Yahoo! reports: A superstar real estate agent plots his comeback.
It's the perfect Miami morning at Carlos Justo's penthouse -- warm and bright, with luxury yachts powering through the sparkling blue Atlantic Ocean some 30 stories below.
Justo, a 53-year-old real estate agent, has been awake since 3:30 a.m. but he shows no sign of fatigue. His eyes scan back and forth, from the high rise condos, to the water, and back to the condos.
An assistant, sitting at a glass table with her back to the stunning view, is talking business. She wants to know whether he will receive any commissions or checks anytime soon.
"Right now, we don't have any money," Justo says. He continues talking. Fast. Pacing back and forth, he gazes out the window.
In fact, Justo is $20 million in debt. He is five months into a massive bankruptcy filing. The IRS is after him for $6 million.
And yet, he dreams.
Like so many of our modern titans -- think Donald Trump -- he inspires both admiration and contempt. Greed, he acknowledges, fueled his rise. Hubris ensured his fall.
Next time, he says, it will all be different.
In 2005, Justo was worth $20 million. He and the agents who worked for him sold $200 million in real estate in a single year. He was also the owner of 12 multimillion dollar estates in the county's most exclusive enclaves; he intended to eventually flip them and make a profit. Justo and his business partner, Irving Padron, were awarded a prestigious Sotheby's franchise and opened its offices in one of the few historic mansions in downtown Miami.
Justo spent $1,000 on sushi lunches, $3,000 a month on life coaching. He didn't accumulate many things -- he enjoyed sparsely decorated, all-white furniture and rooms -- and freely let his friends stay in the various homes he owned.
For three years, Justo had tried to avoid filing Chapter 7, even borrowing $15,000 from his 85-year-old mother and $75,000 from his 83-year-old aunt to pay his monthly debts. But he was underwater on too many mortgages. There were other creditors, too, including the IRS, which claimed that he should have filed his taxes in the United States, not in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which Justo says is his principal residence.
Justo had no savings, no stocks, no bonds.
His checking account hit bottom at $49.73. His financial picture was summed up in one dry sentence in the bankruptcy filing: "At the current time, the debtor has no income due to the state of the real estate market."
"In the past, I created my own hell. I needed to be brought to my knees," he says. "Whatever you believe, you create. Today, I live in a world with all possibilities."
But for Justo, those possibilities still include luxury. "I've been rich and I've been poor, and I like being rich a lot better," he says.
He says that after he pays his family back, he wants a yacht. And maybe a personal chef.
Which begs the question: Has he really learned from his mistakes?
Next up: Justo gives handjobs by the Marina for $1. Cash only!
Saturday, August 01, 2009
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