Marathon Pundit: Hey Trump: Look into Obama's purchase of his Chicago mansion

Widescreen view of Trump speaking at CPAC 2011

Donald Trump says he has investigators looking into President Obama's past. Now that the birth certificate issue seems to be resolved, The Donald is drawing attention to the president's unreleased university transcripts.

I have a better idea. Besides self-promotion, Trump's forte is real estate. There a couple of Chicago real estate deals the mogul should be perusing.

In 2005 then-Senator Obama sought out his first political sponsor, Tony Rezko, who was under federal investigation at the time, for advice on the purchase of a mansion on Chicago's South Side. The Obamas bought the home, but since the cost of the home was in Obama's words, "a stretch," Rezko's wife Rita bought a strip of land on the south end of the property. A few months later the Obamas purchased a 10 foot parcel of the "Rezko lot" from Rita. It's my belief that as Obama's book royalties trickled in, he'd chip away at that lot--eventually re-marrying the two plots of land.

But the following year the Chicago Tribune reported on the unusual transactions--by then Tony Rezko had been indicted on various public corruption charges. He was convicted in 2008 and still awaits sentencing while incarcerated at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center. He may end up testifying for the prosecution in Rod Blagojevich's second corruption trial.

How did the Obamas finance the purchase? The Washington Post explored the story in 2008:

Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois.

The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a "super super jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates.

Compared with the average terms offered at the time in Chicago, Obama's rate could have saved him more than $300 per month.

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the rate was adjusted to account for a competing offer from another lender and other factors. "The Obamas have since had as much as $3 million invested through Northern Trust," he said in a statement.

Who was the other lender? Was it, as I speculated at the time, Alexi Giannoulias' since-failed Broadway Bank, the financial institution derided by as a "mob bank?" Obama's state senate campaign used Broadway's services.

Was Broadway the competing
lender?

In response to the Post story, Major Garrett, then a Fox News reporter, wrote about the loan in his Bourbon Room blog:

LaBolt says the Obama family was flush with cash at the time they were loan shopping and that the bank in question, Northern Trust, sought their business by offering a lower mortgage rate and to respond to a competitive mortgage rate offered by another lender. LaBolt would not identify the lender "at this time." [Emphasis mine.]

Here's the link to the now-closed Fox News site:

http://bourbonroom.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/07/02/obama-camp-denies-favorable-home-loan/

Okay, when will this time arrive?

How about now?

Who was the competing lender?

As soon as he ties up loose ends with the Rahm Emanuel mayoral campaign, LaBolt will serve as Obama's campaign secretary.

Original post on this matter:

Obama's "sweetheart" mortgage: Was the competing lender Broadway Bank?

Related posts:

Obama releases birth certificate; Trump responds

Donald Trump wows crowd at CPAC

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