Posted on 12/08/2025 3:20:51 PM PST by SeekAndFind
For months, the Trump administration has been accusing its political enemies of mortgage fraud for claiming more than one primary residence.
President Donald Trump branded one foe who did so “deceitful and potentially criminal.” He called another “CROOKED” on Truth Social and pushed the attorney general to take action.
But years earlier, Trump did the very thing he’s accusing his enemies of, records show.
In 1993, Trump signed a mortgage for a “Bermuda style” home in Palm Beach, Florida, pledging that it would be his principal residence. Just seven weeks later, he got another mortgage for a seven-bedroom, marble-floored neighboring property, attesting that it too would be his principal residence.
In reality, Trump, then a New Yorker, does not appear to have ever lived in either home, let alone used them as a principal residence. Instead, the two houses, which are next to his historic Mar-a-Lago estate, were used as investment properties and rented out, according to contemporaneous news accounts and an interview with his longtime real estate agent — exactly the sort of scenario his administration has pointed to as evidence of fraud.
At the time of the purchases, Trump’s local real estate agent told the Miami Herald that the businessman had “hired an expensive New York design firm” to “dress them up to the nines and lease them out annually.” In an interview, Shirley Wyner, the late real estate agent’s wife and business partner who was herself later the rental agent for the two properties, told ProPublica: “They were rentals from the beginning.” Wyner, who has worked with the Trump family for years, added: “President Trump never lived there.”
(Excerpt) Read more at propublica.org ...
He weren’t no elected official then, JR.
Mortgages for a person’s main home tend to receive more favorable terms, like lower interest rates, than mortgages for a second home or an investment rental property.
No, they don’t.
He moved after the forms were filled out.
Twisted logic and yellow journalism, all rolled into one. There’s a difference between having multiple residences and having a residence that is being rented out.
Trump did not sign any final documents where the over-price was actually accepted by the bank. Banks do their own due diligence. In negotiations, the selling party ALWAYS inflates to value knowing it’ll be negotiated to a lower middle ground. Car dealerships always start out the negotiations at the MSRP. None of it is having a bank file finalized loan info to the state and feds for taxation purposes.
Wasn’t Trump accused of over-valuing his properties, not that he received special rates based on his calling them his primary residences?
Trump’s lawyers claim that the loans came from the same lender (making fraud less plausible), that the properties were investment-related, and that the mortgages were paid off without issue.
A White House official stated it was “illogical to believe that the same lender would agree to defraud itself,” since both mortgages came from the same bank.
The loans were repaid, and no lender raised fraud claims at the time. Also, Trump wasn’t running for office like Letitia James of NY who claimed Virginia as her primary residence.
In the 1990s, lenders sometimes allowed flexibility in “primary residence” declarations, especially for wealthy borrowers with multiple properties.
So, mitigating factors — repayment, lender consent, and historical lending practices — mean the case is more about optics and political framing than clear-cut criminal liability.
Sometimes the rich buy a house next door for use as a guest house.
It would be like an ADU in California.
Trump tends to be a tough customer. If he didn’t get a good interest rate, he’d object vehemently.
My neighbor knows a New York banker that had to deal with Team Trump.
I believe James also lied on state paperwork claiming a 5 unit building was only 4 units to avoid higher taxes.
It takes 3 people to write this crap.
The rich can also by a house next door to protect the value of their expensive place.
Trump was able to buy Mar-a-Lago cheap because Trump bought a neighboring property and threatened to ruin the views of Mar-a-Lago.
Donald Trump initially offered the Post family $15 million, which was rejected. Trump then purchased land between Mar-a-Lago and the ocean from Jack C. Massey, the former owner of KFC, for $2 million,[27] stating he intended to build a home that would block Mar-a-Lago’s beach view. This threat caused competing interest in Mar-a-Lago to decline. Trump purchased the property for $7 million in 1985.[28][23] Different sources have put the combined total cost of the purchase at around $10 million.[29][30][31] The minimum acceptable bid had been $20 million, and the interior furnishings were appraised at $8 million.[32]
Wiki
Show me the man and I’ll make up an imaginary crime.
“”Trump wasn’t running for office like Letitia James of NY who claimed Virginia as her primary residence.””
I think it’s a stretch to tie this into any properties that Donald Trump bought - perhaps it’s a fine line - residence or rental but it’s no doubt done often but with politicians - it’s a totally different scenario...they are swearing their primary residence is in such and such state/county/city..clearly lies!
So we’re posting from the communist rag ProPublica?
I have read that before.
Was Mar-a-Lago smaller in those years?
Current photos look like it has the Atlantic Ocean (and the beach road) in the front yard, and the Intracoastal Waterway in the back yard.
Where does it say that you have to re-finance an existing mortgage on a primary residence if you buy another property with a mortgage and declare that (and then use it as) a primary residence, or decide to convert an existing primary residence with a mortgage into a rental? I’ve done it.
If you buy and mortgage another property, declare it as primary and never live there, like James did in VA, then don’t be surprised if legal problems crop up.
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