<prompt> Human: This is a serious issue for me right now. I am in dangerous financial shape but I think I can work out of it with a little more cash. Have been unemployed for a while, had a real good job, had a very serious and public mental breakdown which has complicated life a lot. I have one house owned free and clear worth about 65k and another could sell for 600k and owe about 140k. I am not behind on the mortgage 600k house but may have to be soon. My plan is to sell the house I owe free and clear, will take at least 5 months to get money into my pocket. I think I have enuf saved to pay for utilities on the big house but not pay mortgage. I also have to clean up the cheap house, previous tenants owed rent and left a mess. I plan on starting a seperate thread on foreclosure, so this thread is for the letter. I also rent out two rooms in this big house so I need to keep current on the utilities here and support my daughter and ex with a small monthly, but this is tangential to the issue at hand. My uncle is quite wealthy lives on the west coast. He sends me letters every 3-6 months, he knows a lot about my situation the breakdown etc. Hes uncle by marriage he and my father were quite close. He tells me let me know if I need anything. I could use a cash infusion even 2 or 3k might be just enuf. Ive never asked him or anyone for money, ever. I am having some writers block and I need to write this letter. I can write well, just having trouble getting this started. How do I do this? ANy tips? I think I will say in the letter: a thanks for all your support these last few years b heres the problem heres my incomeexpenses c heres my plan sell one house, use cash to stay afloat before they foreclose...Thank you.  <response>: Why do you even need to ask for money? You have a lot of equity in your houses which you can borrow against. I know thats generally a bad idea to do for paying mortgage bills but if you only need to float by for a short period I think its quite acceptable for the circumstances. 