Jose Baez Both Homes in Foreclosure

[logicalgirl]

Baez Faces Foreclosure On Home

http://www.wesh.com/news/24425702/detail.html :woohoo:

<snipped>

At the time the state chose to see the death penalty against Anthony, Deen said Baez should have asked himself whether he was qualified to remain on the case and whether he could afford it.

"You don't talk about the business end of it, but that's part of it. That's a huge part of it," Deen said.

Video Report: http://www.wesh.com/video/24427582/index.html

Finally, someone noticed your very excellent sleuthing!!! Where are your KUDOS?????

 

[nums24]

They basically just expanded on the earlier report a little, with a couple local attorneys talking about what he should have done when taking on the case, as well as a real estate attorney talking about how he should handle it.

Thank you MM!

 

[logicalgirl]

In all fairness, { just give me a minute } I have to say that in light of the current mortage situation, and how hard it has hit in Florida, among other states, I can see where he defaulted on his home.

Aside from that though, in light of his past history and how long it took for him to even have the bar accept him because of his finacial problems, one would think that he would have thought long and hard before taking this step.
Esp given the exposure that he himself has generated with word that comes out of his mouth.

With the local Florida news picking this up now, it's just one more thing that he will now use to his advantage with twisting facts and trying to sway opinions.

How do you see him doing that? Turning it into his favor I mean? He's not an unemployed person who has been hard hit by both the housing drop and the tough economy. He is someone who charged a client a heck of a lot of money for no work we can see and hasn't made a mortgage payment since he bought the place.:waitasec:

Clearly I don't have well developed manipulative tendencies cause I can't see anyway to swing this into something that has him smelling even close to a rose.

PS that wasn't a challenge Purple, I'm truly puzzled and would like to see how you think it might play in his favor.

 

[ynotdivein]

nums, we would be remiss if we did not present you the Post/Thread of the Day Award:

:gold_crown:

For scooping the MSM and humbly allowing them to take the credit, and for your tireless efforts to bring justice to Caylee, we thank you.

:toastred:

 

[nums24]

In all fairness, { just give me a minute } I have to say that in light of the current mortage situation, and how hard it has hit in Florida, among other states, I can see where he defaulted on his home.

Aside from that though, in light of his past history and how long it took for him to even have the bar accept him because of his finacial problems, one would think that he would have thought long and hard before taking this step.
Esp given the exposure that he himself has generated with word that comes out of his mouth.

With the local Florida news picking this up now, it's just one more thing that he will now use to his advantage with twisting facts and trying to sway opinions.

BBM - JB bought this house during the housing downturn in May 2007. I hold him accountable for his actions. I don't see how he will be able to manipulate anything to his favor. He knew what his financial obligations were prior to taking this case, he chose to go forward and defend Casey anyway. I think he saw nothing but dollar signs back in August 2008, his first clue should have been when KC said she had a $5000 retainer to pay him.

Here is an article from 2007 about the FL housing market:

http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2007/09/24/story5.html

 

[CarolinaMoon]

I've done a lot of house hunting in my time. When Realtors would hear our joint income, they would try and steer us to some very expensive houses and explain how we could afford it. The deal would include "jumbo" loans and balloon payments, ARM's, and so on. We'd look at the bottom line, the monthly cost of the home and shake our heads "no". We live in a nice, but modest home and don't worry about how to afford groceries.

I've known many people who want the fancy house and the social status it brings. They turn out "house poor". They take on heavy mortgages and can't afford milk for the kids.

Baez seems to be in this second category. I don't think his law firm was running up to speed yet. He wasn't firmly established in the legal community and had just started on bigger cases in 2008, when Casey Anthony came into his life. IMHO, he believed this case would garner big bucks, even though Casey was essentially indigent. Her only assets were the pictures that were sold and the money spent, one way or another.

The combination of buying a home above what was comfortable for him and the enconomic bust, along with less $$ than he expected from the case have put him in a real financial bind.

