I regularly visit a life coach, who is working to instill a mindset within me that I can do and have anything. And yes, many days he makes me believe it.

But I’m not there yet.

Why?

Well, I have another friend. Unlike the “life coach” types, everything in his life revolves around money. He’s miserly, he’s not friendly, he’s not the type I’m told “attracts success.”

Yet he’s a master negotiator. He knows how much to offer for the nice things he wants in his life and always gets a great deal.

By great deal, I mean getting a Lexus two-seater convertible for 20% off of the asking price.

I, on the other hand, have an uncanny knack of finding the listings from people who aren’t interested in negotiating... at. all.

Ten years ago, when I was house shopping, I found a cute little house that I thought would be perfect. I took into consideration its neighborhood, its condition, and what it needed, and made an offer that I and my agent thought was reasonable.

And, if memory serves, about 15-20% off the listing price. The seller was insulted. The seller took the house off the market immediately after my offer and decided to use it as a rental. My agent had never seen anything like that before... so I’m guessing it’s a rare occurrence. Yet, that’s what I seem to draw into my life... those rare occurrences.

Yet, I was inspired by my friend’s recent purchase. I’m currently looking for a new car myself. No, I’m not looking for a $15,000 auto, but something practical and reliable. Specifically, at this moment, I’m looking at a 2009 Hyundai Sonata.

I test drove the car, I noticed that it is a remarkably clean car—yet it does have a few dings plus some definite hail damage. Plus, arrived on site armed with the book values.

After I made my offer, I was educated about how the blue book values are not a true indicator of market value and that this car was aggressively priced and he was unable to match my offer.

I know I should always be prepared to walk away. I was, and I did. However, in this case, we both did. Time will tell if I'm going to end up in that car...

What the seller said made sense to me... and maybe that’s the problem. Plus, of course, Craigslist proved his point. A quick search of all the similar area listings revealed his and one other to be priced the same (at well over book), and the same car going for close to $10,000 still.

So, I get that the market really does drive the prices, and perhaps I need to consider purchasing a new car while I’m on my road trip next month through lower priced markets... but I’m also clearly not the master negotiator my friend is.

My life coach says I can have it all. I need to believe that fully.

Being a Have-Not is exhausting... it truly is time for change.

What i'm listening to:

The Beautiful Ones
Prince & the Revolution
Purple Rain