Jose Baez Both Homes in Foreclosure

[faefrost]

Baez did receive $90,000.00 in fees for Casey's defense.

<snipped> http://www.wftv.com/news/22891038/detail.html

The defense told the judge Thursday it brought in a total of $275,000 for Casey's defense. Baez had already filed paperwork with the clerk indicating he got $90,000 of it for his fee and co-counsel Andrea Lyon got $22,500, but used all of that for expenses, and that he paid public relations woman Marti Mackenzie $10,000.

Behind closed doors, Baez apparently explained how he spent the other $152,500 that was left.

$90,000 gross for two years work as a small business with office and salary and operational expenses really does have no room for paying for a $4500 a month mortgage. Does he have any other paying clients? I think the news analysts were correct in asking if he used poor judgement in taking on a case that he cannot personally afford to see through?

 

[Paintr]

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2010/07/casey-anthony-does-jose-baezs-foreclosure-problem-matter-to-casey-anthony-case.html/comment-page-1

“My personal affairs are just that — personal,” Anthony defense attorney Baez said in a text message to WESH.

I guess Mr Baez thinks that it is nobody's business but his.

 

[mitzi]

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!!!

Personally, I think Jose got so caught up in "hangin' with the big dogs", like Geraldo and hitting all the TV interviews, that he wanted the lifestyle that went with it. Same goes for the expensive suits he is now wearing...only the best for Mr. Jose Baez....Greatest Hispanic Attorney of All Time!

Well, now it is coming back to bite him in the butt...golly, KARMA is an awesome thing! :dance::dance::dance:

 

[Purple Iris]

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.

I only meant that with his constant whining about one thing or another, he and his clients lack of privacy, that he will pout and make a big to-do about this if given the chance.
I can't imagine that there is any way of working this to his benefit, but, I also don't see him not trying to manipulate it to do so.

He is predictable in that one, he is busy patting himself on the back to the point of almost breaking his arm, , and two, crying cause his dress is wet and it's someone else's fault.

 

[LambChop]

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2010/07/casey-anthony-does-jose-baezs-foreclosure-problem-matter-to-casey-anthony-case.html/comment-page-1

“My personal affairs are just that — personal,” Anthony defense attorney Baez said in a text message to WESH.

I guess Mr Baez thinks that it is nobody's business but his.

When it is published for everyone to see it is everyone's business. Foreclosures are the public business because it affects everyone else. JB made a bad business decision that will affect everyone else. It's not as if he lost his job and no longer can afford the home. He still has his business, he still has some control over his actions. It's not as if he has fallen on hard times. jmo

 

[Patty G]

IMO, Baez letting his home go into foreclosure was the right move. Baez is just another statistic in the real estate downfall. Baez's home dropped $300.000.00 and that is a heck of a lot of money. There is no equity in the home and he is strapped with a mortage for over $600,000.00. When looking at over a 30 year period of interest and payments, Jose did the right thing to let it go.

Now for the people who have money to pay their mortgage, and their home was not affected by the real estate downfall, then I would certainly make a stink.

 

[coco puff]

IMO, Baez letting his home go into foreclosure was the right move. Baez is just another statistic in the real estate downfall. Baez's home dropped $300.000.00 and that is a heck of a lot of money. There is no equity in the home and he is strapped with a mortage for over $600,000.00. When looking at over a 30 year period of interest and payments, Jose did the right thing to let it go.

Now for the people who have money to pay their mortgage, and their home was not affected by the real estate downfall, then I would certainly make a stink.

Why do you think he did not have the money to pay his mortgage? Did his employment change? He STILL has the house that he thought was worth the money he agreed to pay. See, I don't get it. The guy knew what his bills were, agreed to pay them and then spent 7 hours a day in his office with his right-hand felon instead of taking on paying clients so he could keep his financial obligations.

 

[Macushla]

Personally, I think Jose got so caught up in "hangin' with the big dogs", like Geraldo and hitting all the TV interviews, that he wanted the lifestyle that went with it. Same goes for the expensive suits he is now wearing...only the best for Mr. Jose Baez....Greatest Hispanic Attorney of All Time!

Well, now it is coming back to bite him in the butt...golly, KARMA is an awesome thing! :dance::dance::dance:

He bought the house in 2007 - long before this case came about, right? I have no idea what his financial situation was back then, but I would bet anyone a moon pie and a Dr. Pepper he did not expect to get caught up in a case like this! IF he had bought the house any time AFTER he took on KC as a client, then I would be thinking harsh thoughts.

I live in Central FL and I see homes in my neighborhood go into foreclosure all the time. Sometimes the owner's did it to themselves, refinancing and equity loans till they were drowning under the weight of all the payments, sometimes it was due to divorce, losing their jobs, etc.

Unless and until this causes problems in his ability to defend KC, I kinda agree with JB that it is his personal business.

 

[Patty G]

Why do you think he did not have the money to pay his mortgage? Did his employment change? He STILL has the house that he thought was worth the money he agreed to pay. See, I don't get it. The guy knew what is bills were, agreed to pay them and then spent 7 hours a day in his office with his right-hand felon instead of taking on paying clients so he could keep his financial obligations.