 

[logicalgirl]

I've done a lot of house hunting in my time. When Realtors would hear our joint income, they would try and steer us to some very expensive houses and explain how we could afford it. The deal would include "jumbo" loans and balloon payments, ARM's, and so on. We'd look at the bottom line, the monthly cost of the home and shake our heads "no". We live in a nice, but modest home and don't worry about how to afford groceries.

I've known many people who want the fancy house and the social status it brings. They turn out "house poor". They take on heavy mortgages and can't afford milk for the kids.

Baez seems to be in this second category. I don't think his law firm was running up to speed yet. He wasn't firmly established in the legal community and had just started on bigger cases in 2008, when Casey Anthony came into his life. IMHO, he believed this case would garner big bucks, even though Casey was essentially indigent. Her only assets were the pictures that were sold and the money spent, one way or another.

The combination of buying a home above what was comfortable for him and the enconomic bust, along with less $$ than he expected from the case have put him in a real financial bind.

A pattern he has repeated several times before this that the Bar admonished him for. This behavior is not new to Baez, housing market, economy downturn or not.

 

[nums24]

I've done a lot of house hunting in my time. When Realtors would hear our joint income, they would try and steer us to some very expensive houses and explain how we could afford it. The deal would include "jumbo" loans and balloon payments, ARM's, and so on. We'd look at the bottom line, the monthly cost of the home and shake our heads "no". We live in a nice, but modest home and don't worry about how to afford groceries.

I've known many people who want the fancy house and the social status it brings. They turn out "house poor". They take on heavy mortgages and can't afford milk for the kids.

Baez seems to be in this second category. I don't think his law firm was running up to speed yet. He wasn't firmly established in the legal community and had just started on bigger cases in 2008, when Casey Anthony came into his life. IMHO, he believed this case would garner big bucks, even though Casey was essentially indigent. Her only assets were the pictures that were sold and the money spent, one way or another.

The combination of buying a home above what was comfortable for him and the enconomic bust, along with less $$ than he expected from the case have put him in a real financial bind.

He shouldn't have purchased a second home then? He currently owns two homes and his law office building.

 

[nums24]

nums, we would be remiss if we did not present you the Post/Thread of the Day Award:

:gold_crown:

For scooping the MSM and humbly allowing them to take the credit, and for your tireless efforts to bring justice to Caylee, we thank you.

:toastred:

:blushing: Thank you for your encouragement and support everyone! :blushingsmiley:

 

[logicalgirl]

:blushing: Thank you for your encouragement and support everyone! :blushingsmiley:

That's a crown award two days in a row. Hooray for Nums24!!!!
:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

 

[BondJamesBond]

In a nutshell, personal financial conduct is not simply an issue of an attorneys professional decision making and advice. It is a term of compliance required as part of their admission to the bar. It has nothing to do with advice and everything to do with the handling and management of client monies. One of the key responsibilities of any attorney is the management of various client escrow accounts. They have open access to alot of peoples money. You cannot be admitted to the bar with bankruptcies or foreclosures on your record anymore than you can with felony convictions. In this case JB was originally delayed in being admitted to the bar because of questionable personal finances. A personal home foreclosure or bankruptcy has a greater risk to getting him disbarred than any of the antics we have witnessed in court or in the case.

Thank you!

 

[cecybeans]

Whether or not JB knew what he was getting into with his client, he paid himself $90K from her account and has over a quarter million unaccounted for regarding her case. The fact he took $70k from Todd Macaluso means to me that he had already run through most of that money before TM and AL even arrived. I have yet to see that anybody who invoiced him was actually paid. And he has taken on other business in the interim.

Other than a handful of depos, he has very little to show for two years' work on a DP case, most of his time ostensibly spent filing inane motions, fabricating elaborate SODDI defenses, brokering photos of a dead baby and engaging in many lunches on Geraldo's yacht .

This is a man who apparently defaulted on earlier child support payments to the point it interfered with getting his license to practice. He has a history of disregard for his financial obligations, imo, and deserves everything he is getting.

