Posted on 10/17/2008 9:58:32 PM PDT by red flanker
A former Illinois bank official, now claiming whistleblower status, says bank officials replaced a loan reappraisal that he prepared for a Chicago property that was purchased by the wife of now-convicted felon Tony Rezko, part of which was later sold to next-door neighbor Barack Obama.
In a complaint filed Thursday in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Kenneth J. Connor said that his reappraisal of Rita Rezko's property was replaced with a higher one and that he was fired when he questioned the document.
Mr. Connor, a real estate and commercial credit analyst at the Mutual Bank Corp. in Chicago, also noted in the complaint that the bank received a grand jury subpoena in October 2006 requiring it to produce information concerning Mrs. Rezko's purchase, including the bank's files on the property.
The complaint also said that the grand jury wanted information on Mrs. Rezko's checking account and loan file and that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) had audited the Rezko file - although Mr. Connor's lower reappraisal had been replaced with a higher amount.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
your link is not working
This kind of crap is EXACTLY what lead to the mortgage meltdown. Someone needs to hang it around his neck with a flashing red light.
Link has changed:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/18/whistleblower-hits-obama-friends-appraisal/
And you just know the smart chosen one knew nothing about this. Sorta’ like Dodd didn’t know he was getting a lower than normal interest rate. They’re all stupid when it keeps them out of jail.
ok. i don’t really understand all this. Can someone put it in layman’s terms?
Did they split the land b/c BO couldn’t afford it? Why did BO want to buy a 10’ strip of land? And who bought the rest of it for the $545,000?
Here’s the long and short of this deal. The previous owner of Obama’s house had theat and the adjacent lot up for sale as a package. Obama couldn’t afford it. In comes Rezko to arrange a deal where you separate the house from the lot. Problem is the lot is appraised at a price that makes the house to expensive for Obama if the owner is going to get his original asking price. Rezko then gets with bankers and has a substitute higher appraisal for the lot which then allows the owner to drop the price on the house where Obama can afford it. Rezko’s wife then buys the lot at the higher appraisal price. Now the Bankers and Rezko face some potential charges on their collusion. What does this mean for Obama? Hard to tell unless the bakers and Rezko start blabbing that he was a co-conspirator in the whole scheme.
I thought I saw something the other day that someone else is listed as paying the taxes at that address. Does anyone have that info?
I could be wrong, but I believe it was the previous owner. Don’t know that the Illinois/Chicago property tax calendar is.
Just sent this to CNN, MSMBC and ABC:
Sarah Palin bought a house she couldn’t afford for 300K under asking price with the aid of a convicted Syrian born felon whose wife bought the vacant lot next door from same buyer for what appraiser now claims was at least 125K above value. Appraiser claims he was fired from the bank for objecting to this bogus apparisal which directly financially benefited Palin. Why have you reported on this story?!!! Oh sorry, I made a typo, insert Obama for Palin. Never mind. Now I know.
Rezko to the rez-cue.
Why did BO want to buy a 10’ strip of land?
In Chicago that 10' strip of land would increase the value of his property several times greater than the 100K he spent. Also the remainder that was sold to another Rezko assoc. would have lost a great deal of it's value. The building codes in Chicago limit building livable sq. ft. based on the size of the land the bldg. is being built on.
I want to sell my property and the adjoining lot. I don't want to hassle with selling the parcels separately. A buyer comes (bambi) and he can only afford my house at a reduced price, but he has a really good friend (Retzko) who will buy the adjoining lot for more than it's worth so I'm going to get the money I want and have both properties sold.
Now after the properties close this really good friend (Retzko) who has already paid too much for the lot, sells his new best buddy (bambi) 10' of the lot that's next to bambi's new house. In doing this he increases the value of bambi's house and reduces the value of the remaining land he owns.
Why would anyone do this if they weren't receiving something of equal or greater value somewhere else?
And it’s more than the 10’ strip. I suspect that due to zoning-required setbacks and such, the remainder of the 2nd lot, that Obama doesn’t own, is now unbuildable. So Obama effectively gets a nice double-size lot for very little money, due to the shenanigans with Rezko.
Exactly. The lot's too small for building and the Rezko's aren't likely to come out and, let's say, have a family picnic on it since they have no access to it without going through obama's property. I hope Rezko tells us all the details soon.
I just noticed that Rezkos sold it to a guy who works for Rezko (probably to get it out of their name). I’m sure he will “get a raise” if he hasn’t already.
Great point. Bambi not only ends up with a double lot, but gets the added value of nothing being built next door (green space in a large city).
The City of Chicago has a GIS system which can be accessed here.
If you put in the address, zoom in a little, and click on the "Aerial" button, you can see Obama's house and the adjacent lot. It looks like Obama's address is actually 5046 S. Greenwood and the empty lot would be 5050.
I didn't yet figure out if one can overlay the property boundaries on the map. Depending on the width of Obama's side yard (with added strip), it looks like there might be room for another house on the lot. There would be more room if the hedge on Hyde Park Blvd. was closer to the sidewalk. Maybe this is a zoning issue.
BTW Obama lives across the street from a round building that looks like it might be a synagogue.
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