I don't recall saying Jose didn't have the money to pay the mortgage. What I stated was he would be paying a hefty mortgage on a house not worth the amount he would have to pay for perhaps the next 30 years.

At the time Jose bought the house and paying monthly payments, the house was worth ~$620,000 and probably even more. Most people bought homes knowing that each year they own a home it goes up in value.

However the real estate plummeted and millions of people who thought they had an investment in a home, no longer have that. They are stuck with first the rate increase in monthly payments on their existing mortgage along with a home value greatly decreased.

No matter how much money Jose is earning or the average person, when your house drops in value in the hundreds of thousands and your payment goes UP, it's time to get out the best way you can.

Let's say Jose's monthly mortgage payment was $3,700.00 month (excluding homeowners and property taxes.) on $650,000.00 for 30 years.

By the end of the 30 years Jose would have paid ~$693,989.00 in interest and ~$649,305.00 in principal = $1,343,294.00 ON a house only worth $350,000.00.

 

[ZsaZsa]

The Anthonys have a couple of spare rooms, maybe they should rent one to Baez?

 

[whiteangora]

I don't recall saying Jose didn't have the money to pay the mortgage. What I stated was he would be paying a hefty mortgage on a house not worth the amount he would have to pay for perhaps the next 30 years.

At the time Jose bought the house and paying monthly payments, the house was worth ~$620,000 and probably even more. Most people bought homes knowing that each year they own a home it goes up in value.

However the real estate plummeted and millions of people who thought they had an investment in a home, no longer have that. They are stuck with first the rate increase in monthly payments on their existing mortgage along with a home value greatly decreased.

No matter how much money Jose is earning or the average person, when your house drops in value in the hundreds of thousands and your payment goes UP, it's time to get out the best way you can.

Let's say Jose's monthly mortgage payment was $3,700.00 month (excluding homeowners and property taxes.) on $650,000.00 for 30 years.

By the end of the 30 years Jose would have paid ~$693,989.00 in interest and ~$649,305.00 in principal = $1,343,294.00 ON a house only worth $350,000.00.

Jose Baez was in over his head the day he signed the closing papers on the house that was waaaay out of his league.
He did not have a famous law practice and I still can't begin to understand how he ever qualified for the mortgage even with the lenient factors that were in place back then. He bought with no down payment, is that correct? If so, something smells. JMO

 

[marspiter]

Here is an example I pulled from a news article on strategic foreclosures. I believe that's what JB is doing.

(A young professional couple with two children pays $585,000 for a three-bedroom, Salinas, Calif.-home in January 2006. At $4,300, monthly payments on their no-money-down, 30-year fixed mortgage
with an interest rate of 6.5 percent represent a tad less than 31 percent of their gross monthly income. Toss in taxes, student loans, health care, food, and other essentials, and finances quickly get tight.

After the historic housing bust, their home is now worth $187,000, but they still owe $560,000. Other homes in their neighborhood, of course, have plummeted in value as well. And if the couple was to purchase a similar, nearby house listed at $179,000, their monthly payments would be less than $1,200. That's a huge savings over their current $4,300 monthly mortgage bill. But since a foreclosure on their credit report is likely to prevent them from buying a home in the near-term, they may have to rent. And about $1,000 a month gets them a comparable rental property in their neighborhood.

"Assuming they intend to stay in their home ten years, [the homeowners] would save approximately $340,000 by walking away, including a monthly savings of at least $1,700 on rent verses mortgage payments, even after factoring in the mortgage interest tax reduction," White writes. "If they stay in their home, on the other hand, it will take [the homeowners] over 60 years just to recover their equity&#8212;assuming, of course, that they live that long.")

http://money.usnews.com/money/perso...egic-defaults-and-the-foreclosure-crisis.html

I think there are two different thoughts on this. Some see it a a moral decision because you gave your word you would pay X amount.

Others look at it as an investment and business decision.

Business in America is ruthless, cutthroat, and dirty sometimes. Morals are sadly the last thing an investor is concerned with (a home owner is an investor of sorts). When a business makes a promise to it's employees and that promise is counter intuitive to increased profits do you think the business in question is going to do the morally right thing, or make the best financial decision for it's investors? Basically if things were reversed do you trust your bank to hold a moral obligation to you or will it do what's in it's best financial interests?

Personally I don't have much of an opinion either way on strategic foreclosures as I'm not currently in that situation. However if I was looking at a home that's currently worth almost 50% less then my loan and I viewed the home as an investment and not my "home"....I might have to seriously think hard about it.

 

[Patty G]

Jose Baez was in over his head the day he signed the closing papers on the house that was waaaay out of his league.
He did not have a famous law practice and I still can't begin to understand how he ever qualified for the mortgage even with the lenient factors that were in place back then. He bought with no down payment, is that correct? If so, something smells.

How do you know that Jose was way over his head when he purchased the house in 2007?

I have no clue if Jose had money down on the house or if he and his wife were eligible to be a first time home buyer.

The Baez's may have qualified for a mortgage on the home based on both of their incomes.

If I was in the situation where my home value dropped so drastically and my mortgage payments increased based on how the banks wrote the mortgage as "adjustable" rather then "fixed", I would do like everyone else; let it go into foreclosure.

