Posted on 12/07/2023 1:00:07 PM PST by Red Badger
A defense witness asserted that Mar-a-Lago is worth more than $1 billion.
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A Florida real estate agent this week testified in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial in New York that his Mar-a-Lago property is worth at least $1 billion.
Lawrence Moens, who was called as a witness by the defense, testified that the Florida property could be sold as a home, saying he would value it at over $1 billion as of 2021.
“It’s something breathtaking. It’s something amazing to see,” he said of Mar-a-Lago, adding that he had valued it at over $1.2 billion in 2021. He also told the court that President Trump's company had actually undervalued Mar-a-Lago by about half.
Mr. Moens’s valuation assumes that Mar-a-Lago is a personal residence, a premise that a judge already has rejected in the ongoing civil fraud trial.
“I work very hard to sell rich people property in Palm Beach,” testified Mr. Moens. “I’m on the front lines every day of selling properties, and I have a pretty good handle on what’s happening in the market.”
Spanning 17 acres with waterfront on two sides, the Trump estate and social club is his home, a place where the former president and current Republican 2024 front-runner has conducted high-profile meetings while in and out of office, and the spot where federal special counsel Jack Smith alleges he improperly stashed classified documents, which President Trump denies.
Mar-a-Lago also is a key element of the current New York civil case. State Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit claims that the ex-president and his company deceived lenders and others by giving them financial statements that greatly overstated the values of some of his prime assets, including Mar-a-Lago.
Testifying for Trump’s defense, a Florida real estate attorney said the property could be sold as a home, notwithstanding decades-old legal documents in which Trump said he intended to forswear its use as anything but a club. Then a Palm Beach luxury real estate broker testified that he’d value the historic estate at over $1 billion as of 2021.
Judge Arthur Engoron, in a pretrial ruling declaring that Trump and his company engaged in fraud, found that he exaggerated Mar-a-Lago’s worth by as much as 2,300 percent, compared to the Palm Beach County tax appraiser’s valuations. They ranged from $18 million to $28 million.
However, some real estate professionals who aren't involved in the case expressed concern about the judge's ruling several months ago, suggesting that he made an error by relying solely on the tax appraiser's valuations.
Some Palm Beach luxury real estate agents have told The Associated Press that the property would sell for $300 million to $600 million, and possibly $1 billion or more if it sparked a bidding war among uber-wealthy contenders.
During a short cross-examination Tuesday, state attorney Kevin Wallace asked whether he was a member of the Mar-a-Lago club. "I am," Mr. Moens said, saying that he joined in 1995 or 1996. "I don't go too often. I don't like clubs," he added.
"You're not running a process that is re-creatable ... is that fair?" Mr. Wallace asked about his valuations of Mar-a-Lago. "That's fair," Mr. Moens said.
In a pre-trial deposition over the summer, Mr. Moens had said that he "could dream up anyone from Elon Musk to Bill Gates and everyone in between" to purchase Mar-a-Lago. "Kings, emperors, heads of state." "If they want the best house in the country, that would be one of the top two or three that would be available if they were for sale," he added.
"I wish he'd let me sell it, but it's not for sale," he said.
Another defense witness, Miami-based real estate attorney John Shubin, also testified that “there is absolutely no prohibition on the use of Mar-a-Lago as a single-family residence.”
He noted that the property is simultaneously a club and President Trump’s residence. Mr. Shubin also pointed to a 1993 agreement between the former president and the city that said Mar-a-Lago would revert to private residential use if the club were “abandoned.”
This week, President Trump confirmed that he'll return to the witness stand on Monday in the New York case.
“I will be testifying Monday in this shameful, NO JURY ALLOWED ‘TRIAL,'” he wrote Tuesday in a Truth Social post. Court was not in session Wednesday, and his son, Eric Trump, won't be testifying.
“I told my wonderful son, Eric, not to testify tomorrow at the RIGGED TRIAL … Eric has already testified, PERFECTLY,” President Trump wrote Tuesday. “So there is no reason to waste any more of this Crooked Court’s time on having him say the same thing, over and over again.”
Checkmate Democrats.
I’m no expert, but $1B seems high while $21 million seems absurdly low. Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle) just bought a 60,000 sq ft home nearby for a couple hundred million.
DO NOT LOOK NOW-—CROOKED DEMORATS-—
THERE ARE HUNDREDS/Thousands of family resorts that are the personal home of the owners in the USA.
Same for working ranches that welcome guests & they join in the daily ranch chores.
Same for DUDE ranches that do not allow guests to participate in daily ranch chores-—can only watch.
Major source of vacations that are also very educational to kids.
“I have a pretty good handle on what’s happening in the market.”
Lawrence is Palm Beach’s leading realtor. With that said, I disagree. And ML certainly was not worth that kind of money when Trump was writing loans. Not even close.
Some research should be done into the judge’s background, and if he ever sold his home for more money than its appraised value. If the judge did then he’s guilty of what he is trying to shaft President Trump.
17 acres in one of the most expensive real estate areas in America, it’s highly likely.
I believe that. RUSH sold his house for something like 70-80 million. This is like 10-15 of those.
tables should be turned on them and down value the properties in manhattan owned by the judges and lawyers
oops, RUSH got 155 million, so yea, MAL is worth a billion.
https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/rush-limbaughs-longtime-palm-beach-home-sells-for-155-million-d3787c21
I'm sure you have credentials that permit you to opine on Florida RE prices.... and those credentials exceed those of Lawrence.
I'd be delighted if you shared those credentials with us all.
I wonder what it is insured for? Tax value, Insured value, Mortgage value, and Real Estate value are all different amounts for every type of property.
Too bad all these facts are coming out since the judgement on this show trial has already been made by the judge and lietita.
Irrespective of the actual value - that which someone is willing to or has paid, neither a federal judge nor a NYS prosecutor (both leftists) have any qualifications to assign value(s), IMO.
If the lending bank(s) took whatever asserted value was assigned then that’s what it is. Not some leftist persecutor.
Judge Arthur Engoron is just like Merrick Garland Garfinkel, the law is whatever he says it is.
The evidence and testimony is in. Real property is worth what the buyer and seller say it is. Trump did not harm anyone in his deals.
The question now is whether the judge is humble enough to accept it, or whether he is as corrupt as the inseam of Hillary’s pantsuit.
Of course. Value is whatever it can be sold for. Has nothing to do with the judge, the prosecutor, or even Trump. Though in Trump’s favor the fact that it is a prime piece of real estate, with comparables in the hundreds of millions nearby, that operates as a for-profit club for the super-wealthy, adjacent to a private golf course, and potential to develop it further at any time among other things... the judge’s ruling that it is worth $21 million just seems absurd.
Of course, the bank already testified. They said they looked a Trump Org’s numbers, cut them in half, and still granted the loan. Which was repaid. And if Trump Org valued them at double his insurance premiums would be higher not lower as alleged by the prosecution.
There is nothing here but political persecution and interference in the election by a prosecutor who openly stated she would go after him before even knowing what laws he is alleged to have broken (and all she could come up with was a silly civil suit, nothing criminal). This is a ridiculous case every way any rational person would look at it. The judge is a loon to even allow this to proceed. There is no victim - not even the city or state is alleged to have been harmed - other than Trump himself.
The last time Mar-A-Lago might have been valued for a mere 18 million was right after it was completed in 1927 for Marjorie Merriweather Post.
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