Consumer News: Most Americans worry about being secretly recorded by smart wearables

Rising costs and losses for peanut and corn growers could trickle down to shoppers this Halloween

• Peanut growers went from making a profit in 2024 to losing money in 2025, according to an analysis of USDA data.

• Higher costs for fuel, fertilizer, pesticides and other farm inputs are squeezing growers margins, making it more difficult to absorb rising expenses.

• If farmers plant less of these key candy ingredients, tighter supplies could push prices higher, potentially making some Halloween treats more expensive for shoppers.

Halloween candy is already starting to fill store shelves, but this year, your favorite treats could come with a slightly higher price tag.

Behind many of the candies filling trick-or-treat bags are crops like peanuts and corn, and new analysis of USDA data shows that farmers growing these key ingredients are facing significant financial challenges.

ConsumerAffairs spoke with Dusty Vauters, an agricultural expert at Mid-South Ag Equipment, who explained that peanut growers went from making a profit in 2024 to losing money in 2025 the biggest swing among the crops included in the analysis.

He explained that when it becomes more expensive to grow a crop than what farmers can earn from selling it, they may respond by planting less the following year. And eventually, those supply pressures can make their way down the food chain potentially affecting what consumers pay for Halloween candy.

Farming costs are increasing

Vauters explained that the cost of just about everything for farmers has climbed fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, and fungicides.

Those aren't optional line items they're what it takes to actually get a crop in the ground and keep it alive, he said.

Beyond that, everything that goes into the production, harvesting, cleaning, packing, and shipping of peanuts has gone up too. So it's not just one cost that jumped it's the whole chain, from planting through to getting the peanuts off the farm and ready for processing. When every single step in that process costs more than it used to, the margins get squeezed from every direction at once, and there's very little room left for growers to absorb it.

Shoppers feel the effects quickly

When farmers are forced to pull back on how much theyre planting, consumers can feel the effects. And according to Vauters, that transition happens faster than many people may realize.

If farmers as a group cut back planting by even 10%, the market feels it almost immediately this isn't something that takes a season to show up, he said. Prices would start rising right away, and anything downstream that depends on that commodity as an input would see its costs go up within a day or a week, not months.

That's because businesses and companies that need that commodity don't wait around they start bidding now for a smaller pool of future inventory, and that competition for a tighter supply is what pushes costs up the chain. By the time that ripples through to a finished product on a shelf, the groundwork for the price increase was actually laid the moment planting intentions changed.

So, if you notice the prices of your favorite Halloween candy are a bit steeper than in years past, it could be because of whats happening in farms across the country.

AI can make a home look better online than it does in person. Heres what buyers should know before making an offer.

• AI can do more than virtually stage a home. It can alter listing photos to hide damage, change finishes, and even make structural features appear that aren't really there.

• Buyers should look beyond the listing photos. Experts recommend checking county records, comparing photos with Street View or satellite imagery, and watching for signs of AI manipulation.

• A live walkthrough is your best defense. If you can't see the home in person, request a live video tour before making an offer or sending money, and make sure you have an inspection contingency.

Shopping for a home has always required a little imagination. A room might look better with different furniture, a fresh coat of paint, or some updated decor. But artificial intelligence is taking that idea much further, allowing listing photos to be altered in ways that can make it difficult for buyers to tell what a home actually looks like.

AI can remove cracks from drywall, add luxury countertops, and even alter architectural features, according to real estate and AI experts. For buyers particularly those shopping from out of state that can create a costly problem if they make an offer based largely on what they see online.

The safest approach? Don't assume listing photos tell the whole story, and whenever possible, see the home for yourself before buying.

AI can change more than the furniture

Virtual staging isn't necessarily a problem. Adding furniture to an empty room is a common practice, and AI can also make relatively minor changes to a photo.

But the technology can go much further.

Generative AI is allowing sellers and agents to do more than tweak brightness settings and use wide angle cameras, said Greg Field, a solar home Realtor at HomeSmart Realty Pros. He said AI can be used to remove cracks in dry wall, place luxury kitchen countertops that arent there, remove power lines, and make mountains magically appear out of standard suburban windows.

Russell Twilligear, head of AI research and development at BlogBuster, said AI can make rooms look larger, hide damage, and make upgrades appear to exist when they don't.

