riviera, increased from 1.7% on August 5 to 2.8% on August 12.

On Friday, Jérôme Salomon, a French health ministry official, declared Marseille (along with Paris) an at-risk zone for coronavirus due to an uptick in cases. "The situation is deteriorating from week to week," he said on France Inter radio. A newly issued government decree now allows authorities to impose restrictions in the area.

Martin Blachier, an epidemiologist at Universite de Versailles Saint Quentin, told Business Insider that the French Riviera and Paris are the two most concerning regions in France where the coronavirus is escalating. "The virus circulates mainly in very young people here in France, between 20 and 30 years old mostly," he said.

So, how did this Mediterranean paradise wind up facing a fresh outbreak of cases? To piece together an understanding of the French Riveria's summer, Business Insider talked to five locals and tourists in France's southeastern coast, parsed through local and national reports from news outlets, reviewed press releases, and dove into social media posts from the area. We found that the coronavirus won't stop the French Riviera from partying — but that curbing the parties also presents a challenge in its own right.

'Like living on vacation'

The French Riviera is the place for the world's elite to rub shoulders every summer. The ports glitter with superyachts. Craggy cliffs jut over a turquoise sea, forming the French Riviera's famously rocky coastline. Quaint villages and coves are hidden between the region's cities and towns, the most famous of which are Saint-Tropez, Nice, and Cannes.

Saint-Tropez, known as "billionaires' harbor" and made famous by Brigitte Bardot's 1956 film "And God Created Women," is a jetsetter's paradise. Cannes, home to the annual Cannes Film Festival, lures in starlets and wealthy Hollywood types. And Nice is less party and more highbrow culture, attracting artists and aristocrats. It's the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille, which is known as an artsy, boisterous, and edgy city.

As a 22-year-old French local who lives just outside of Marseille told Business Insider, "French Riviera is like living on vacation."

In a typical year, the area mostly draws the international tourist crowd, Emma Carnot, a local Antibes resident, told Business Insider. She said they're often wealthy American or Chinese travelers, and some European middle class families. This year, though, she's seeing more French and European visitors. 

"We see way more of these young people that used to go to Thailand to go crazy," Carnot said, adding that their hunt for a party often leads them to Cannes and Saint-Tropez. "They end up here and create more problems."

Tourist season typically starts in mid-April, she said. But according to a press release from the French Riviera Tourism community, this summer started off slow. Hotel occupancy was at 22% in June. By the end of July, it had increased to 72%. Data on hotel occupancy rates in August was not yet available by the time of this article's publication.

The coronavirus comes to France

The first known source of the coronavirus in Europe was in France: On January 24, two people who had recently traveled to China tested positive in France for the coronavirus.

On March 3, President Emmanual Macron shut down 120 schools. On March 12, he shuttered all nurseries, schools, and universities after discovering the outbreak in France was more widespread than previously believed. And as of March 17, France was officially under lockdown.

While most of France was struggling to obtain coronavirus tests at this time, the president of the gated Saint-Tropez neighborhood Les Parcs de Saint-Tropez set up a private testing site for its billionaire residents. The preferential treatment caused an uproar in the local community.

Schools and businesses gradually began to reopen on May 11 with social distancing measures and a face mask mandate. By June 22, France's coronavirus cases had slowed down from its peak of 7,500 in a single day to about 450 cases per day, per The Financial Times. Jean-Francois Delfraissy, France's top scientific adviser, declared the virus was "under control." 

In June, Macron told his country, "We are going to get back to our art de vivre and recover our taste for liberty."

But Blachier, the epidemiologist, told The Financial Times in June that France's increased testing and tracing capacity may not weather a resurgence. That's not a good sign considering that Salomon, the health ministry official, told Parliament the same month he expected more cases during the summer holidays. 

Then came August, the month of the European holiday. Just eight days into August, France saw its sharpest 24-hour increase in coronavirus cases — 2,500 — since May, reported local outlet France 24. Health officials said indicators tracking the pandemic were "officially worsening." As of publishing time, coronavirus cases in France continue to climb.  

The French Riviera is facing a pandemic party problem

Even in the age of the coronavirus, the French Riviera is one big party. Partiers are flocking to Cannes, where Juliette Perelin wrote for Paris Match that "the instructions go to bed with the sun." 

In Nice, a dense, maskless crowd of 5,000 danced to EDM artist The Avener at an outdoor concert on July 12.

Concertgoers looked "like they were in a dance club," Carnot, the Antibes local, told Business Insider. Carnot noted that she was there for work and that she was one of the few people she saw wearing a mask. "It was a scary feeling to think the whole night, 'What is happening, are we making a huge mistake?'" 

Over in Marseille, newly declared at-risk as of August 14, the coronavirus wasn't stopping the fourth annual musical festival Paradise at Sea. Thirty boats and floating rafts heaved for 10 hours as bikini-clad attendees partied with wine bottles in hand. Event security took temperatures and shouted mask requirements, but also said they wouldn't be going to the police.

The 22-year-old French local Business Insider spoke to said the party scene in Marseille is active, especially on popular rooftops like R2 Rooftop and Baou. At Baou, she noted, temperature checks are conducted and masks are required to gain entry. By once inside, the masks come off.

"Absolutely no guests wear masks during the party," she said. "I feel like nothing has changed except for closed nightclubs and new rules."

In Saint-Tropez, as Thomas wrote for The Post and as the Nikki Beach scene shows, the limited capacity and staff mask rules became more lenient as the summer wore on. At restaurants, diners danced sans masks, Thomas said; at beach clubs, waitstaff were often maskless or wore masks improperly and many clubgoers refused to put on masks.

"Wearing masks [is] not a sexy look, that's for sure," Patrice de Colmont, owner of the famous beach retreat Club 55, told Thomas. He said half of the clubgoers refused to wear a mask inside to go to the restroom.

Now, Saint-Tropez has had to institute a series of business closures. According to Thomas, three restaurants — Indie Beach House, Pablo, and Noto — were shut down after employees tested positive for the coronavirus, and two beach clubs — Moorea and Verde — were closed after ignoring social distancing rules. Saint-Tropez Deputy Mayor Sylvie Siri told local outlet Var-Matin that the new mask mandates will "serve as an electroshock."

Business Insider reached out to the mayors of Saint-Tropez, Marseille, Nice, and Cannes respectively for information on the measures each has taken in response to the pandemic. A representative for the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, pointed us to a press release that detailed the steps the city had taken, including a citywide disinfection and a curfew. The mayors of Saint-Tropez, Marseille, and Nice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A world that keeps partying and a problem that stretches beyond the French Riviera

The French Riviera is not the only region facing a pandemic party problem.

Elsewhere in France, Paris is dealing with crowded cafe terraces and maskless pedestrians, per The Financial Times. In mid-June, thousands of revelers took over Parisian streets for the city's annual Fête de la Musique, drawing criticism from public health officials. And a reported 10,000 people attended an illegal outdoor rave party in France's remote Lozere region on August 10.

Outside of France's borders, parties have been raging all summer long, too. The Spanish island of Mallorca shut down three main party strips after maskless German and British tourists packed bars. Weeks after reopening, clubs in Barcelona were forced to shutter in July due to crowding and lax security measures. A recent party at a Prague nightclub was connected to 65 new coronavirus cases. And in the Hamptons, a reported 3,000 people attended a Chainsmokers "drive-in" concert, which is currently under investigation. 

As people across the world seek the freedom of their pre-pandemic life, reckless behavior — or even just behavior that was normal before the pandemic — can risk setting back any progress made in slowing down the spread of coronavirus. Blachier said that while the virus is circulating more around young people in France right now, it can put more vulnerable populations at risk. 

"That's exactly what happened in the US, like in Florida," Blachier said. But he also pointed out that controlling this kind of behavior is difficult.

"You can't tell young people they can't have parties because they need to have parties," he said. "They need to live. They need to have a life … but they need to protect their family."

As for the 20-year-old Parisian who spent two weeks partying in Saint-Tropez, she and her friends got tested upon returning to Paris. The results: negative. "I was concerned, of course," she said. "Not for me, but I was afraid to spread the virus to my family."

SEE ALSO: French Riviera restaurants and clubs are shutting down one by one as maskless partiers and lax rules cause a coronavirus outbreak

DON'T MISS: Inside the billionaires' compound on the French Riviera that set up its own private testing center while the rest of the country struggles to obtain coronavirus tests

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What it takes to be a PGA Tour caddie

• Two sets of billionaires are feuding over the height of a planned luxury tower in Miami Beach, Katherine Kallergis reported for The Real Deal.
• The billionaire developers of a planned Aman-branded luxury tower, OKO Group's Vladislav Doronin and Len Blavatnik of Access Industries, are seeking approval for a 47-foot height increase.
• But the residents of neighboring condo tower Faena House, which include former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin, and a former US ambassador, are strongly opposed.
• In a letter to the Miami Beach Planning Board, the condo owners said the taller tower would "obliterate" their ocean views and "cast extensive shade and darkness."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Two billionaire factions are feuding over the height of a planned luxury tower in Miami Beach, The Real Deal reported.

Billionaires Vladislav Doronin, CEO of developer OKO Group, and Len Blavatnik, chairman of investment firm Access Industries, are asking for a 47-foot height increase for their planned Aman-branded luxury tower in Miami Beach, per the report. But the ultra-wealthy residents of the neighboring Faena House, a luxe condominium tower, are not pleased about the possibility of their multimillion-dollar penthouses being overshadowed. 

