I recently had a family call me to sell their vacation villa.  When I went to visit with them they said that the reason they were selling was because their life had become so hectic that they were not able to travel to Hilton Head Island to use their villa. 

As we were were talking about their property, the seller felt bad because they felt that they were not taking advantage of their property.  They had owned their villa for many years and had lots of good memories.  She said, “you use it or lose it” and I find this to be very true in many things in life.

Several years ago I sold a villa to someone from Cincinnati, Ohio.  When he purchased the villa, he said he could not believe he was doing it because he was only planning on coming to Hilton Head twice per year.  It turns out that he has used it almost 10 times per year and has felt that it was a great family investment.  The villa has gone up in value, but that nothing to do with what he meant.  He was just referring to the time spent and memories formed in their villa.  That is what I call value.

I was with two of my children and another family and was listening to my children tell about all the great times we had at Melrose when they were growing up.  We used to go over there for several weeks during the summer - I would work during the day and catch the ferry every night. 

When people asked me what I thought about Melrose, I seemed to think about the $35,000 I lost in that investment.  My four kids don’t look at it that way at all.  When you look at the overall picture I think that they are right and I am wrong.  You “use it or lose it.”