(1)  WORK.  Children need to feel the emotional connection between work & money.  Might pay kids commissions, not allowances.  Then they will learn if they work, they get paid & if they don’t they won’t.  (2)  SAVE .  Teach your children early on to sock away funds for future purchases.  If they save up for a Barbie today, then they can save up for a car later on.  (3)  SPEND.  Let them experience the awesome feeling of buying something they’ve saved up for.  If all the money in the piggy bank is held, they will never enjoy it and grow up to be misers or rebels  & spend too much.  (4)  GIVE.  Demonstrate that giving is the most fun they can have with their money.  Just make sure it is their money.  He needs to know how it feels to take the coin out of his own pocket.  Some churches practice tithing or giving a tenth & a good place to teach.

U. S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT reported this, but we know about our market in TEXAS!  Real Estate Center Research Economist Dr. Jim Gains noted that Texas did not suffer as severe a recession or housing bust as some other states.  Plus we started the recession later.  We did see our share of subprime lending, but with the unemployment rate not as high as other states, that helped lessen the housing market damage caused by the collapse of bad mortgages.  Texas had subprime lending, but that works as long as people have jobs, so you HAD THESE OFFSETTING FACTORS.  Gaines also attributed the market’s strength to the lower-than-average property values in Texas’ major metro areas.  We did not have a true bubble and in Texas you can find homes in metro areas for UNDER $200,000.

Sales were slightly down from July according to GTAR (Greater Tyler Association of Realtors).   The median home for August was $145,000, a 1.19% hike from $143,300 in August 2011.  Bain Real Estate has had multiple sales in the past 2 months with prices pleasing to the sellers.  Still the low interest rates are encouraging buyers to make a decision, so we are moving into the fall with an active market, even with school starting.  Lots of retired folks moving to the area to take advantage of the medical facilities and entertainment, shopping, eating out, etc.  New subdivisions are selling their homes.  Still a lag in upper range homes and these need to move to balance the market.  Tyler has had one of the highest inventories of any city in TX, but it is very slowly coming down.

while this seems out of East TX interest, often hear of folks going to the Gulf Coast to fish and bird watch, so this is important to all of us.   The  Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program plans to work in a 515 square-miles area of bays, estuaries & bayous in the Copano, Aransas, Corpus Christi, Nueces, Baffin & upper Lagune Madre Bay systems.  The group’s goal is to protect & restore the health & productivity of the bays & estuaries while supporting continued economic growth & public use of the bays.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM covers 28 estuaries along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts as well as Puerto Rico.