LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2008

Jose Canseco Loses Home To Foreclosure

Divorces Cost Ex-Baseball Star Millions; "It Didn't Make Financial Sense For Me To Keep Paying A Mortgage"

  • Jose Canseco, Former Major League MVP, lost his $2.5 million mansion to foreclosure.

    Jose Canseco, Former Major League MVP, lost his $2.5 million mansion to foreclosure.  (AP)

  • Play CBS Video Video Juiced

    CBS News will rebroadcast Mike Wallace's controversial 60 Minutes interview with Jose Canseco that led to the congressional hearings on steroid use in baseball with new footage.

(AP)  Jose Canseco, the former American League MVP who made millions during his baseball career, has had his home foreclosed.

Canseco told the syndicated TV show "Inside Edition" that he walked away from his $2.5 million, 7,300-square foot home in suburban Encino because it didn't make sense to continue making payments.

"I do have a judgment on my home and it to me is very strange because it didn't make financial sense for me to keep paying a mortgage on a home that was basically owned by someone else," he said in an interview that aired Thursday.

"You know my life, this financial thing, is a very complicated issue. Obviously, when you make all that money, people think, `OK, let's assume it is $35 million.' People have to understand that $35 million, you're paying the government 41 percent. That leaves you with about $17 or $18 million, not even. Then you're taking care of your whole family."

He added that a couple of divorces cost him $7 million or $8 million.

Canseco said his top earnings year was $6 million and that his financial situation obviously is different than most people who are losing their homes.

"What about other families that we're hearing on TV, that they're saying, `We have nowhere else to go,"' he said. "I mean, that is amazing. I've got books (he's put out two expose-type books on drug use in baseball), we're now trying to produce the movie to both.

"Like I said, my situation was a little more different than most. I decided to just let it (the house) go, but in most cases and most families, they have nowhere else to go."

Calls by The Associated Press to Canseco and to his attorney, Greg Emerson, were not immediately returned.




© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 41 Comments
by MPre52 May 5, 2008 1:39 PM EDT
What''s next for Jose, an appearance on ABC''s "Extreme Makeover Home Edition"?? Maybe they''ll renovate his $2.5 million dollar home and pay off his remaining mortgage. Then they''ll cut him a check for $50,000 to cut some of his financial strain.

This would be the feel good story of 2008 and an episode I''d watch. Ty would make Jose''s bedroom that weeks ''secret project''.
Reply to this comment
by barbaraf4 May 3, 2008 12:40 PM EDT
This doesn''t pass the smell test. I suggest that the reason Canseco isn''t simply selling the house and getting his investment back is that someone is waiting to collect or split profits on that house. He is stiffing someone - business partner or ex-wife.
Reply to this comment
by slim1h2o May 3, 2008 8:40 AM EDT
"Like I said, my situation was a little more different than most. I decided to just let it (the house) go, but in most cases and most families, they have nowhere else to go."


Sorry but wipe, dipstick. Unless the rules are different for you, you ARE still on the hook for the house.

In other words,,YOU still OWE moeny for that HOUSE. Moron!
Reply to this comment
by nothappyatall May 3, 2008 6:15 AM EDT
cant believe he is explaining how instead of making $35M he only brought home $18M after taxes as if the average person should feel sympathy that he cant afford his $2.5M house.

Posted by Glock4me

Yeah and you know what? guess who will be footing the eventual bills for those loses from bankruptcy/foreclosures....

YOU and every other working stiff struggling to get by on $25K or $30K a year $900 mortgage for a shack, and no health insurance. Our hearts bleed for this PO'' boy who only has $17 million.
Reply to this comment
by nothappyatall May 3, 2008 6:12 AM EDT
people have to understand that $35 million, you''re paying the government 41 percent. That leaves you with about $17 or $18 million, not even. Then you''re taking care of your whole family."