In a letter sent to the Miami Beach Planning Board on July 24 and signed by 27 Faena House residents — a copy of which was viewed by Business Insider — the condo owners said the new tower "... will obliterate our views to the beach and ocean, cast extensive shade and darkness, and cause other multiple deleterious impacts to our units."

The Aman tower was originally approved to be 203 feet tall — the same height as Faena House. The new proposed height is 250 feet.

"A massive, 250-foot structure was never contemplated nor expected and not what we were advised when we purchased our units," the owners added in the letter.

The Faena House residents who signed the letter to the board include billionaire hedge-fund executive Ken Griffin (who's worth $15 billion), former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, hedge-fund manager Jamie Dinan (worth $2 billion), former US ambassador Paul Cejas, British hedge-fund founder Alan Howard (worth $1.7 billion), and Thomas Stern, the managing director of Chieftain Capital Management. 

Griffin, head of the Chicago-based Citadel hedge fund, bought Faena House's penthouse in 2015 for a record-breaking $60 million. He's also the owner of the priciest home ever sold in the US, a $238 million Manhattan penthouse he picked up in January 2019. He did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The exact net worth of OKO Group head Doronin, who also owns Aman Resorts, is unknown, but it's been estimated at upwards of $1 billion. He bought luxury resorts chain Aman Resorts in 2014 for a reported $358 million. The developer and hotelier's personal real-estate holdings reportedly include a full-floor apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City, a $16 million home on Star Island in Miami, and the only private home designed by late legendary architect Zaha Hadid.

Blavatnik, the Aman tower's investor, is worth upwards of $25 billion, per Forbes. Through his firm, he declined to comment for this story. Doronin did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

An attorney for the developers, Neisen Kasdin, told The Real Deal last week that the proposed Aman tower is set back farther from the street and that "if anything, Faena House will be casting a shadow over this building." Kasdin did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. 

The Miami Beach Planning Board confirmed to Business Insider that it plans to review the Aman tower's proposed height increase on August 25 and then provide a recommendation to the City Commission, which has the authority to approve the proposal.

Doronin, who's also building an office tower and two other condominium towers in Miami, told Business Insider last year that the Florida city has become a prime location for real-estate investment in recent years thanks, in part, to its quality of life.

"It is attractive to business owners, CEOs, and those working in a high-stress job, as it enables them to de-stress and recharge after working hours," Doronin said.

It seems the CEOs of Faena House, however, may not be able to de-stress until they're assured their ocean views are no longer under threat.

SEE ALSO: An unknown buyer just dropped $100 million on a penthouse on New York City's Billionaires' Row

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why American sunscreens may not be protecting you as much as European sunscreens

• Profitability on vacation rentals can vary significantly based on location. 
• For investors looking to acquire new rental properties, vacation rental management platform Vacasa outlined the top markets with the greatest yearly rate of return. 
• Georgia and North Carolina each had two towns make the list, with a Montana city taking first place. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Smart investors know how important location is in selecting an investment property. 

And for investors looking to maximize their returns, some markets are better than others. 

In a new report from Vacasa, North America's largest vacation rental management platform ranks the top places to buy a vacation home in 2020 based on average cap rate, also known as yearly rate of return.

With over 25,000 vacation rentals under management, Vacasa's market data takes into account annual gross rental revenues in addition to median home values, and points to the most profitable locations for buyers to invest.

These are the 10 markets that came out on top. 

SEE ALSO: 7 cities real estate investors should target in the 2020s, from a property management CEO who built a $3 million portfolio from scratch

10. Blue Ridge, Georgia

Median home sale price: $291,595

Cap rate: 6.3%

9. Ellijay, Georgia

Median home sale price: $226,685

Cap rate: 6.4%

8. Palm Springs, California

Median home sale price: $459,857

Cap rate: 6.4%

7. Conway, New Hampshire

Median home sale price: $238,930

Cap rate: 6.5%

6. Corolla, North Carolina

Median home sale price: $560,599 

Cap rate: 6.9%

5. Dauphin Island, Alabama

Median home sale price: $289,623

Cap rate: 7.8%

4. Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Median home sale price: $269,523

Cap rate: 7.8%

3. Poconos, Pennsylvania

Median home sale price: $200,190

Cap rate: 8.2%

2. Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

Median home sale price: $379,248 

Cap rate: 8.6%

1. Big Sky, Montana

Median home sale price: $541,842 

Cap rate: 9.2%

• Jonathan Spears is one of the top real-estate agents in the country and just 28 years old, with over $600 million in career sales.
• He manages a team of seven and works primarily in the high-end market in northwest Florida. His team has more than $121 million in sales this year. 
• In an email to Business Insider, he provided an inside look at his daily schedule.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Jonathan Spears is no ordinary real-estate agent.

At just 28 years old, he has over $600 million in career sales and was named one of 2020's top 100 brokers in the country by Real Trends.

Even when he was younger, Spears was a go-getter. He enrolled in college at Florida State University at 14 years old, began his real-estate career in 2010 at 18, and has spent the past decade building his expertise in northwest Florida.

Spears, an agent for Sotheby's International in Destin, Florida, leads a team of seven and has had a promising 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic, with more than $121 million in sales year to date.

A key element to Spears' success is his daily schedule. For him, the day begins at 6:30 a.m. and ends about 11:00 p.m. — the hours in between are packed with meetings, phone calls, and showings. 

In an email to Business Insider, he laid out the daily routine he follows and how he manages such a busy schedule.

"Sometimes I'll just take a minute to have gratitude," he said. "I try to find moments when I can be present. We are so scheduled out, it's literally a 24/7 gig."

In addition to taking a moment to appreciate life around him, Spears said he exercises each day and partakes in intermittent fasting from 7:00 p.m. at night until 1:00 p.m. the following day, which he says gives him the energy he needs to get through the work day. 

However, one of the most important parts of his day doesn't have to do with work at all. 

"From 6 to 8, I really try to just put my phone down and be with my family," he told Business Insider. "To have that family time is so important."

6:30 a.m.

Wake up (check emails)

6:45 a.m.

Leave for the gym 

7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.

Personal trainer.

I rotate six days per week, Monday is Yoga, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday I have a personal trainer, and Wednesday/Friday I am glued to my Peloton — I always have to be in the top 2% of the riders in my class ... I love the competitive edge.

8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

Shower, get ready for the day.

8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Morning calls, 9:15 a.m. team huddle for 15 minutes (talk with my admin team and prioritize our daily schedule).

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Prospecting calls — proactive calling, either past clients, sellers, buyers, co-broke agents, etc. I also use this time to tackle the most important tasks of the day.

1:00 p.m.

End fast and eat lunch (sometimes this turns into 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. depending on if I have showings mid day).

1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Schedule mid-day showings.

4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Follow-up calls from showings, evening prospecting.

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Dinner and family time.

8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Follow up emails / phone calls, wind down with my wife and preparing for the next day.

10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Lights out.

SEE ALSO: $600 million in sales before 30: A top-ranked real-estate agent who's just 28 years old breaks down his 5 key success secrets

DON'T MISS: The 10 US cities where real estate has recovered the most since the start of the coronavirus pandemic

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What it takes to be a PGA Tour caddie

• Picnicking has become extremely popular as the pandemic continues to disrupt social life and travel.
• Picnics can be done in local parks, and being outside makes it easy to adhere to social distancing measures, in comparison to house parties or traveling to tourist hotspots. 
• But just because picnics are often quaint and local doesn't mean they can't be luxurious.
• High-end picnicking products can help make any summer brunch feel like a 5-star vacation.  
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Picnics are cool again, and it has everything to do with social distancing. 

Suddenly, local clean-cut lawns, cold glasses of rosé, wooden baskets, and charcuterie boards with pricey cheeses are more desirable than crowded tourist spots and sweaty clubs.

Spending time in the great outdoors, where people can more easily spread out at a safe distance from each other, also lessens the risk of catching COVID-19, according to science.

And if you really put your mind (and your imagination) to it, picnics in the local park can be just as luxurious as yachting Saint-Tropez.

Here are our picks for the best high-end picnic accessories, to help turn a quaint summer brunch into an extravagant yet intimate outing.

Note: It's important to bear in mind that because your risk of infection primarily has to do with how close you get to people, and for how long you're close to them, any sustained social interaction (whether indoors or outdoors) does come with some amount of risk.

SEE ALSO: 8 high-end recipe books to help you enjoy Prohibition-era cocktails and a Michelin-starred chef's dinner menu at home

DON'T MISS: The menswear guide to dressing for Zoom this summer: We asked top style experts to pick the 12 perfect shirts, pants, and style accessories for those hot summer months

A Marricreo Beige Picnic Basket perfect for holding all of your picnic essentials

Item: Marricreo Beige Picnic Basket 

Price: $955

Description: This basket is big enough to hold all of the picnic essentials and comes with wine glasses, silverware, plates, and two removable serving trays. 

Buy it here »

A YETI Hopper BackFlip 24 Backpack Cooler to keep your food and drinks cold for the whole day

Item: YETI Hopper BackFlip 24 Backpack Cooler 20-can

Price: $299.99

Description: This backpack cooler will keep all of your food and drinks cool for the duration of your picnic, and it's large enough to fit a day's worth of food. 

