Keeping Up with the Joneses

A close friend of mine and me were sitting al fresco at a restaurant in Downtown Hollywood in another hot summer day. The clouds were hurriedly over casting the faint, blue skies. It was a relief on our skin since we were outdoors, due to the infamous sticky humid weather in South Florida.

“You always wear the best handbags, the finest jewelry, you have such a beautiful home, a luxurious SUV, and where did you get those Prada sunglasses, I hate you!” 

“Well don’t, as a matter of fact I might be going into foreclosure,” she says.

My friend, not knowing what to say or do and seemingly desperate, could not help but shed a tear or two.

“I didn’t know that you were going through that, why didn’t you tell me this before? I am your friend and don’t forget, I am a Real Estate Agent. Didn’t you think that I could help you in some way?”

She said she was embarrassed to tell me. She would have to give up some of the finer things in life that she is accustomed to. Coming down to visit me from Palm Beach was a sacrifice and a luxury in itself to say the least, she could barely afford the hefty $80 to fill up her gas tank, but she appreciated me that much. Never in my mind would I ever think that she would go through such situation.

“Thanks, that bad, huh?” I said. “Yep,” she said as she was pretending to be busy filling her fork with food but I could tell she was reiterating in her mind the words she had just confessed to me.

“Look, don’t be embarrassed. You are not alone. There is always someone in a worse situation than we are. What you are going to have to do is readjust your life, COMPLETELY! Do not think like an underdog but be more favor minded. Your situation is forcing you to either refinance your home, sell it at a buyer’s market, get rid of your leased SUV, (which by the way, leasing is an expensive interest rate unless you use it as a tax write off), or lease your home, but do something, you do have options, try and avoid going to foreclosure as best as you can if you have not gotten in that deep yet.”