A weekly newsletter for people who want to understand money without needing therapy afterward. I cover accounting, tax, and finance the way they should be taught. Simple, sharp, and with a sense of humor. If knowledge is power, this one’s your caffeine shot.
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Interest Rates, Solar & EV Credits Expire, Room Tax, etc.
Published 5 months ago • 4 min read
Romeo Razi, CPA
Sept 14th
% Interest Rates & Bonds, a love story
Hello Everyone,
Wall Street started daydreaming about cheaper money, and it looks like their dreams finally came true.
At first, J-Pow tried subtlety. He lit his favorite scented candle, put on some Barry White, and whispered sweet nothings to Mr. Bond Market's ear: “Pretty, pretty, please... lower rates.”
Crickets.
So he ditched the romance and grabbed a megaphone: "Please stop f'ing around, and CUT RATES ALREADY!"
That seemed to work.
Mortgage rates dipped to 6.5%. Which, in Fed-speak, counts as a "win."
🎉 Housing market gets a little oxygen. 🛠️ Still broken? Of course 💡 But hey, at least now it's less broken.
Mr. "Transitory", I salute you, this one time.
EV & Solar Credits: going, going...almost gone.
Hey, you know how Congress loves to give with one hand, and take away with the other?
The OBBBA just turned the clean energy tax credits into a game of musical chairs, and the music's about to stop.
Two favorite tax credits are going away (Solar and Electric Vehicle Tax Credits).
🚗 EV Tax Credit ↳ $7,500 credit is still on the table — for about 2 more weeks. ↳ Buy before Sept 30th, or kiss it goodbye. ↳ Wait too long, and you’re paying full price for a car that still can’t go 400 miles.
☀️ Solar Panel Credit ↳ Still a juicy 30% credit, but only for a little while longer ↳ Solar Panels must be installed and operational by 12/31/2025. ↳ Deposits don’t count. Uncle Sam wants the lights on, not just a down payment.
Moral of the story? Politician's generosity always has a shelf life.
So don’t bank on Congress for too many long term favors.
🏠 Airbnb Transition Lodging "Room Tax"
This is for my Las Vegas peeps!
If you have an Airbnb in Clark County, but not the City of Las Vegas, or the City of Henderson, there are new Lodging Taxes being assessed (which is commonly known as a "Room Tax").
🏠 The Deets ↳ Rates will be from 10.50%-13.38%, depending on your location ↳ You're going to have to get a STR (Short-Term Rental) license ↳ Licenses are limited, so they're going to use a lottery system ↳ They are going delist hosts on Airbnb without licenses, but they may be granting a grace period.
Currently, the Room Tax is supposed to be collected by Airbnb, and paid to Clark County. But if I were you, I would check with them to make sure they're doing it right
🏠 Housing Corner
Interest rates dropped. Which means the bond market has the September rate cuts priced in.
Active inventory dropped, by a little over 14,000 homes. This is because 1). normal for this time of year. When the Summer is over, and the Fall starts, people take their homes off the market. And 2). with the rate cut, more sales closed.
💹 Interest Rates
6.47%
🏡 🏡 🏡
Active Inventory
846,5168
🧊
Day on Market
109 days (3+ months)
Here's a quick list of this week housing stats: 🏠 Mortgage rates: 6.47% (down 25 bps - the market has the cut priced in) 📈 Inventory: 846,516 homes (down around 14k homes) 📉 Price reductions? Up 41.5% (same-ish) 💰 Median list price? $449,000 (same) 🕰️ Days on market? 109 (same)
💸 Tomorrow is judgement day
Extenders: Business S-Corp and LLC tax returns due by Sept 15th
Q3 Estimated Tax Payments due Sept 15th
💸 Last Time You May Pay IRS by Check
Starting September 30th, you may not pay the IRS or receive refunds from them by check anymore.
In the future you will only be able to pay or receive refunds from the IRS electronically.
So, if you haven't already, set up an IRS.gov (and ID.me) account.
Market Highlights
Market is up this week
~S&P 500 $6,584 (+1.39%)
~NASDAQ $22,141 (+1.32%)
~BTC 115,420 (+3.48%)
~GOLD 3,681 (+1.49%)
Gigachad Stock of the Week
~Oracle (22.31%)
(because new AI Cloud Contracts are going through the roof!)
What's been going on with your Favorite CPA
This week has felt especially heavy, with the heartbreaking news of the train murder in North Carolina and the assassination in Utah still weighing on me. If you can, please take a moment to reach out and care for someone in your life this week. I think we could all use a little more of that right now
A weekly newsletter for people who want to understand money without needing therapy afterward. I cover accounting, tax, and finance the way they should be taught. Simple, sharp, and with a sense of humor. If knowledge is power, this one’s your caffeine shot.
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