Buy it here »

A travel keg set that'll keep your beer (or any other beverages) perfectly chilled, easily accessible, and carbonated

Item: All-day drinker keg

Price: $339

Description: This keg set includes a uKeg Nitro and a uKeg 64 carbonated growler to keep your beverages cold all day.

Buy it here »

A Calistoga Insulated Wine Picnic Bag with a pouch that'll hold up to two bottles of wines

Item: Calistoga Insulated Wine Picnic Bag, Set for 4

Price: $179.99

Description: The Calistoga insulated wine picnic bag features multiple storage compartments and can fit two bottles of wine and plenty of snacks. A plus? You can even get it monogrammed with your initials.  

Buy it here »

A Kate Spade picnic champagne box to hold your extra bottle of bubbly

Item: Kate Spade Picnic Champagne Box

Price: $319

Description: Aside from holding a bottle of champagne, this box also can hold wallets and keys, and has another little pocket to hold extra snacks. 

Buy it here »

A waterproof blanket to lay down on and spread out all your snacks

Item: Waterproof picnic blanket 

Price: $129

Description: This waterproof picnic blanket will work on the sandy beach shores or on grassy terrain. It can also be monogrammed for a more personal touch. 

Buy it here »

And a portable gas grill for the freshest hot dogs and hamburgers in the park

Item: Cuisinart Venture Portable Gas Grill

Price: $199

Description: This portable gas grill, with heat-retaining porcelain-enameled cast-iron, weighs just 22 pounds. According to the product listing, it's powered by a 9,000-BTU stainless steel burner. 

Buy it here »

This page includes information about the Discover it® Cash Back product, which is currently not available on Business Insider and may be out of date.

The best no annual fee credit cards of 2020:

• Best for cash back: Citi® Double Cash Card
• Best if you have a Chase Sapphire card: Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• Earns among the highest cash back, if you work for it: Chase Freedom®
• Best for shopping at US supermarkets: Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express 
• Get your first year of cash back matched: Discover it® Cash Back
• 3x points on travel, dining, and streaming: Wells Fargo Propel American Express® card
• 1.5% cash back on every purchase: Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card
• Best for small businesses: Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card
• Best for earning Amex points: Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express
• Best for American, Delta, or United loyalists: Airline cobranded cards
• Please note: the offers mentioned below are subject to change at any time and some may no longer be available.

Many people feel that paying an annual fee for a credit card makes no sense. Why should you pay to spend money?

That's not to say that credit cards with annual fees are never worth it — it's possible to get $2,000 in value in your first year with the The Platinum Card® from American Express, for example, but that requires traveling enough to take advantage of its many travel benefits.

But if you don't travel much or don't need bells and whistles like annual statement credits, you can probably do just fine with a card that doesn't charge an annual fee. Plenty of cards without an annual fee offer strong rewards, too, so you're not missing out on points and miles.

The best no-annual-fee credit cards

1. Citi® Double Cash Card

The Citi® Double Cash Card earns 2% cash back — 1% when you make a charge, and 1% when you pay it. Since, if you're looking for credit card rewards, you should be paying your balance off in full each month, you can just look at the full 2%.

There's one downside, though: The card doesn't have a sign-up bonus. That said, it's one of the best cash-back cards, and it's simple to use because there are no bonus rewards categories to remember.

2. Chase Freedom Unlimited®

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is one of the best available options for a no-annual-fee card — especially if there's a chance that you'll want to earn more valuable credit card rewards with a premium card later on.

That's because while Chase markets the card as "cash back," it actually earns Ultimate Rewards points that you can redeem for cash (1 point = 1 cent). 

If you decide that you want maximize the value of those points by purchasing travel with a bonus through Chase, or transfer them to frequent flyer partners, you can open a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and pool your points from the two cards. The Chase Freedom Unlimited® earns 1.5% cash back (or 1.5 points per dollar spent), so paired with a Sapphire Reserve, it's a great card to use for purchases that aren't made on travel expenses or dining.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is a fantastic all-around card. However, to get the most value when it's time to spend your points, you need the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, too, so you can pool your points. Otherwise, points are only worth 1¢ each no matter how you use them, and they can't be transferred to airline or hotel partners.

3. Chase Freedom®

The Chase Freedom® works virtually the same way as the Freedom Unlimited, earning cash back in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards points that you can either combine with another card, or redeem for cash or merchandise. 

The key difference is how it earns those rewards. Unlike the Chase Freedom Unlimited®— which earns 1.5% cash back (or 1.5 points per dollar spent), the Chase Freedom® earns 5% (or 5x) in rotating categories each quarter on up to $1,500 spent in that category. For example, the current quarter includes purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods.

4. Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express

The Blue Cash Everyday is a cash-back card, earning 3% cash back at US supermarkets on up to $6,000 each year — and 1% after that — 2% back at US gas stations and select department stores, and 1% cash back on everything else.

There's also a "Preferred" version of the Blue Cash Everyday — the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express earns a bigger 6% back on the first $6,000 spent at US supermarkets per calendar year (and 1% after), 6% back on select US streaming services, 3% back at US gas stations and on transit including taxis, rideshares, parking, and tolls, and 1% cash back on everything else. The higher earning rate on the Preferred makes it worth paying the annual fee — however, the Blue Cash Everyday is still a great option if you're opposed to that.

5. Discover it® Cash Back

The Discover it® Cash Back works similarly to the Chase Freedom®: It offers 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent each quarter in rotating bonus categories, and 1% cash back on everything else.

It doesn't offer the same bonus categories as the Chase Freedom, though. While the Freedom is offering bonus cash back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases in Q3 of 2020, the Discover it® Cash Back is offering bonus cash back at restaurants and PayPal.

The Discover it® Cash Back for one other reason: Discover will match all your cash back after your first cardmember year. So if you earned $500 in cash back in your first year, Discover would match that $500 for a total of $1,000 in cash back. This awesome feature is available on all Discover cards — and all Discover cards have no annual fee.

6. Wells Fargo Propel American Express® card

This card from Wells Fargo has one of the more attractive rewards programs you'll find from a no-annual-fee card — at least, if you don't want to dive into the complicated world of multiple rewards programs and complex redemptions.

The card earns 3x points on all travel, dining, and select streaming services (and 1x point on everything else). If that sounds familiar, it's because it's almost the same as the popular Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which has a $550 annual fee. 

The Propel lets you redeem points for 1¢ each toward cash back, merchandise, travel, and more. It doesn't offer much in the way of additional benefits beyond rewards, though it does come with cell phone protection.

7. Quicksilver Cash Rewards Card

The Quicksilver card has no annual fee, and earns 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make. In this regard, it's similar to the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, though you can't combine your rewards with other credit cards to redeem them for travel; this is strictly a cash-back card.

There are also no foreign transaction fees, and the card's offering a sign-up bonus of $150 after you spend $500 in the first three months from account opening.

8. Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card

The Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card is another solid Chase entry, although this one is a business card — however, anyone with just about any kind of business can qualify, whether you have a brick-and-mortar space with employees, or you're a freelancer, or even someone with a small side gig.

Just like with the two Freedom cards, you can pool the "cash" you earn with points from a points-earning card, effectively converting your cash into (potentially) more valuable points. Alternatively, you can reap the rewards in the form of cash instead.

Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card earns 5% cash back (or 5x points) on the first $25,000 in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable, and phone services each card holder year. It earns 2% back (or 2x points) on the first $25,000 in purchases at gas stations and restaurants each year, and 1% (or 1x point) on everything else with no cap.

9. Amex EveryDay Card

American Express Membership Rewards is Amex's in-house rewards program, and the Amex EveryDay is the best no-fee card that earns them. These points can be redeemed for travel, merchandise, or more. However, the best option is to transfer them to a frequent flyer partner.

The EveryDay earns 2x points at US supermarkets (on up to $6,000 of purchases per year, then 1x after that) and at AmexTravel.com, and 1x on everything else. It also offers a 20% bonus on points earned in a billing period when you make 20 or more purchases during that period.

Like most Amex cards, features a few travel and purchase protections, as well as access to the Amex Offers program.

While most people will be better off with a version of the card that has an annual fee, the Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card, the regular EveryDay is still a strong option — especially since there's no annual fee.

10. A no-annual-fee airline credit card

• Delta: Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card
• American Airlines: American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card
• United: United TravelBank Card

Most airline credit cards worth having have an annual fee — although many of them will waive it for the first year. Those cards tend to come with useful benefits for people who fly with the airline, like priority boarding or free checked bags. You can learn more about the best overall airline credit cards here.

However, if you're interested in earning frequent flyer miles with a particular airline through your spending, but don't care about those perks and want to avoid the fee, you have a couple of options. 

If you're a Delta flyer, you can go for the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card, which offers 2 Delta SkyMiles on every dollar spent with Delta and at restaurants worldwide, and 1 mile per dollar on everything else. It also gets you a 20% discount — in the form of a statement credit — on Delta in-flight purchases like food or drinks.

American loyalists can consider the American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card. This card offers 2x AAdvantage miles on every dollar spent at grocery stores and with American Airlines, and 1 mile per dollar on everything else. 

United's no-annual-fee card doesn't earn miles, but instead offers cash back, called "TravelBank" cash, that can only be redeemed towards flights. You'll earn 2% TravelBank cash for every dollar spent with United, and 1.5% on other purchases. You'll also get 25% back on in-flight food and drink purchases.

