January 12, 2005

To Whom It May Concern:

My precious wife and I had lived in the same house in a Phoenix historic district for over 40 years. We had many fond memories. While I don’t consider myself an emotional person, I was absolutely devastated when she passed away from her battle with cancer.

I was at such a loss with her death that I could barely function. I was used to her paying the bills, taking care of the house and many of the other critical details of our lives. My grief was so great that I neglected pretty much everything, just attempting to get on with my life. I let the house go and conveniently forgot to pay the bills, including our mortgage.

Well, it eventually caught up with me. I never even knew I was in foreclosure. My only sign was when I started getting tons of flyers from people wanting to buy my house. Or those pesky people bothering me during supper time asking me if I wanted to sell. I’m thinking, what’s going on? Then someone had the gall to ask me if I knew I was in foreclosure. And then proved it to me with a copy of the actual court document.

That was my wake up call. How tragic. I had barely started to deal with my wife’s demise when this hit me like a ton of bricks. Why me, why now?! I just wanted to disappear and make all this go away.

That very weekend I went to Temple and had a conversation with my spiritual advisor. I am thankful he realized the urgency of my situation. He advised me to talk with this guy, Art Fried. I was told that Art had helped lots of people in the community and congregation, in similar situations.

Reluctantly I made the call. It took me a while because I really didn’t want to deal with things. I was wishing it would just go away. But it didn’t. Not until I talked to Art. He helped me sort through all my affairs, as messy as they were. In a sense, he became a really close friend. I couldn’t have gotten through this difficult time without him.

It was so disorienting since my wife took care of everything. I realized that I literally didn’t know what to do since she did it all. Suddenly she was gone. Things just got worse and worse the more I ignored things. I know it wasn’t a smart move, but what could I do? Art had the answer—and he fixed things—when I didn’t even know where to start.

Mr. Fried ended up buying my house from me and set me up in a smaller rental house. I was so impressed in dealing with him. He was a lifesaver at that crucial juncture in my life! Art always treated me with the utmost kindness and respect. He was patient in explaining my circumstances and the solutions to my problems in language I could understand. I sensed that he really did want to help me, like he said.

I’d highly recommend Art and his company to anyone.

As funny as this sounds, I really believe it. Art’s the kind of guy that you’d want your daughter to marry. I know this for a fact. Because my real son-in-law wanted to essentially steal my house out from under me, when I was going through my tragic loss . And with family like that—well—you get the picture. Let’s just say that with someone like Art on your side, you can’t go wrong!

I know I’ve said this before my friend, but you were there for me. That is something that I will not easily forget. My appreciation extends beyond the words of this letter. Somehow I think that if there were more businessmen like Art in the world, it would be a much better place!

With gratitude beyond measure—thanks again! If you’d like me to talk to anyone to let them know what you did for me, and what you can do for them, don’t hesitate to have them call me.

Bud A. Jr.