 

[KeyboardCat]

I've never had perfect finances, I think most people don't. But I've never let a house payment or car payment go late. I would think those things are first priority.

I would also think that with all the money that has been thrown at people... Jose Baez.. the Anthony's.. even Dominic Casey.. that the first thing anyone would want to do would make a good chunk of payment on something important.

 

[tiff07]

I've never had perfect finances, I think most people don't. But I've never let a house payment or car payment go late. I would think those things are first priority.

I would also think that with all the money that has been thrown at people... Jose Baez.. the Anthony's.. even Dominic Casey.. that the first thing anyone would want to do would make a good chunk of payment on something important.

Same here. Our mortgage payments are automatically deducted and paid before all else. I can understand the Anthony's position due to unforseen circumstances but the attorney's? Makes no sense to me. I wonder if its a personal and straightforward matter or if there isn't something more to it. Of course its of no relevance unless its motivated by Caseys defence or effects her representation.

 

[MD MOMMY]

Here are my observations about JB. He is a very impulsive person. You can see it in his lawyering, filing objections to motions the state hasn't even filed yet etc. He purchased a house clearly out of his league, in hopes that he would be successful. Most people wait for succcess to make such a lavish purchase, but not Jose. Sure, the housing market took a downward spiral, that is fine and dandy. What a normal person would then do is buy a house that they can afford based on a price. We purchased our home nearly at the peak of the market being high. Did we buy a $600,000 house??? NOPE we didn't because we can't pay the mortgage. We instead chose a smaller more modest home that we could and can pay for. Sure people can blame the market all they want to but ultimately THEY chose to pay the high price!!!

 

[KeyboardCat]

lol I remember having some personal finances class a few years ago. They had some good recommended guidelines.

They said that you should not buy a house that exceeds your annual household income multiplied times 1.5

My house is worth so much less than what my husband makes a year... and he doesn't make that much!! But I like my old tiny farm house.

Anyway, houses are nothing but a status symbol to a lot of people. Thats why people buy houses they really can't afford. Houses, cars.. whatever... its all to be seen as being successful, better than everybody else. And now the economy is struggling because of those debts.

IMO people are too accustomed to having the biggest and the best.. even when they only put stress on their wallets to maintain it. But I was honestly surprised to see foreclosure thing about Jose Baez. Why did I assume he was smarter than that?!

 

[tiff07]

So many good points being made here re personal finances. I have a question about Baez. Does anybody know how he came to be Caseys lawyer in the first place? Did she randomly select him from the phonebook, was he recommended or did they have a pre-existing relationship?

 

[nums24]

Whether or not JB knew what he was getting into with his client, he paid himself $90K from her account and has over a quarter million unaccounted for regarding her case. The fact he took $70k from Todd Macaluso means to me that he had already run through most of that money before TM and AL even arrived. I have yet to see that anybody who invoiced him was actually paid. And he has taken on other business in the interim.

Other than a handful of depos, he has very little to show for two years' work on a DP case, most of his time ostensibly spent filing inane motions, fabricating elaborate SODDI defenses, brokering photos of a dead baby and engaging in many lunches on Geraldo's yacht .

This is a man who apparently defaulted on earlier child support payments to the point it interfered with getting his license to practice. He has a history of disregard for his financial obligations, imo, and deserves everything he is getting.

Beautifully stated! That has been one of the points I've been trying to make.

 

[nums24]

So many good points being made here re personal finances. I have a question about Baez. Does anybody know how he came to be Caseys lawyer in the first place? Did she randomly select him from the phonebook, was he recommended or did they have a pre-existing relationship?

This is a good article that should be able to answer your question:

http://blog.richardhornsby.com/2009/12/attorney-of-record-in-record-time/comment-page-4/

 

[tiff07]

This is a good article that should be able to answer your question:

http://blog.richardhornsby.com/2009/12/attorney-of-record-in-record-time/comment-page-4/

Very interesting, thank you so much!