Credit cards that just missed the cut

There are many other no-annual-fee credit cards that don't appear on this list. Here's an overview of the cards we considered that didn't make the final cut.

• Capital One® SavorOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card— This card earns 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, 2% back at grocery stores, and 1% back on all other purchases. Those are some solid bonus categories, but the Wells Fargo Propel beat it out for a place on our list.
• Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card— You'll earn 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase, which is better than the standard rate of 1 point/mile per dollar on credit cards, but not by much.
• Citi Rewards+(SM) Card— This card is unique in that it rounds up to the nearest 10 points on all your purchases. It also earns 2x points at supermarkets and gas stations (on up to $6,000 per year, then 1 point per dollar). Cards like the Wells Fargo Propel and the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express have the potential to earn you more rewards, but if you already have a Citi credit card and want to boost your Citi points balance, this card is worth a look. 
• Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card— With this card, you'll earn 1.5 points per dollar on every purchase. That's not a bad return on spending, but this card — and other Bank of America cards—  are most rewarding if you're already a Bank of America customer and have enough money in qualifying counts to qualify for the Preferred Rewards program, which gets you bonus credit card rewards.

Frequently asked questions

Why trust our recommendations?

At Personal Finance Insider, our goal is to help readers make the best decisions with their money. To that end, we spend hours comparing and contrasting the features and benefits of top credit cards so you don't have to.

We understand that "best" can be subjective, so we also include information on where each credit card excels, and where it may fall short.

How did we choose the best no-annual-fee credit cards?

We reviewed dozens of no-annual fee credit cards across all categories — cash-back, travel, airline, hotel, and more — and narrowed our focused to cards that offer more than 1 point or mile per dollar on at least one category of purchase. We also looked at welcome bonuses, rewards caps (such as the $1,500 quarterly limit on the Chase Freedom and Discover it® Cash Back), and other fine print.

Is it ever worth paying an annual fee for a credit card?

Many of the top rewards credit cards have annual fees — ranging from $95 to $550 — and it can be worth paying for one if you'll use all of its benefits. In many cases, cards with annual fees have perks that are tied to travel, and if you rarely hit the road, these may not be the perfect fit. Always do an honest assessment of a card's perks and see how they match up with your lifestyle before applying for a credit card.

• Related Content Module: More Credit Card Coverage

Join the conversation about this story »

• The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating mass migration to suburbs.
• Niche, a comprehensive guide to neighborhoods and schools, recently released its annual ranking of best places to live based on the cost of living, crime levels, quality of schools, and more.
• Business Insider rounded up the 25 best suburbs — or neighborhoods located outside of principal cities with populations of at least 1,000 — selected by Niche.
• The metro areas with the most representation on the list are Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus pandemic is starting to spell out the end of big cities.

Many are considering trading in their metropolitan lives, with one-third of Americans saying they are thinking about moving to less densely populated places.

If you're entertaining the idea of making the move to greener pastures, Niche, the comprehensive neighborhood and school guide, recently released its annual ranking of best places to live.

Niche ranked places to live based on the cost of living, crime levels, quality of local school systems, median household income, and more, using a combination of US Census Bureau data and resident surveys. Read more about their methodology here.

The state of Pennsylvania led the list of best suburbs with five total. Maryland, Texas, and Virginia trailed behind with three apiece. 

Here are the best suburbs to move to, ranked in ascending order:

SEE ALSO: We found the 30 best American cities to live in after the pandemic

25. Short Pump, Virginia

Closest major city: Richmond, Virginia

Population: 27,526

Median household income: $109,384

Median home value: $403,100

Demographic breakdown:

"Short Pump is an upscale area with quality public schools," one resident wrote of Short Pump. "It is increasing its pedestrian friendliness and access to public transportation, but is still lacking in this department."

24. Sugar Land, Texas

Closest major city: Houston, Texas

Population: 118,182

Median household income: $122,233

Median home value: $309,000

Demographic breakdown:

 "I like how small it is, it's a nice break from Houston. There are a lot of opportunities to get involved with the history of Sugar Land, and lots of places to eat and have fun," a current resident wrote of Sugar Land.

23. Arlington, Virginia

Closest major city: Washington, DC

Population: 231,803

Median household income: $117,374

Median home value: $669,400

Demographic breakdown:

"Arlington is a very clean and open-minded town with educated individuals and businesses that are dedicated to producing less waste. Many stores and retail centers are modern and well-kept. It is a family-friendly area with great public schools," one resident wrote of Arlington's positives. "However, traffic is prevalent and real estate prices are through the roof," they wrote of the negatives. "But, living a healthy lifestyle is easy in Arlington with many healthy food options and amazing trails all over!"

22. North Bethesda, Maryland

Closest major city: Washington, DC

Population: 50,263

Median household income: $105,130

Median home value: $562,400

Demographic breakdown:

"The neighborhood has great and easy access to stores, good trails for a walk or run, excellent restaurants in the area," a current resident wrote of North Bethesda. "Homes are a little pricey but in my opinion, it's worth it because of accessibility and safety."

21. Madeira, Ohio

Closest major city: Cincinnati, Ohio

Population: 9,091

Median household income: $112,513

Median home value: $281,100

Demographic breakdown:

"Madeira is a great small town," one resident wrote. "There are a variety of activities in the summer for families like free concerts, Shakespeare in the park, and wiffle ball league. There is also a great sense of community with everyone in the town. Everyone comes out for football games on Friday nights in the fall."

20. North Potomac, Maryland

Closest major city: Washington, DC

Population: 24,148

Median household income: $159,232

Median home value: $663,300

Demographic breakdown:

"The schools in this area are good, but very competitive. There are a variety of good restaurants and shopping centers nearby. The people are overall very friendly," read one review from a North Potomac resident.

19. Coppell, Texas

Closest major city: Dallas, Texas

Population: 41,512

Median household income: $123,802

Median home value: $368,800

Demographic breakdown:

"A clean, friendly, quiet neighborhood with everything within a 10-minute drive," one resident wrote of Coppell. "Going for a walk in the evening is the most pleasant thing. There are lots of lakes around here where kids and families can walk, run, and play. It is also a highly rated school district and students have a solid track record of excelling in academic activities."

18. Cinco Ranch, Texas

Closest major city: Houston, Texas

Population: 16,977

Median household income: $139,420

Median home value: $362,100

Demographic breakdown:

Cinco Ranch has "great schools and family-oriented activities," according to one resident. "It is a tranquil area, where you can practice sports outside. It has all the facilities and parks needed for good entertainment."

17. Cary, North Carolina

Closest major city: Raleigh, North Carolina

Population: 163,266

Median household income: $101,079

Median home value: $337,700

Demographic breakdown:

"Cary is a safe, secure, and relatively uneventful place. The streets are clean and cared for, everybody has a house and a car, anyone under eighteen goes to school," one resident wrote of Cary.

"There's not much in terms of cultural stimulation," they continued, "but it's a stable place to grow your roots in."

16. South Kensington, Maryland

Closest major city: Washington, DC

Population: 8,769

Median household income: $181,941

Median home value: $736,300

Demographic breakdown:

South Kensington has no reviews on Niche yet.

15. Berwyn, Pennsylvania

Closest major city: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Population: 3,268

Median household income: $108,000

Median home value: $478,300

Demographic breakdown:

"I have lived in Berwyn my whole life and have always felt safe, loved, and supported by my neighbors. Our public schools are very good," one resident wrote of Berwyn's positives. "The one thing I would want to change about Berwyn is its diversity," they continued.

14. Clayton, Missouri

Closest major city: St. Louis, Missouri

Population: 16,448

Median household income: $97,145

Median home value: $630,400

Demographic breakdown:

Clayton is a "small but vibrant city-suburb with excellent schools," according to one resident. "Never felt unsafe in this place, and there are always things to do at any time of day."

13. Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Closest major city: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Population: 6,304

Median household income: $109,648

Median home value: $410,100

Demographic breakdown:

To one resident, Swarthmore is "a very green town with a high liberal population." They added that it is situated near the Swarthmore College campus and "has a strong sense of community."

12. Stone Ridge, Virginia

Closest major city: Washington, DC

Population: 12,990

Median household income: $143,140

Median home value: $454,900

Demographic breakdown:

"I love this area because of the diversity of all. It is nice to live in an area where everyone is acceptable and almost always kind to each other," one resident wrote of Stone Ridge. "Traffic and high living expenses are a downfall, but the fact that the area is so great kind of makes up for it."

11. Morrisville, North Carolina

Closest major city: Raleigh, North Carolina

Population: 25,007

Median household income: $96,489

Median home value: $317,700

Demographic breakdown:

"Morrisville is a very good town, and even though it is small, it has a lot in it, like the Raleigh-Durham airport," one resident wrote. "It has many houses, shops, restaurants, grocery stores, banks," they continued.

10. Richmond Heights, Missouri

Closest major city: St. Louis, Missouri

Population: 8,457

Median household income: $78,481

Median home value: $247,500

Demographic breakdown:

"I have lived in other areas of Saint Louis and can say this is my favorite so far," one resident wrote of Richmond Heights. "People are always around walking their dogs or exercising. I feel very safe here."

9. Clarendon Hills, Illinois

Closest major city: Chicago, Illinois

Population: 8,711

Median household income: $126,500

Median home value: $561,700

Demographic breakdown:

Clarendon Hills, to one resident, is a "great small town with excellent schools and a cute downtown." They also said that it is "easy to get to downtown Chicago on train or highway," but cited a "lack of diversity" as a con.

