Attorney Jose Chaidez charted course early

Jose Chaidez, who opened his law firm in Maricopa in September, knew from an early age what he wanted to do with his life.

Born in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, he moved to Tucson with his parents Abraham and Francisca when he was 3 years old.

“For the longest time, both my parents worked in a tortilla factory in Tucson,” Chaidez said. “Then, when I was 10, my father was injured when his hand got caught in the machine that mixes the dough. I still remember how hard that was on my family, with my father out of work and trying to get compensation from the employer. The employer had its attorneys involved and we felt overwhelmed by the situation. I could see the stress and fear in my parents’ faces. I knew right then that I wanted to become a lawyer to help people and assist them through difficulties like we faced so they wouldn’t have to feel the way we felt.” 

That is just what Chaidez is doing today at Chaidez Law Firm, PLLC where he and a dozen associates specialize in renegotiating mortgages for people who are in danger of losing their homes.

Chaidez graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan, which was recently ranked the 12th best law school in the country. His varied experience includes stints with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and the Pima County Attorney’s Office, and he does a range of legal work, including estate planning, personal injury and criminal law. But loan modifications are the biggest part of his business.

“When you get on the phone with an individual who is danger of losing their home, you can sense the strain they are under,” he said. “They don’t know what to do and often feel overwhelmed. It is wonderful to be able to ease their mind and let them know that someone is on their side. By the time we get off the phone, they feel much better because they know they have found an advocate who will try hard to help them.

“Talking to those clients triggers how I felt when I was young, when my father was hurt. It is very rewarding to be able to assist them. That is why I am in this business.”

Chaidez’s staff is made up mainly of paralegals and loan underwriters. The office takes on upwards of 60 new loan modification clients each month, and the process can take anywhere from 30 to 120 days.

“The first thing we do a very diligent information gathering process and analysis to get a clear picture of the client’s situation and see what types of programs there are that might help them,” Chaidez said. “Then we gather all the proper paperwork and submit that to the lender and get into negotiations. Some instances are fairly clear-cut, where people qualify for programs that Obama has put in place. If they don’t qualify for something like that, we look at each lender’s in-house loan modification program. We have a 97 percent success rate for the cases we take on.”

Chaidez said he hopes to grown with the Maricopa community, opening a second location, and plans to involve himself in public affairs, offering his legal expertise to help civic improvement organizations and eventually serving as a judge or elected official.

“That is probably in the 10-year plan,” he said.

Jose Chaidez
Founder, Chaidez Law Firm, PLLC

Personal
Born: Nogales, Mexico
Raised: Tucson
Resides: Phoenix
Family: Parents, Abraham and Francisca Chaidez

Favorites
Food: Sushi
Beverage: Iced tea
Book: Law books
Movie: “Momento”
Actor: Bruce Willis
Band: Maroon 5
Place: “A” mountain in Tucson
TV show: “Survivor”
Sport: Baseball
Team: Arizona Diamondbacks
Athlete: Michael Jordan
Charity: Arizona’s Children Association
Saying: “The acts of this life are the destiny of the next.”