 

[logicalgirl]

I don't recall saying Jose didn't have the money to pay the mortgage. What I stated was he would be paying a hefty mortgage on a house not worth the amount he would have to pay for perhaps the next 30 years.

At the time Jose bought the house and paying monthly payments, the house was worth ~$620,000 and probably even more. Most people bought homes knowing that each year they own a home it goes up in value.

However the real estate plummeted and millions of people who thought they had an investment in a home, no longer have that. They are stuck with first the rate increase in monthly payments on their existing mortgage along with a home value greatly decreased.

No matter how much money Jose is earning or the average person, when your house drops in value in the hundreds of thousands and your payment goes UP, it's time to get out the best way you can.

Let's say Jose's monthly mortgage payment was $3,700.00 month (excluding homeowners and property taxes.) on $650,000.00 for 30 years.

By the end of the 30 years Jose would have paid ~$693,989.00 in interest and ~$649,305.00 in principal = $1,343,294.00 ON a house only worth $350,000.00.

But hasn't that happened to everyone? I don't think those who are holding on to their homes think the devalue of their homes will last for more than five years. Certainly ten or twenty years from now a $650.000.00 home will probably be worth double of that on the market, unless of course it really was a poorly built house. The housing value, mortage, and interest costs etc are never a straight line for the term of the mortgage. And as far as the interest mounting, isn't that why people pay their mortgages off faster?

 

[sassy_texasbelle2]

Seems none of them have learned Karma is not a good thing for any of them. They are all sure getting their dose of reality. I wonder how it feels to be the one getting screwed for a change.

 

[Patty G]

But hasn't that happened to everyone? I don't think those who are holding on to their homes think the devalue of their homes will last for more than five years. Certainly ten or twenty years from now a $650.000.00 home will probably be worth double of that on the market, unless of course it really was a poorly built house. The housing value, mortage, and interest costs etc are never a straight line for the term of the mortgage. And as far as the interest mounting, isn't that why people pay their mortgages off faster?

Yup, almost everyone's home has decreased significantly in value.

IMO, most of the homes in foreclosure have to do with the the variable interest rate increase and higher mortgage payments. I feel that those that had an adjustable rate are the ones that went into foreclosure because they couldn't pay the payment. This is where I feel Baez may have been when his home went into foreclosure.

For the people who bought homes around the same time as Baez, and had a fixed rate, they are more then likely hanging on because eventually the home will increase in value. For the homebuyers with a fixed rate, they aren't feeling the hardship as their payments remain the same even though the value has decreased. In these cases, it's worth holding on for the years ahead.

I own a home, and mine hasn't lost value based on where homes are now as I bought mine at a good price back in 2002. However, I had an adjustable rate in 2002, and when the Prime Rate started to rise along with my mortgage payment, I had to act quickly, otherwise I would really be hurting with a mortgage payment that would have almost doubled.

 

[whiteangora]

How do you know that Jose was way over his head when he purchased the house in 2007?

I have no clue if Jose had money down on the house or if he and his wife were eligible to be a first time home buyer.

The Baez's may have qualified for a mortgage on the home based on both of their incomes.

If I was in the situation where my home value dropped so drastically and my mortgage payments increased based on how the banks wrote the mortgage as "adjustable" rather then "fixed", I would do like everyone else; let it go into foreclosure.

bbm

Patty, I think Baez's past credit history and his inability to handle his finances speak for themselves. Usually money judgments don't sit well with a mortgage lender. Of course this is only my opinion.

 

[Macushla]

Playing the devil's advocate a bit here. IF a WS sleuther came across foreclosure information on one of the 'good guys' in the case, would we be discussing it as avidly as we are discussing JB's proceedings? Define 'good guys' however you want, anyone we think is on the 'right side' in this case - even throw in reporters, lawyers who comment about the case, etc. etc. Would foreclosure proceedings involving these people be as thread worthy as JB and the Anthonys are?

Just asking.

 

[Patty G]

bbm

Patty, I think Baez's past credit history and his inability to handle his finances speak for themselves. Usually money judgments don't sit well with a mortgage lender. Of course this is only my opinion.

Your right, blemishes on a credit history would be sufficient enough not to get a mortgage, however Mr. & Mrs. Baez did manage to get one.

 

[nums24]

He bought the house in 2007 - long before this case came about, right? I have no idea what his financial situation was back then, but I would bet anyone a moon pie and a Dr. Pepper he did not expect to get caught up in a case like this! IF he had bought the house any time AFTER he took on KC as a client, then I would be thinking harsh thoughts.

I live in Central FL and I see homes in my neighborhood go into foreclosure all the time. Sometimes the owner's did it to themselves, refinancing and equity loans till they were drowning under the weight of all the payments, sometimes it was due to divorce, losing their jobs, etc.

Unless and until this causes problems in his ability to defend KC, I kinda agree with JB that it is his personal business.

BBM - A good lawyer would know that he was in over his head and should have stepped aside. I believe the "fame" clouded his judgment.

snipped from http://www.wesh.com/news/24425702/detail.html

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.