8. Ardmore, Pennsylvania

Closest major city: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Population: 13,083

Median household income: $89,923

Median home value: $328,800

Demographic breakdown:

"Friendly people, walkable neighborhoods, and lots of opportunities for civic engagement," make Ardmore for one resident. "Of course, there's also the popular suburban square shopping center and lots of restaurants to choose from."

7. Los Alamos, New Mexico

Closest major city: Santa Fe, New Mexico

Population: 12,373

Median household income: $106,288

Median home value: $295,600

Demographic breakdown:

"Los Alamos was a great town to grow up in and would be a good place to work and raise a family," one resident wrote. "However, there are not a lot of 20-somethings in the town or a lot for people that age to do," wrote of the possible negatives. "The access to the mountains is probably the greatest thing Los Alamos has to offer!"

6. Okemos, Michigan

Closest major city: Lansing, Michigan

Population: 23,912

Median household income: $78,080

Median home value: $231,100

Demographic breakdown:

One resident wrote that Okemos is a "great place to raise a family," as it is "close to Michigan State University and the State Capitol building, They also listed the "small town feeling, great schools, and friendly people," as draws.

5. Brookline, Massachusetts

Closest major city: Boston, Massachusetts

Population: 59,234

Median household income: $113,515

Median home value: $885,700

Demographic breakdown:

"Brookline is an incredibly safe and friendly neighborhood that is great to raise a family in," one resident wrote. "However, Brookline is not the most diverse neighborhood and is also quite expensive," they continued.

4. Carmel, Indiana

Closest major city: Indianapolis, Indiana

Population: 90,163

Median household income: $116,867

Median home value: $330,600

Demographic breakdown:

One resident listed "excellent schools, parks, and trails," as a draw for Carmel. "There are many restaurants including many small businesses and things to do around town. Residents are friendly and family oriented. Cost of living is low relative to value."

3. Penn Wynne, Pennsylvania

Closest major city: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Population: 5,758

Median household income: $131,161

Median home value: $366,200

Demographic breakdown:

"Some parts of Penn Wynne have busy roads others are relatively quiet," one resident wrote. "You can get really anything you are looking for here."

2. Holly Hills, Colorado

Closest major city: Denver, Colorado

Population: 2,909

Median household income: $136,176

Median home value: $426,500

Demographic breakdown:

 One current resident wrote: "We love our neighbors and the location can't beat with easy access to light rail & downtown and being in the Cherry Creek School District."

1. Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania

Closest major city: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Population: 4,714

Median household income: $119,010

Median home value: $312,800

Demographic breakdown:

"This is an excellent place," one resident wrote. "The people are wonderful. It is very close to all family related venues such as supermarkets, restaurants, state parks. It falls in an excellent school district."

• The coronavirus pandemic is expected to accelerate a migration to the suburbs or even more rural areas.
• Land and Farm, which sells over 10 million acres of property, works just like Zillow, but for rural property. The website allows users to search by location or land type, or just browse featured listings.
• It also offers property updates by email, the ability to contact listing agents through the platform, and even a payment calculator.
• Here's how to shop around for a ranch, farm, or other plot of land, if you're looking to participate in the urban exodus.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: Mike Bloomberg just bought a $45 million Colorado ranch. Take a look at the 4,600-acre property that comes with a helipad and a golf course.

Land and Farm bills itself as a "top-tier rural property marketplace." On the site, users can browse millions of acres of land for sale all across the country.

The website has a true range of properties. Prices for parcels of land start as low as $4,000 while luxurious ranch estates can be listed as high as $40 million, with hundreds of pages of options in between.

There are three main ways to search for property on the website, the first being typing a desired location into a search box prominently displayed on the homepage.

The search box is the most prominent part of the homepage. It allows you to search by state, county, city, or ZIP code. It also allows you to input a price range or acreage range right off the bat.

The location search will then populate a grid of options, that can be sorted by price point, number of acres, or date added.

Toggling the filters will allow you to view your search methodically, by most recent or even by cheapest.

If you have no idea where you would want to live location-wise, but do know what type of land you'd like to live on — a ranch, farm, or otherwise — you can search through category tags back on the homepage.

Other properties on the website include hunting lands, other general recreation lands, and land for commercial use.

Clicking into a category tag provides a wide range of options varying in size, price, location, and amenities in a similar grid. You can then filter those options down at the bottom of the webpage.

The filterable options at the bottom of the category webpages allow you to further specify your search to include an acreage, location, or price range if you find the category page to be too broad.

Back on the homepage, if you have neither a location nor land type preference, you can instead browse through featured listings.

Some of the featured properties include small parcels of land for under $20,000, a 370-acre, $1.5 million alfalfa farm in California, and a 20-acre, $330,000 horse ranch in Montana with a 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom home. 

T. Boone Pickens' massive $220 million Texas ranch is even listed as a featured property.

For other ideas, toward the bottom of the homepage, there is a list of popular states and searches, from cheap land in Texas to farms in New York.

Popular searches listed on the site include: Land in Montana, ranches in Texas, waterfront homes in Michigan, hobby farms in Minnesota, and old farm houses.

Once you click into a listing, you can contact the seller directly through Land and Farm.

There will occasionally even be links in the side panel to the listing agent's website or direct contact.

But before you do so, keep scrolling for more information on the property. In addition to photos, each listing includes basic information about the price, number of acres, and type of accommodation on the land, if any.

The basic information includes the listing type, property type, if there is a residence on the property, and if the property is irrigated.

It also includes a brief property description and satellite map powered by Google.

Like any listing service, the description length and depth varies from property to property. 

Finally, at the bottom of the listing's webpage, there's a payment calculator.

The payment calculator estimates costs associated with the property like mortgage interest rate, home insurance, mortgage insurance, property taxes, and so on.

Interested buyers can register for a Land and Farm account to save promising listings or opt into receiving daily updates on new listings that fit your selected location or land type requirements.

An account can be created at any time by clicking the "join" button listed in the site's header.

Source: Land and Farm

• Ben Lovro is a "wholesaler" in Columbia, South Carolina, who turned his life around after being released from prison in 2014.
• He scored his first wholesaling deal back in 2017 and has since expanded to scoring about five deals a month, for monthly revenue of about $50,000. 
• In an interview with Business Insider, he broke down his morning routine — the most important part of his day.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

"I had some bad influences in my life, which led me to making poor decisions," Ben Lovro told Business Insider.

"It ended up landing me a first-class seat to the state penitentiary, where I spent just over five years incarcerated. Long story short, that was the best thing that ever happened to me."

Lovro went into prison in July 2009 and was released in October 2014 —and during that period he said his mindset completely shifted. After he was released, he moved in with his aunt and uncle in Columbia, South Carolina.

"It wasn't like I could go back to college, get a degree, and submit that paper to a corporate employer," he explained. "I realized that I already had a rap sheet because of my decisions that had led me down a path that was less than favorable."

So Lovro decided to start building a career in real estate, at 29 years old. At first, he was working night shifts at the restaurant and spending his mornings online, educating himself about the industry. 

"I'd study up in the morning and then I'd implement — take some knowledge in and then implement," he said. One big thing to avoid, he said, is what he called "analysis paralysis." He added that "a lot of people want to just absorb information and take it in, and take it in, but they never get past that. They don't get to the action."

Lovro's first wholesaling deal started with a cold call to an elderly woman who was living in a retirement home and had a property in Columbia that was sitting vacant. Off the bat, she offered it to him for $8,000, and he countered with $5,000 cash. After she agreed, they lined up the contract and he was able to find a cash buyer for $15,000. 

"That's what really made me a believer," he said.

Now, just three years after his first investment deal, his business brings in an average of five deals a month — which equates to about $50,000 monthly.

He told Business Insider that his morning routine is a major key to his daily success

"I believe that how you start your day is how you'll end your day. So it's important to get yourself into a peak state, a prime mindset."

Lovro starts his morning off by praying and meditating. "I'll get into some type of meditation."

He explained that you'll find a lot of successful people meditate because it allows you to "clear and renew your mind" and gives you a "fresh canvas to take on the day with."

Lovro said he also makes sure to read every morning.

"People talk about wanting a mentor, I claim that the best mentors we can ever meet are going to be found inside of books," he told Business Insider. 

Two books that have personally changed Lovro's life include "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Rich Dad Poor Dad."

In addition to reading and meditating, Lovro said he journals every morning. 

"I think it's important that we learn to reclaim the narrative of our own life," he explained. 

After his morning routine, Lovro explained that he goes with the flow. 

"I'm pretty open," he said. "Business is running well enough to where each leg stands on its own and it's not absolutely crucial for me to stand in the gap and manage day-to-day activities." 

So after journaling, he spends his day traveling to local projects, overseeing the team, and handling any discrepancies that may pop up.