Daniel Amodeo, president of Amo Realty, noted that legitimate MLS listings are not supposed to materially misrepresent a property, and many multiple listing services have tightened rules around digitally altered photos. Still, buyers need to pay attention to what they're actually seeing.

Look for signs that something isn't right

Some AI-generated images can be surprisingly difficult to identify, but experts say there are clues.

Twilligear recommends looking for inconsistent windows, warped railings, repeated textures, impossible reflections and landscaping that looks unusually perfect.

Sherif Higazy, founder and CEO of Megaton AI, suggests checking whether furniture has the correct number of legs and whether it is arranged logically.

Field says buyers should also pay attention to architectural details. In manipulated images, straight lines such as baseboards, window trim, and door frames may appear warped or disappear altogether.

Unusual lighting can be another clue. Field says buyers should watch for shadows that don't match the apparent light sources, as well as landscaping that doesn't make sense for the season.

Don't rely on photos alone

If you're interested in a property, experts recommend verifying as much information as possible before making an offer.

Matt Brown, a broker associate at William Raveis Real Estate, suggests checking the home's listed square footage against county records. Photos can be posed for or edited, but the measurements in county records cannot, he said.

Buyers can also compare listing photos with satellite or Street View imagery to see whether the home's exterior matches what appears online.

And if you can't visit the property yourself, don't settle for a polished virtual tour. Twilligear recommends requesting a live video walkthrough, ideally with a real estate agent who can move through the home and show you the property in real time.

Be especially careful before sending money

AI-altered photos aren't necessarily a scam, but they can become much more concerning when combined with other red flags.

Higazy said consumers should be particularly wary when synthetic images appear alongside scam indicators such as requests for cash or upfront payments. Amodeo also noted that scammers can steal legitimate listings, alter them, and repost them online, making fraudulent listings more convincing.

Field recommends requesting unprocessed photos and videos when possible and making sure an inspection contingency is included in the purchase contract.

Ultimately, a beautiful listing photo is just that a photo. Before committing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a home, buyers should verify that the property they are buying actually exists in the condition they've been promised.

As Twilligear put it, if a seller or agent won't provide a live video walkthrough, report the listing and walk away.

The housing market may be at an inflexion point

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• New single-family home sales fell 10.5% in July, even as the median price declined to $393,800.

• A growing supply of unsold homes suggests builders may have to offer additional price cuts, mortgage-rate incentives, or other concessions.

• For consumers, the report shows that affordability depends on monthly payments not simply the advertised price of a house.

For years, home sales have drifted lower while prices have continued to steadily rise. But new data from the U.S. Census Bureau show a sharp reversal.

Sales of newly built single-family homes dropped 10.5% in July from the previous month, falling to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 607,000. Sales were also 6.3% lower than in July 2025.

At the same time, the median price of a new home sold in July fell to $393,800. That was 2.3% below Junes median of $403,100 and 0.9% below the level recorded a year earlier.

Although the monthly price decline was relatively modest, the median has fallen substantially from some of the higher readings recorded earlier in the housing cycle. Yet buyers still appear reluctant or unable to enter the market.

That combination of falling sales and lower prices sends a clear signal: The housing markets affordability problem has not been solved.

Lower price, but not necessarily an affordable home

The purchase price is only one part of what a consumer pays. Mortgage rates remained above 6.4% throughout July and reached 6.66% by the end of the month, according to Freddie Macs mortgage-rate archive.

At Julys median price, a buyer making a 20% down payment would need to borrow about $315,000. At a rate near 6.6%, principal and interest alone would be roughly $2,000 a month. Property taxes, homeowners insurance, and association fees could add hundreds more.

A smaller down payment would produce an even higher monthly cost and could require private mortgage insurance.

That helps explain why a lower sticker price did not generate more sales. For many households, the question is not whether the home costs $10,000 less. It is whether they can qualify for the loan and comfortably handle the payment every month.

Unsold inventory is building

The number of new homes for sale rose to an estimated 488,000 at the end of July, up 1.9% from June. Because sales slowed sharply, that inventory represented a 9.6-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 8.5 months in June.

A supply of that size generally gives buyers more leverage and puts pressure on builders to respond. They may reduce prices, pay some of a buyers closing costs, or offer temporary or permanent mortgage-rate buydowns.

Consumers shopping for new construction should therefore look beyond the list price. A builders financing incentive can sometimes reduce the monthly payment more than a modest price cut, although buyers should compare the builders offer with quotes from independent lenders.