No, morons like HIM need to understand that $15,000, you''re paying the Govt about 30%, that leaves you with MAYBE $11,000, not even. Then youre taking care of your whole family on $5.75 an hour with no medical insurance, yeah LIFE''s TOUGH when you only have $17 million salary after tax, yeah REAL hard to make it!!
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 May 3, 2008 4:38 AM EDT
Wadda a friggan idiot.

The moron obviously has brain rot and is incredibly lucky to have survived in life as long as he has.

He probably has to pay someone 50K a year to dress him and tie his shoes in the morning.
Reply to this comment
by scorpio59er May 3, 2008 3:53 AM EDT
"That leaves you with about $17 or $18 million..."

My heart is breaking.
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by titocordero May 3, 2008 2:35 AM EDT
Who gives a *** about this guy. I hope he does something stupid, lands in jail and loses his a$$.
Reply to this comment
by guadalcanal3 May 3, 2008 1:59 AM EDT
Who cares?...Lot''s of Americans lose their homes to forclosures...Are we supposed to feel sorry for this "steroidial" multi millionaire (whose stuck with "only 17 or 18 Million!")..C''mon let''s hear some stories about all those Americans who get tossed out into the streets...with nothing but the clothes on their back.
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by my2centss May 3, 2008 1:21 AM EDT
Now we can see higher bank fees thanks to a guy that can pay his bills, but won''t.
Reply to this comment
by glock4me May 3, 2008 12:29 AM EDT
I can''t believe he is explaining how instead of making $35M he only brought home $18M after taxes as if the average person should feel sympathy that he can''t afford his $2.5M house. I mean those income numbers are almost high enough for him to make a serious run for president... at last our "man of the people."
Reply to this comment
by keithle1 May 3, 2008 12:26 AM EDT
I wonder if those women who married him would have been so keen if he had been a beer vendor at the stadium instead of a pro baseball player.
Reply to this comment
by rushlimpdrug May 2, 2008 10:34 PM EDT

"Like I said, my situation was a little more different than most. . "

house / steroids

house / steroids

ok bye, house, he chose the steroids.
Reply to this comment
by barbaraf4 May 2, 2008 10:07 PM EDT
It is difficult to really care.
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by dylanxxv May 2, 2008 9:43 PM EDT
awwwwwwwwwwwww...The poor baby...
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by Latrocinor May 2, 2008 9:43 PM EDT
He''s none of my business.
Reply to this comment
by b-easy63 May 2, 2008 8:54 PM EDT
What is apparent, is that many Americans who don''t have much are really, really jealous of those who have more. The more is always there for the getting.We just have to buck up, bite the bullet and make the opportunity--but even more important, a lot of us need an attitude adjustment. We need to not be negative just because someone has more or get angry about how they squander THEIR money, or THEIR life, or THEIR success. It''s theirs. They made it, they can destroy it.

If you have a negative attitude toward wealth (envy is a negative as is jealousy) then you repel wealth consciously and subconsciously with that attitude.

So the man is a flake. So he wasted his money and did not pay off his home--even those who can pay off their home are advised not to, as they can always use the mortgage as the largest tax deduction that they can have and so in a weird way, it is worth it, to not pay it off. Even so, if we are not made to bail out this man or his house--great. If we are, then I''m joining the screaming, angry condemnation crowd--not for what he is doing--but for what grief his actions are now causing the rest of us.
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by pared1 May 2, 2008 8:32 PM EDT
Jose'' meet Karma, Karma meet Jose''
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by hypnotoad72 May 2, 2008 7:20 PM EDT
Well, with his salary he can still buy a normal size house in the middle of nowhere, with cash, and live free and clear.

He has a 10 figure salary, so 41% would still leave 9 figures in return.

Maybe he can stop divorcing?

Maybe he can get another job? I mean, hitting a ball and then running around in big circles surely can''t be worth millions each year to do?!

So many people, even those who''ve done everything right, are hurting, and he meanders about his situation. I cry "foul".

Reply to this comment
by jetlizhan May 2, 2008 5:11 PM EDT
his eyes in this picture look like he had a big ole cheech & chong doobie beforehand.
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