SEE ALSO: Bank of America sees 3 mall REIT stocks to buy — and 4 to avoid

DON'T MISS: Home prices are set to plummet in the next year on the new coronavirus spike — here's how much and which markets are most at risk

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why American sunscreens may not be protecting you as much as European sunscreens

• A new Starbucks storefront in Japan features several reservable workspaces where patrons can keep a distance from one another in their own partially-enclosed stations.
• This comes amid news of major companies continuing their remote work arrangement to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
• Photos of the new Tokyo location, which opened on July 30, look similar to co-working spaces like WeWork.
• The store was designed to serve teleworkers, featuring individual booths for independent workers and tables for group meetings and virtual conferences.
• Designed in collaboration with Think Labs, you can order drinks and reserve a workspace through various apps.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: 17 major companies that have announced employees can work remotely long term

DON'T MISS: Plastic partitions, temperature checks, and socially distanced classrooms: How countries are reopening schools following coronavirus closures

Starbucks has opened a new store in Tokyo with remote workers in mind. A statement released by the company said that it featured a "specially designed contactless hand-off counter."

Source: Starbucks

You can pick up your drinks on the first floor of the new Tokyo storefront after placing your order on the Starbucks app.

Source: Starbucks

With the Think Lab app, you can reserve one of the store's working spaces on the second floor. Some are designed for individual use ...

Source: Starbucks

... while others are designed for teleconferences and working in groups. A spokesperson for Starbucks told Business Insider that the workspaces are sanitized after each use.

Source: Starbucks

Starbucks and Think Lab designed the Smart Lounge on the store's second floor to serve teleworkers with features like projectors, tables, and individual booths.

Source: Starbucks

The set-up is reminiscent of WeWork offices and other co-working spaces.

Source: Fast Company

WeWork is testing out a similar plan in New York locations that would allow non-members to reserve workspaces on-demand, The Real Deal reported earlier this month.

Source: The Real Deal

Last year, WeWork tested a coffee shop office in New York's Flatiron district. Spearheaded by Soul Cycle co-founder Julie Rice, Made by We was meant to combine a co-working space with a coffee shop. The store opened in early 2019 and closed in May 2020.

Sources: Market Watch, 6sqft, The Real Deal

• With low inventory and high buyer demand, finding an affordable home in today's housing market can be difficult.
• A report by Realtor.com listed the top three most affordable metro areas, where plenty of affordable homes were available in July.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused people to rethink their living situations. 

With working from home and social distancing a part of the new normal, many are looking for larger homes in less densely populated areas. But with the increase in buyer demand across the country and a shortage of inventory, finding an ideal space at an affordable price can be challenging. 

An early June survey of 1,000 homeowners by Clever found that 42% of homeowners who bought during the pandemic reported they had entered into a bidding war. The next month, Redfin reported that 54% of offers in July faced competition, the second straight month that bidding wars were over 50%. 

But just because affordable markets are hard to find, doesn't mean they don't exist. A report by Realtor.com broke down the top three most affordable metro areas where finding a home was easiest in July. To find these markets, Realtor.com looked at markets that had 10 active listings for every 1,000 households to find out how many homes were affordable to local buyers.

The three markets that made the list are all located in the south. 

"The Southeast dominates because there's plenty of space (though some complain about Atlanta's sprawl) and looser regulations on building, both of which mean it's less costly for developers to put up new housing to meet demand," the report reads.

The first on the list is the Baton Rouge metro area in Louisiana. As Realtor.com reported, this market ranked number one on its list of easiest markets to buy a home in.

"We've also identified this bayou town as one of the nation's most affordable markets (median home price in July: $265,000), which may also explain why buyers here offered some of the lowest down payments in the nation," the report reads. 

The second market to make the list is the Atlanta metro area. There, the median price of a home is $350,000.

Third on the list is the Jacksonville, Florida metro area. As Realtor.com reported, the median price of a home there is $319,300.

SEE ALSO: The 5 most popular ZIP codes among homebuyers right now

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• Urbn — whose brands include Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Anthropologie — has repeatedly been accused of problematic behavior, facing allegations from racial profiling to selling offensive merchandise.
• Business Insider spoke with more than a dozen former Urbn employees, who pointed to a variety of issues they said they encountered at the company's 2,000-person headquarters.
• Many of these former employees said they struggled to report issues like a lack of diversity and felt like they'd been treated unfairly in the workplace.
• "We strongly believe that every customer, partner, vendor, employee, and associate should feel welcomed and respected when they walk through our doors, though it is clear that there is still work for us to do to make that a reality," an Urbn spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In January 2017, Bhldn — the wedding brand within the millennial-clothing empire Urbn, also home to Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters — cast its first Black model for a spring collection.

Kelly, a former associate marketing manager who worked at Bhldn from 2015 to 2017, was not at the shoot but saw the images after the fact. Part of her job involved pitching the campaign to the press.

In the photos, Kelly said, the model was positioned "against a solid black background so that she more or less disappeared completely." She was told the staging was used because the "white dresses 'popped.'"

"When I ranted to anyone who would listen that it was textbook commodification of the Black body, and I didn't want to send it to the press, I was told we had to," Kelly, who spoke on the condition that her last name be withheld to protect her privacy, told Business Insider.

The company recently made headlines when Anthropologie was accused of racial discrimination and racial profiling. Former employees alleged on Instagram that the brand used the code word "Nick" for shoplifters. Most of the former store employees Business Insider spoke with said it was unofficially used to identify Black shoppers and people of color.

(In a statement to Business Insider, an Urbn spokesperson confirmed that the company's shoplifting policy "previously instructed associates to use the code names 'Nick'/'Nicky'/'Nicole' to identify potential shoplifters." The spokesperson said the policy was misused and that Urbn has since eliminated the use of such codes.) 

Business Insider talked to more than a dozen former Urbn employees, six of whom left the company in the past 12 months. Multiple former employees said that when they noticed problems at the company, they felt they had no one to turn to. Two former Bhldn employees described what they said they felt was a pattern of discriminatory behavior regarding the use of models of color. And several former employees said there was a lack of diversity at the company.

"URBN was founded on the values and principles of inclusiveness and cultural understanding," the Urbn spokesperson wrote. "We strongly believe that every customer, partner, vendor, employee, and associate should feel welcomed and respected when they walk through our doors, though it is clear that there is still work for us to do to make that a reality."

Progressive vibes, but years of problems

From the outside, Urbn is all bohemian patterns and progressive vibes.

The company was born in 1970 when former Lehigh University roommates Dick Hayne and Scott Belair opened The Free People Store in Philadelphia with the goal of selling secondhand clothing and home goods to college students.

Fast-forward to 2020, and Urbn now encompasses five brands and a collection of restaurants and events venues, and employs 23,000 people across the retail and corporate levels. Each of the brands zeroes in on the mostly young, likely female, and definitely hip consumer as she moves through her life stages, from Coachella to her first mortgage.

Urban Outfitters (the only clothing brand in the portfolio that carries both men's and women's clothing) targets the college student, whose aesthetic Hayne once described as "upscale homeless." When she graduates, she donates her dorm-room tapestries and becomes a Free People girl. When she hits 30, she'll start shopping at Anthropologie for silk blouses and candles in ornate glass jars — "dressing for respectability," former CEO Glen Senk once said. Bhldn, Anthropologie's wedding brand, is there when she gets married, and she can shop at Terrain, a home and garden store, when she buys her first house. There's also Nuuly, a rental subscription service for the trifecta of clothing brands — should she be looking to freshen things up.

But beyond Urbn's idyllic imagery, reports over past years have pointed to several controversies involving its stores' merchandise. In a high-profile incident from 2003, the NAACP demanded that Urban Outfitters remove a board game titled "Ghettopoly," a Monopoly spinoff. The game — which featured cards like "You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50." — was eventually removed from shelves by Urbn.

There was also Urban Outfitters' 2012 "Jewish Star" T-shirt, which many people felt evoked Nazi Germany, and the 2014 "Vintage Kent State Sweatshirt," which appeared to include faux blood spatters, a troubling nod to the 1970 Kent State massacre, in which college students were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard during a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War. Both items were removed from shelves by Urbn at the behest of angry shoppers.

More recent reports have suggested that these problems, and others, stem from corporate-level issues at Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, which, along with all Urbn brands, are based out of the company's Philadelphia headquarters.

Employees say they had nowhere to turn

Nine of the former employees Business Insider spoke with said they felt they had no neutral party to voice grievances to. The company doesn't have a human-resources department, though the Urbn spokesperson said employees were encouraged to go to the "employee-relations" department.

In a follow-up email, the spokesperson said the employee-relations department at Urbn "addresses employees' concerns and complaints about workplace misconduct, including harassment, discrimination and bullying, and facilitate non-discrimination and anti-harassment training."

But the former employees Business Insider spoke with said they were told they could either speak with a point person who focused on development and leadership within the brand or speak with their manager — a problem if their concern was about their manager.

"There was no place to go with complaints," said a former shared-services employee who worked at Urbn from 2013 to 2016. "If you feel like you're being treated unfairly, there's no one who you can go to."

Multiple former employees alleged that this kind of environment allowed some managers to berate their employees.

A former Free People marketing employee said she witnessed a director treat her team "like mean girls at high school." She said she recalled instances when the director would approve employees' requests for personal time off but then contact them on their morning off and tell them they had to come to work.

A former Bhldn employee who identifies as a woman of color and left in 2019 said that after she put in her two weeks' notice, she was given little direction on how to schedule an exit interview. When she did find a contact for her exit interview via word of mouth, she said she was told to not be overly candid, in case the person was "in cahoots with upper management."

She said the moment encapsulated how she'd felt — silenced.

"If you had a complaint, or if you felt uncomfortable, even with your manager, you wouldn't even know who to contact," she said.

