Christine Emmick

I was just watching a youtube instructional video about the housing crisis. According to this guys math, housing prices artificially rose up to 60% between 2000 and 2006, while incomes per capita actually went down.

I'm in southwestern Pennsylvania and we, as investors, can still find homes, livable homes in half decent neighborhoods, in the 20 to 30k range. My husband's parents bought their home for less than 10K in 1970 and had it paid off in less than 10 years. My parents in the 80s bough their home for 70K at a horrible interest rate, and just made their last payment last month. Was this a housing bubble too that never burst?

My question is how far can these prices rise over time? Do we really need to spend over 100K for a starter type home? Should home prices be out of reach for those people with an hourly paying job?

As nice as it may seem to have your home's value skyrocket, normal everyday people, with normal every day jobs simply cannot, and should not have to, shell out a grand for a house payment every month. I also think everyone deserves to own where they live. It makes for a better community, and therefore better neighborhoods and less crime, mostly because people care about what is theirs. I've seen first hand what renters can do to properties they don't own. It is not pretty.

House prices must come down if this is going to happen. People making minimum wage should be able to buy a home of their own and not spend an eternity paying it off. I'm not talking newly built homes in chopped up farms, I'm talking about renewed old neighborhoods, infused with the extra cash these workers will have to fix up these unpolished gems by having a $300 house payment, instead of a $1300 house payment.

Then, maybe the housing market will look more like it did in the 1950s, no 30 year mortgages, no artificially inflated house prices, and modest bank profit.

"Subway Helps Students in Need" promotion lets Delmont Wal-Mart Subway Customers Give Kids the School Supplies They Need to Get the School Year Off to a Great Start

By Christine Emmick

Now through the end of September the owners of Subway Restaurant inside of the Delmont Wal-Mart store will offer $1.00 off any item on their menu with a donation of new school supplies. They will distribute the school supplies to the families of students at Greensburg Salem, Jeanette, Penn Trafford and Christian Fellowship Academy schools.

The idea sprung from a wish to help those families struggling during these tough economic times. When assistant manager Jessie Staymates decided to offer an incentive to help give kids get a great start in school, she never dreamed her customers would be so giving. Folders, notebooks, pencils highlighters and stickers poured in. Because of the generosity of their customers, the Delmont Subway will have hundreds of dollars of school supplies to distribute to families in these school districts.

To get more information or to make a donation, call Jessie at 724-468-3010, or simply stop by the restaurant. To get directions to the Delmont Wal-Mart Subway, visit http://www.subway.com/Applications/locator/index.aspxand click the "Restaurant Locator" tab at the top of the page. The "Subway Helps Students in Need" promotion runs through September 30th.

Christine Emmick is a freelance foods and business writer based in the Pittsburgh area. You may contact Christine through her blog site at www.activerain.com/cemmick.

The new federal appropriations bill will grant a 9% increase, over $300 million, to President Obama's Office of Management and Budget for 2010. These funds will be used for computer upgrades at the President's office and "pilot programs" to improve federal/state communication.

This passed bill requested more than a 7% increase overall. The biggest increases were for President Obama's office (Executive Office of the President), the District of Columbia, and the Treasury Department, including over $5.5 billion for IRS tax enforcement to combat tax evasion. This represents more than a 12% increase from 2009.

A report of all the increases can be found at http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov by clicking the "7.14.09 FY 2010 Financial Services Appropriations" sidebar. A summary of the bill can be found at http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/FS_FY10_FC_Summary_as_amended_07.07.2009.pdf.

-Christine Emmick is a business and real estate writer based in the Pittsburgh area.

Life Church, Destinta Theater and Subway Restaurants Sponsor Free Car Wash and Free Movie for Single Mothers and Their Kids

Christine Emmick - Pittsburgh, PA - June 14, 2009

Life Church (life-church.com), Subway restaurants (subway.com) and Destinta Theatre (destinta.com) of North Versailles have teamed up to give single Moms a well deserved break. On Saturday, June 20, single Mothers who have registered with the church office and their children will enjoy a free movie at Destinta Theatre on Route 30 in North Versailles.

During the event, set to start at 10 AM and end at 4 PM, Moms and kids can enjoy movies like Imagine That (imaginethatmovie.com), a great kid's movie starring Eddie Murphy. While they sit in an air conditioned movie theater, Life Church volunteers will wash Mom's car for free. A local Subway restaurant representative will be on hand providing free coupons which give hardworking Moms a vacation from the kitchen too.

If you know a single Mom who deserves a break this weekend, ask them to call the Life Church office, at 412-373-5433, to register for this event. Attendees are limited to the first 75 registrants, and Moms must register with the church by June 19^th in order to participate.

Christine Emmick is a freelance business writer who has lived in the Pittsburgh area for the past 30 years.

OK folks, seems every time I get going on here I ignore one of my other very important jobs. How do you single working moms do this? Are you selling real estate while they nap? Are you toting them along in the car seat while showing homes?

I should be doing so many other things, like feeding my kids lunch (my two year old is STAAAAAARRRRVVVIINNNGGGG), thinking about dinner, going to vote, showering, doing laundry, calling a client, follow up on an email, writing a business plan, calling my cousin, checking with my artist for my children's book, and going to enjoy some of the rare sunshine!

I recently cut back on some of my work, but it seems I'm always missing something. Anyone got any advice?