Donald Trump accused Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, a crusader against greed and “lousy mortgage(s),” of buying foreclosed homes in order to make “a quick killing” Wednesday—an assertion that has revived memories of Warren’s house-flipping hobby.
During Warren’s 2012 run for senator, the Boston Herald reported that Warren had turned a profit from flipping houses, some of which were cheap foreclosed properties. The Massachusetts senator and her husband earned $240,500 or more from remodeling the homes (without deducting the costs of remodel), according to National Review.
In response to the 2012 report, Warren’s campaign issued a statement explaining that the loans and house flipping were altruistic.
“Elizabeth and (her husband) Bruce are fortunate to be in a position where they can help their family. They have been able to help relatives buy their homes and her nephew – a contractor – fix up houses,” the statement said. Warren’s spokeswoman Lacey Rose echoed the declaration Wednesday, and an aide to the Massachusetts Democrat said Warren “didn’t profit from the arrangement with her family members or intend to,” according to the Boston Globe.
However, Warren has charged her family members above average interest rates on mortgage loans, some over short terms, at least eight times since the 1990s, according to Oklahoma county records.
In August 1992, Warren charged her brother and his wife, John and Barbara Herring, a 10 percent interest rate on a mortgage loan for $55,000—more than two percentage points higher than the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage that month. The loan was due back a year later.
For a $75,000 loan in October 1995, Warren charged her brother a 9.5 percent interest rate, again about 2 points above average. She charged the same for a $50,000 loan in June 1997, 1.81 percentage points above the average 30-year fixed rate that month. A loan in March 1996 also saw a 9.5 percent interest rate, “due and payable upon demand,” despite the average rate being 1.88 points lower.
A loan for $75,000 in August 1995 and one for $35,000 in August 2000 saw the same high rate. Warren levied an 8.5 percent interest rate for a $100,000
loan to her brother and his wife taken out in October 1997, more than a percentage point above average. In September 1996 the difference between Warren’s rate, 9 percent for a $50,000 dollar loan, was three-quarters of a point higher than the average rate that month.
In total, Warren is listed as a mortgagee on 16 homes, according to the Globe. She helped purchase 25 homes, the most recent of which was in 2007. The Warren family often profited from buying and selling properties and seems to have only lost out on one home, sold in May 2011 for $2,000 less than the purchase price.
Warren’s Senate office did not respond to a request for comment.