Allegations of discriminatory behavior when casting models

Kelly, the former associate marketing manager who described the 2017 photo shoot in which she said she was told that a Black model was positioned against a dark background to make her dress "pop," recounted another similar incident that she said had occurred years earlier.

Kelly told Business Insider in an email that during a 2015 meeting, a Bhldn team member said "gowns didn't sell as well when they were on Black models." The Urbn spokesperson declined to comment.

Kelly is one of two former Bhldn employees who described what they said they felt was a pattern of discriminatory behavior regarding the use of models of color, including meetings in which they said executives claimed Black models received lower engagement rates and requested photos be reshot using models of a different race.

Kelly said she met with the brand's senior leadership to discuss her concern over a lack of diversity and inclusion, issues that she said "fell on deaf ears." Kelly quit shortly after. She now works for a public library in Cincinnati. 

"I was constantly met with ... excuses for not working with Black women or anyone with dark skin," Kelly said, referring to management.

The company wasn't as inclusive as it seemed, former employees say

In June, amid Black Lives Matter protests and after the Diet Prada Instagram account broke news of allegations of racial-profiling patterns at Anthropologie, Hayne addressed all of Urbn's employees in an email. In the email, which Business Insider viewed, the CEO described the company's founding philosophies.

"Our company was founded on the core principles of inclusiveness and cultural understanding," Hayne wrote. "After all, one of our brand names, Anthropologie, is the study of different cultures and the richness that comes from those diverse cultures interacting. Urban Outfitters was so named to celebrate the richness of urban life where diversity is the rule, not the exception."

In a statement to Business Insider, the Urbn spokesperson said the company was in the process of implementing a diversity and inclusion strategy, as outlined on its website.

Among the company's specific commitments are pledges to "attract and hire a more diverse internal and external workforce," "educate our teams to create a culture that values and respects anti-racism," and "provide a platform to better represent the Black community through collaboration and storytelling with creators and models."

Despite this claim of cultural inclusiveness, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie have previously been accused of stealing designs from emerging artists. Several controversies have centered on products — like the 2003 "Ghettopoly" board game and the 2012 "Jewish Star" T-shirt — that many found blatantly offensive to underrepresented groups.

A former creative-content coordinator at Urbn who left the company in 2018 told Business Insider he felt executives failed to take seriously claims of intellectual-property theft, adding that he saw a disconnect between how the company projects itself publicly and how it was run internally by top executives. Both he and a contractor who worked on Urbn's user-experience team in 2018 described management as "out of touch."

He said consumers "see Urbn as a very liberal company that's on the forefront of what's happening in culture and what's happening in the world, and then you look at the executive leadership team, and they're an older generation and very white, very male, and conservative."

In addition, 12 former employees told Business Insider they believed the headquarters lacked diversity among employees. An Anthropologie business-operations employee said it seemed that when hiring, the company looked for "white tattooed hipsters."

A glance at the company's senior-leadership page suggests a senior leadership team that is about half women, but entirely white. The company said that of the eight-person leadership team, four members are women.

A former employee in one of Urbn's home departments, who identifies as Black and left the company in 2020, said his department spanned 80 to 100 people. He said a Black coworker took him aside to tell him how happy she was they had hired another Black employee in the department for the first time in more than two and a half years.

"There were good things about working there, but overall, when you work for a company called Urban Outfitters and there's no urban people there, you have to begin to question what's really going on," he said.

SEE ALSO: Anthropologie has been accused of racial profiling and using code words for Black shoppers — read the official response the company shared on Instagram

Join the conversation about this story »

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• "Luminosity," a 353-foot hybrid gigayacht, just hit the market for €225 million ($268 million).
• The vessel, built by Italian shipyard Benetti, boasts cutting edge, green technology that allows it to run nearly silently with reduced emissions.
• The ship also has stunning exterior design elements, including over 8,600 square feet of window walls.
• It can accommodate 27 guests, 37 crew members, a helicopter, two cars, a sailboat, and motorbikes.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Italian shipyard Benetti just completed building one of the world's largest hybrid yachts — and the gigayacht can be yours for just a quarter of a billion dollars.

"Luminosity" is a 353-foot vessel that runs on a hybrid propulsion system and diesel-electric engines along with specially developed batteries for a silent, smooth ride. The ship also features eye-catching design elements on a surface level, like over 8,600 square feet of window walls and guest suite bathrooms that look more like pieces of modern art.

The yacht can accommodate up to 27 guests across 12 suites, along with 37 crew members across 22 cabins. And that's not to mention two cars, including a Phantom Rolls Royce, a 24-foot sailboat, and two motorbikes.

The original owner decided to sell just weeks before delivery, and the floating palace is currently on the market with an asking price of €225 million ($268 million).

Here's a look inside.

SEE ALSO: A superyacht design firm denies selling Bill Gates the world's first hydrogen-powered yacht for $650 million. Here's a closer look at the game-changing vessel concept they've created.

"Luminosity" is a brand new, luxurious hybrid vessel. Benetti, the shipyard that built it, bills it as a gigayacht — yes, a gigayacht — which is a vessel larger than a superyacht or a megayacht.

Source: Axxess Marine,Benetti

The ship is 353 feet long.

Source: Benetti

Benetti, founded in 1873, is one of the oldest Italian shipyards and focuses on luxurious custom builds.

Source: Benetti

"Luminosity," according to Robb Report, was a custom build that took at least five years to complete.

Source: Robb Report

The original owner decided to sell just weeks before delivery.

Source: Robb Report

The completely finished vessel is selling for €225 million ($268 million), a Benetti spokesperson told Business Insider.

Source: Benetti

Its price point of a quarter of a billion dollars reflects both the luxury and the technology the yacht was designed with— the shipyard touts it as one of the largest hybrid ships in the world.

Source: Benetti

The ship is powered by a hybrid propulsion system and diesel-electric engines, along with specially developed batteries for a smooth, quiet ride.

Source: Benetti

The yacht's exteriors, which are wrapped in over 8,600 square feet of glass, were designed by Zaniz Jakubowski, Andrew Langton, and Giorgio M. Cassetta.

Source: Benetti

Between its six decks of windows and hybrid technology, the ship bucks conventional yacht design.

Source: Benetti

The interiors were designed solely by Zaniz Jakubowski, a prolific designer who Robb Report noted has remained anonymous for 20 years due largely to non-disclosure agreements.

Source: Robb Report

The ship's design details include a projection screen that can show any scenery. Below, it shows a forest.

Source: Benetti

A swirling staircase moves through the illusion.

Source: Benetti

Other artistic elements throughout the ship include intricate design patterns and light fixtures in key areas like the bar ...

Source: Benetti

... and dining room.

Source: Benetti

The ship can accommodate up to 27 guests across 12 suites.

Source: Benetti

The suites feel more like luxe hotel rooms than ship cabins.

Source: Benetti

They include include modern bathrooms ...

Source: Benetti

... with plenty of light.

Source: Benetti

"Luminosity" can also accommodate 37 crew members across 22 cabins.

Source: Benetti

The yacht has multiple spacious decks.

Source: Benetti

One deck boasts a helipad.

Source: Benetti

That same deck is also set up to fit two cars, including a Rolls Royce Phantom, along with a 24-foot sailboat and two motor bikes.

Source: Benetti

All of the other decks are designed for a mix of entertaining and relaxing, instead of toy stashing.

Source: Benetti

"Luminosity" also has lavish amenities like a gym with window walls.

Source: Benetti

... and an on-board spa.

Source: Benetti

• President Donald Trump grew up in Queens, New York City.
• His family lived in a five-bedroom Tudor-style house and later in a 23-room home in Jamaica Estates, a secluded, upper-middle-class community in Queens.
• The Tudor-style home where Trump lived until he was four years old has been for sale at auction on and off over the past two years since it last sold at auction for $2.14 million in March 2017.
• Last year, I took a tour to see what Trump's childhood neighborhood was like, and it was immediately clear why he's called the area an "oasis."
• It was peaceful and secluded, filled with stately homes and quiet leafy streets. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump grew up on the outskirts of Queens in New York City.

Jamaica Estates, where he lived until age 13, is an affluent community, filled with stately homes and wide, tree-lined streets. 

"Different parts of Queens were rough; this was an oasis," Trump told the New York Times in 2015. He said Jamaica Estates "was safe — it was very family oriented."

The five-bedroom Tudor-style house where Trump lived until he was four years old was put up for auction after it failed to sell for its $2.9 million asking price earlier this year.

I walked around the neighborhood on a spring day in 2019 and visited the two houses where the Trump family lived. Here's what it was like.

SEE ALSO: Trump's childhood home in New York City is up for auction again. Take a look inside the 5-bedroom house.

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President Donald Trump spent his childhood until age 13 in Jamaica Estates, a wealthy community in Queens on the outskirts of New York City, which is at least a 45-minute drive from Midtown Manhattan.

Source: The New York Times

The neighborhood was partially built by the president's father, Fred Trump.

Source: The New York Times

On a spring day in 2019, I decided to visit the neighborhood to see what it was like.

The train ride from my office in lower Manhattan took about an hour and 10 minutes. I got off at the Hillside Av/179 St. stop in Jamaica, Queens, at the end of the F train line.

Hillside Avenue is one of the main shopping corridors of Jamaica and marks the southern border of Jamaica Estates.

Source: Times Ledger

I got there around the time kids were getting out of school, so the avenue was lively and bustling.