The rising inventory could also lead builders to scale back future construction. That would protect them from carrying too many unsold homes, but it could limit the supply of new housing later and weigh on construction employment and spending on appliances, furniture, and building materials.

A warning about the data

The Census Bureaus new-home sales estimates are volatile and frequently revised. The agency reported a margin of error of plus or minus 14 percentage points for Julys 10.5% monthly decline. That means the government cannot yet say with statistical certainty that sales actually fell by the full reported amount.

Price figures can also shift because of the types of homes sold during a given month. Julys average selling price rose to $508,800 even as the median declined, suggesting that the mix included some more expensive properties. The median price decline does not necessarily mean every builder cut the price of every model.

Still, the broader message is difficult to miss. Buyers remain constrained by high borrowing costs, large down-payment requirements, and uncertainty about household finances.

For would-be buyers, additional inventory and builder incentives are encouraging. But a sustained housing recovery will probably require more than lower prices. Mortgage rates, household incomes, and confidence in the economy will also have to move in buyers favor.

Theres growing concern about what the next few months will bring

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• U.S. consumer confidence fell for a second straight month in August as Americans became more pessimistic about the economys direction.

• Consumers viewed current job and business conditions more favorably, but expected slower income growth and fewer employment opportunities ahead.

• Prices, interest rates and household finances remain concerns, prompting consumers to reconsider some discretionary purchases and services.

Gas prices, electric bills, food prices theyre all taking a toll. Americans are feeling somewhat better about todays job market, but their confidence in the months ahead continues to deteriorate.

The Conference Boards Consumer Confidence Index declined 0.8 points in August to 89.4, down from 90.2 in July. It marked the second consecutive monthly decline, according to the organizations August Consumer Confidence Survey.

The relatively small change in the headline number masked a growing divide between how consumers view current conditions and what they expect over the next six months.

The Present Situation Index, measuring views of current business and labor market conditions, rose 6.8 points to 121.2. But the Expectations Index, which measures the outlook for income, jobs and business conditions, dropped 5.8 points to 68.2.

An Expectations Index reading below 80 has historically been associated with an increased risk of recession. However, the survey found that consumers still viewed the likelihood of a recession over the next year as relatively low.

Consumer confidence moderated slightly in August for a second consecutive month, Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board, said in a statement. She noted that improved assessments of present conditions were offset by greater pessimism about the future.

Job market looks better today, less certain tomorrow

Consumers views of the current labor market improved significantly. Twenty-seven percent said jobs were plentiful, up from 24.4% in July. Meanwhile, the share saying jobs were hard to get fell to 19.5% from 21.7%.

The outlook was less encouraging. Only 14.6% expected more jobs to become available over the next six months, down from 16.4%. More than one-quarter 26.1% expected fewer jobs.

Income expectations also weakened. The share of consumers expecting their income to increase declined to 17.6% from 19.5%, while 13.8% expected their income to fall, up from 12.6%.

The findings suggest that even consumers who feel secure today may be growing more cautious about major purchases and taking on additional debt.

Prices remain a persistent concern

When consumers were asked what was affecting their view of the economy, references to prices remained elevated. Respondents frequently mentioned oil and gasoline, while concerns about groceries, trade, jobs and international conflicts increased during August.

Both average and median inflation expectations for the next 12 months rose slightly. In addition, 61.3% of consumers expected interest rates to increase over the coming year, although that was down from 62% in July.

Higher borrowing costs can affect household budgets by making credit card balances, auto loans and mortgages more expensive. Expectations of continued inflation can also cause consumers to reduce discretionary spending, particularly if they are unsure about future income.

Confidence was highest among consumers younger than 35 and among higher-income households. Generation Z and millennials remained more confident than Generation X, baby boomers and members of the Silent Generation.

Spending plans turn more cautious

Consumers continued to show strong interest in buying cars, while homebuying expectations slipped slightly. Furniture and smartphones remained the most desired durable goods, although plans to purchase smartphones continued to moderate.

Planned spending on televisions showed the largest decline. Consumers also expected to spend less on airfare, hotels, movies, amusement parks, museums and other discretionary activities.

Restaurants, utilities and streaming, internet and mobile services remained among consumers top spending priorities. Pet-care spending also stayed relatively strong.

The results point to a consumer who has not stopped spending but is becoming more selective. That caution could matter to the broader economy because consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.