Posted on 12/13/2008 10:45:18 AM PST by capecodder
The story about Senator Obama’s house purchase is well known. On June 15, 2005, Barack and Michelle Obama closed on a new house in the historic Kenwood district of Chicago for $1,650,000, or $300,000 below the listed asking price. On the same day, Rita Rezko, the wife of Tony Rezko, closed on the adjacent vacant lot for $625,000, which was the full listed asking price. The Obamas subsequently purchased a 1,500-sqft strip of land from the Rezkos on January 11, 2006 for $104,166, increasing the side lot buffer between their properties.
The media confronted Senator Obama about these transactions because Tony Rezko was under federal investigation at the time for political pay-to-play schemes. In 2008, Rezko was convicted of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting bribery for government business. During his press conferences, Senator Obama insisted that he did not coordinate his purchase with Rezko in any manner...(See Obama's quotes)
Ultimately, the Chicago and the mainstream media accepted Senator Obama’s explanation of events. In the meantime, the political blogosphere tried to keep the story alive but no one was able to prove any direct connection between the purchases. As difficult as it is to believe, major facts have been misreported and crucial third party information has never been examined.
Documented evidence proves that Senator Obama and Tony Rezko coordinated their purchases as well as the relative values of the house and the lot. Significant economic value was transferred between the properties after the execution of the purchase agreements and prior to the closings on June 15, 2005. Furthermore, this transfer fully explains Senator Obama’s reason for buying the extra strip of land. In sum, Senator Obama would not have been able to purchase the house at such a large discount if Rezko had not purchased the adjacent lot.
(Excerpt) Read more at gopmom.com ...
TeflanObama!...hey maybe that will be a new word
“teflanobama”: when you keep doing bad stuff and none of it sticks to you!
I have heard this story about the vacant lot purchase, but I feel like I’m missing something. Can someone explain to me the problem with the transaction? I get that it’s fishy, but I’m just not following the dots. thanks.
From what I’ve heard, the purchase of the “buffer strip” by the Obamas made the vacant lot unusable by future purchasers. It was too small to build on after the strip was sold. This would lead one to believe that the Rezkos essentially gave the land to the Obamas.
On a side note...who knew college professors could afford million dollar homes????? I'm in the wrong business!
>>>>>>On a side note...who knew college professors could afford million dollar homes????? I’m in the wrong business!<<<<
In Chicago payola also goes through the wife, for example:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/09/hospital_offici.html
Officials at the University of Chicago Hospitals say a promotion and large pay increase given to Sen. Barack Obama’s wife shortly after the Democrat was elected to Congress were well-deserved boosts for an executive who is “worth her weight in gold.” The Chicago Tribune has the story.
“She’s terrific,” added Michael Riordan, who was president of the hospital in March 2005, when Michelle Obama was promoted to vice president for external affairs and had her annual salary increased from $121,910 to $316,962.
That explains a lot that I didn’t understand about this deal. Thanks for the post.
Speaking of wives, wonder if Patti Blagojevich’s involvement with Rezko real estate brought her into this Obama-Rezco property deal?
Rezko didn’t just coincidentally buy the house next door. What he bought was a narrow strip of land inside the privacy gate at back edge of the lot, with no access. You have to come in the front gate and go around the house to get to it.
So even before he turned around and sold it back to Hussein for next to nothing, it was a worthless piece of standalone property. He might as well have just rented some space at the back of one of their closets for a 6-figure sum.
Rezko is a felon, fraudster, and money launderer who bankrolled half the politicians in Chicago. He couldn’t just cut Hussein a multi-hundred-thousand dollar check, but somehow this very obvious transfer is ok?
-PJ
Take a guess who the Real Estate broker was on this transaction?
Yes! it was Patti Blagojevich!
I get it...that's funny! Seriously, well written, factual, and just damning enough to keep the witch hunt thugs guessing while they're looking for something politically incorrect!!
Do you have any documentation available on the Mrs. Blagojevich connection?
Right now, the public is trying to understand the cause of the mortgage crises. They need to look no further than this deal. When politicians accept personal financial help from insiders like Rezko, they create legislation for the benefit of a select few rather than the public at large.
Such politicians also subject themselves to blackmail. According to numerous media reports, foreign nationals financed Rezko. The public must openly speculate about who holds undue influence over Senator Obama and how these people can influence domestic and foreign policy. This has nothing to do with dubious associations or even poor judgment. This is about political corruption in government. Unfortunately, Senator Obama’s actions should concern anyone who believes in a well-functioning government of the people, by the people and for the people."
This is an excellent article. If this author could access the information, any one of the DBM could have done the same, and perhaps some did and didn't report it. It's difficult to believe that incompetence is the sole reason for the flawed reporting on this issue by the Drive Bys when considering their penchant and zeal for investigating Republicans.
Really nice story. Nailed it down.
Rezko and more. How 0bama made fat cats fatter and poor Chicagoans suffer incredibly.
I think you're mostly right, but the above sentence isn't, from what I've seen. It was not "worthless" before Rezko bought it.
The lot in question, next door to Obama mansion, is an empty corner lot. It wasn't huge when Rezko bought it, but it was "buildable" - until Rezko sold the 10 ft wide strip to the Obamas.
One benefit to the Obamas of buying that 10 ft strip is that it provides a buffer to their mansion - but the main purpose was to render the remaining portion of the lot (presumably still owned by Mrs. Rezko) unbuildable, under local zoning code. So in effect, that whole lot "belongs" to the Obamas now without their having to pay for it.
There was more other hanky panky going on with that empty lot, too: The Rezkos, before buying it, apparently arranged for a crooked appraiser to hugely over-value the land.
(In fact there was a whistle-blower working for the appraisal company, iirc, who tried to warn there was a scam going on.)
As a result, the empty lot was appraised at something like $600K+ when it an honest appraisal would've shown it to be worth about $500K.
Why would the Rezkos want to over-pay for the lot? Looks like they wanted to compensate the seller (same as the owner of Obama's mansion) for selling the mansion to the Obamas at a steeply reduced price ($300K less than asking price).
Kenneth Connor, working for Mutual Bank, filed an Appraisal Review Report (ARR) citing a problem with the appraisal of the Rezko lot adjacent to the Obama house. In his ARR, Connor stated that the property was overvalued “by a minimum of 125,000.”
Connor has sued Mutual Bank. Here is a link to his complaint that not only was he fired as a result of his ARR, but that when documents were subpoenaed, it was learned that the ARR he prepared is no longer part of the Rezko file. In its place is a “checklist” prepared by bank Senior VP Internal Auditor/Risk Manager,James Murphy, one of the bank officers who requested the ARR Connor prepared.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/mutualbanksuit.pdf
Oh I’m not saying the property itself was worthless. I was pointing out that the way they carved up the lot made it useless...just like if they were to pay Hussein to rent the back of a closet or the top half of a room or something equally as absurd.
In other words, it’s not just that the coincidental circumstances of the deal are a stretch. Even if Hussein and the same money-laundering felon who bankrolled the rest of Crook County politics happened to buy adjacent land at the same time, there is still absolutely zero way to rationalize or defend Rezko’s purchase of a no-access unbuildable strip of very expensive grass.
Thanks for filling in the details, esp the part about that appraisal document that was "disappeared" from the Rezko file. Verrrrry interesting...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.