I saw an empanada restaurant, sneaker shops, 99 cent stores, a Dunkin Donuts, pharmacies, a Chinese restaurant, fried chicken joints, nail salons, and a 7-Eleven.

I walked down Hillside Avenue toward the entrance to Jamaica Estates, which is marked by a stately-looking gatehouse.

The neighborhood began as a gated community.

I walked down Midland Parkway, a wide boulevard perpendicular to busy Hillside Avenue, and one thing immediately stuck out: It was noticeably quieter on the boulevard.

Elly Wong, a resident of the neighborhood for 19 years and board member of the Jamaica Estates Association, told me that more and more big apartment buildings are starting to replace single family homes.

But the apartments near Hillside Avenue gave way to plenty of single-family homes as I walked down Midland Parkway.

The houses seemed to get progressively larger the deeper I walked into the neighborhood.

Many of them had gated front yards.

After about five minutes of walking, I came to Wareham Place, the street where President Trump lived until he was about four years old.

Source: Washington Post

The first home I saw was this Tudor-style house with a Range Rover in the driveway.

The tree-lined street was very quiet, and I didn't see anyone walking around.

Trump told the New York Times in 1997 that Jamaica Estates was "very serene and very beautiful and it had a great feeling of safety and security."

Source: The New York Times

There was a mix of vehicles on the street, but I saw more than a few Range Rovers, BMWs, and Mercedes.

Wong told me the neighborhood is known for its Tudor-style homes.

About halfway down the block, I came across the Trump family home built by Fred C. Trump, the first house where Donald Trump lived.

Source: CNN Money

The Trump family lived there until Donald Trump was about four years old.

Source: CNN Money

The two-story Tudor-style home, which has six bedrooms, was last sold in March 2017 for $2.14 million.

In the past couple of years, it's been up for auction on-and-off with Paramount Realty USA, but it hasn't yet sold.

The house looked more modest and ordinary than I'd expected — except for the silver sports car that was parked out front.

As I kept walking, I was again struck by how quiet the street was, with the only sounds being wind chimes or the occasional car driving by. I didn't feel like I was in New York City at all.

Wong said she finds the neighborhood to be very safe.

"There is a large sense of community and the residents really care about the neighborhood," she said.  "All the lawns are very well cared for, as are the homes."

She said the community has its own civic association and its own patrol.

"Different parts of Queens were rough; this was an oasis," Trump told the New York Times in 2015. He said Jamaica Estates "was safe — it was very family oriented."

Source: The New York Times

Just a few minutes' walk away from the first Trump house is a stately-looking house on Midland Parkway.

Source: Washington Post

The Trump family moved there in 1950, when Donald Trump was four.

Source: Washington Post

It was much larger than the other house, with a brick exterior and white columns flanking the entrance. The front yard was perfectly landscaped.

Trump lived in the 23-room family home until he went to a military boarding school at age 13.

Source: Washington Post, Washington Post

Trump used to spend time at the nearby Cunningham Park, where he reportedly played Little League, so I decided to check that out too.

It was a pleasant 25-minute walk from the Trump family house.

I passed some seriously impressive houses ...

... some of which could more aptly be called mansions.

I arrived at Cunningham Park and found it to be just as quiet as the leafy streets.

Unlike Central Park or Prospect Park or other usually busy city parks, there were only a few people walking their dogs, riding bikes, and relaxing on park benches.

A baseball field similar to one where Trump might've played in the 1950s stood empty.

From one corner of the park, I caught a bus to the Kew-Forest School, a private school in Forest Hills, Queens, that Trump attended through seventh grade.

Source: Washington Post

It's in a residential neighborhood, surrounded by apartment buildings and homes on three sides ...

... and the Jackie Robinson Parkway on the other.

The school didn't look particularly extraordinary to me, but a quick perusal of the website revealed that tuition for the 2019-20 school year ranged from $19,950 for half-day preschoolers up to $41,340 for grades 9-12.

Source: The Kew-Forest School

After my tour of Jamaica Estates, I could definitely see why Trump once called it an "oasis."

It's quiet and secluded, filled with beautiful homes and peaceful, leafy streets, and it feels a world away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.

But although it may still be an oasis, the neighborhood has changed since Trump lived there.

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times described the Jamaica Estates of the 1950s as "an exclusive and nearly all-white place, resistant to outsiders and largely impenetrable to minorities."

But today, the neighborhood tells a different story.

"It's a very diverse community, with a strong Jewish presence (there is a Jewish community center on Union Turnpike), Greek, Chinese, and Bangladeshi ... We have it all," Wong told me.

In Queens Community District 8, which encompasses Jamaica Estates as well as Jamaica, Jamaica Hills, Briarwood, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Holliswood, Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, and Utopia, nearly half the population — 47.2% — is foreign-born.

Source: NYC Planning

So while I probably won't going back to Jamaica Estates anytime soon — it's quite a trek — I can certainly see why it would be a calm and beautiful place to live.

• Shaped like a propeller blade, the $56 million Orum House boasts sweeping views of Los Angeles from atop a hill.
• Located in the city's exclusive Bel Air neighborhood, the highly customized and award-winning home is the brainchild of LA-based architect Zoltan Pali.
• Take a look inside the Orum House, which comes with a 1,000-bottle wine cellar, home theater, and remote-controlled sliding glass doors. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: The producer of the cult classic movie 'American Pyscho' designed a home in Joshua Tree that looks like a fallen skyscraper, and it's almost entirely covered in mirrors. Take a look inside.

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An award-winning home in Los Angeles' exclusive Bel Air neighborhood that's shaped like a propeller blade is selling for $56 million.

Bel Air, located 12 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, has an average home price of $12.2 million, and is "synonymous with luxury and opulence," according to luxury real estate firm The Agency.

The home is represented by The Agency's Mauricio Umansky, Farah Brittany, and Eduardo Umansky and is being offered fully furnished.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

Known as the Orum House, the home boasts sweeping views of the city and ocean from atop a hill.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

When the Orum House received a Merit Award from the LA chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2019, judges noted that it appeared to float above the landscape.

Source: AIA Los Angeles

The highly custom residence took four years to build and is "steeped with intricacies," according to SPF:architects.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

One of those is the glass curtain wall that wraps around the home. Consisting of four different opacities, it creates an "infinite, visually shifting, shimmering façade" according to SPF:architects.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

"The client wanted a luxurious house where she could throw large events and host her extended family, but she also wanted it to feel welcoming," SPF:architects founder Zoltan Pali said in a release.

Its current owners purchased the property in 2014 for $6.1 million, Zillow property records show.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

To achieve this, SPF:architects created three 'blades,' or wrings, that radiate out from a central node.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

The home's three stories also each serve a different purpose.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

The first floor is dedicated to spaces for gathering, including two living rooms, a dining room, and kitchen with a butler's prep area.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

Upstairs is dedicated to the home's private spaces, including five bedroom suites with spa-style baths.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

At the press of a button, sliding glass doors open up covered decks on the upper level ...

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects, Sky Frame

... and to an outdoor area with an LED-lit pool and spa, firepits, and kitchen on the ground floor.

The focus of the lower level is entertainment. Highlights include a home theater, gym, and custom cedar sauna.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

There is also a catering kitchen and wine room capable of storing 1,000 bottles.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

Connecting all three stories is a glass-and-steel staircase.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

For additional entertaining, a four-bedroom, four-bathroom guesthouse known as 'The Cube' can be accessed from the lower level or via a separate entrance.

Source: The Agency, SPF:architects

• The Coast Guard and Michigan law enforcement are working to track down a pilot who flew under Michigan's Mackinac Bridge in June.
• Coast Guardsmen on a nearby boat caught the incident and recorded it but could not identify the aircraft nor stop the act from occuring
• Federal aviation regulations require aircraft stay 500 feet from any structure when over water, with the Mackinac Bridge roadway only 199 feet above the Straits of Mackinac. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The US Coast Guard and Michigan law enforcement agencies are working to find the pilot who flew a small plane under northern Michigan's Mackinac Bridge earlier this summer.

Video taken from a Coast Guard patrol boat in the vicinity of the suspension bridge shows the aircraft approaching the bridge at a low altitude and flying under the main roadway at 2:50 pm on Sunday, June 28. 

Nearly two months later, investigators are asking the public to help find the renegade pilot.

Authorities say the bridge, which carries Interstate 75, was packed with hundreds of cars at the time, traveling in advance of the July 4 holiday weekend. "This was extremely reckless behavior on the part of the pilot, and it imperiled the safety of everyone on the bridge that day," Sgt. Gary Demers of the state police said in a statement. "We hope that someone can come forward with information to help us make sure it doesn't happen again."

Anyone who took a photo or video of the stunt, or who has any helpful information, can leave an anonymous tip with either the Coast Guard or Michigan State Police. 

Federal Aviation Administration regulations do not specifically prohibit flying under a bridge — common sense does — but do bar pilots from flying within 500 feet of "any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure" when over open water or sparely populated areas. (Otherwise, they must maintain an altitude of 500 feet.) 

The sole driveable link between the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan, the roadway of the Mackinac Bridge stands just 199 feet above the water at its highest point, according to the Mackinac Bridge Authority, meaning the closest to the span a pilot of a fixed-wing aircraft can legally fly is 699 feet above ground level. 

The FAA's enforcement division can charge between $1,100 and $27,500 for a violation of its rules, depending on the circumstances. 

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