Donald Trump doesn’t know Ed McMahon, but he “grew up watching him on tv,” so he’d like to be his new landlord. McMahon is currently facing foreclosure from Countrywide, and had 2 weeks to sell his house before the bank repossessed it. Mr. Trump has agreed to buy the house and lease it to McMahon, says the LA Times.
“I don’t know the man, but I grew up watching him on TV,” Trump told The Times. “When I was at the Wharton School of Business,” Trump said, “I’d watch him every night. How could this happen?”
McMahon originally bought the home in 1990 for $2.6 million, and owed $4.8 million to Countrywide at the time that he defaulted. Earlier articles claimed that he was unable to sell the house because it was too close to property owned by Britney Spears and that the constant helicopters and paparazzi were scaring off buyers.
Donald Trump to buy Ed McMahon’s house [LA Times]
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
More From Consumerist
-
Ed Asner & Manager Of Struggling Movie Theater Equally Surprised To Hear He’d Pledged To Help
-
23 Things Debt Collectors Are Not Allowed To Do
-
Casino Deals Unshuffled Cards, Wants Gamblers' Winnings Back
-
Con Ed Customer Suing Company For $500 Million, Wants It Banned From New York
-
Charter Gives Me Free DVR, Won’t Let Me Use It Anymore
Here’s DONNIE!
Too close to Britney Spears… lol
Donald is a business man – he would never do anything that did not return a profit.
That home will become extremely valuable once Britney moves.
While she is there, think of the massive extra publicity it could bring to another hi profile owner or wannabe.
The Papa are out there anyway
Bought it for 2.6 million… And owes 4.8?
Donald should throw in some financial advice as well… And I’m sure this was not something his own financial advisor was happy with…
I always knew Trump was a big ol’ softie!
Right, so why is Ed McMahon more special or important than anyone else who screwed themselves by refinancing their house? And supposedly McMahon’s real problem is his wife, who spends cash like there’s no tomorrow. I don’t see why she won’t continue to do just that now that Assface Trump bailed out her hubby.
@Advertising Guru: Word.
Not to mention he’ll have an aging American Icon to call on for publicity at any time. And it’s not like Ed has a choice.
Nice move Donald.
Also I LOVE how this dude throws in his credintals at any moment in time. How many people would have just said “When I was in business school…” .
I wonder if Trump showed up at Ed’s doorstep with TV cameras and a big check: “Ed McMahon, You’ve just won the Trump Clearinghouse Sweepstakes!”
Trump is a real businessman. He makes this sound like he is so altruistic but is actually set to make a handsome profit when McMahon dies or gets evicted.
That said, McMahon is definitely not a financial wizard as he managed to buy a house and own twice the purchase price two decades later. A fool and his money are soon parted.
@chemmy: Back in 1990, interest rates were around 10%. A 30-year fixed mortgage @ $2.6M would total around $8.2M. 18 years later, and maybe a HELOC or two later, it’s not unfathomable to still owe $4.8M on the property.
Forgot to mention: Who the hell goes golfing in a suit an’ tie? What a pompous ass!
@dorianh49: Your math assumes that McMahon hasn’t made a payment since 1990. If that were the case I think the bank would foreclosed a little sooner.
@dopplerd: No, it doesn’t. Monthly payments would be around $22,800. Multiply $22,800 by 12 (months), then by 18 (years), and you have a total of almost $5 Million. Subtract that from the $8.2M he owed when he purchased the house, and you have just over $3M. If he took out any HELOCs during the housing boom, his balance could easily be around $4.8 Million.
disclaimer: I work for Countrywide, but work in a Regional / HR office, and have no access to Ed McMahon’s loan. I’m basing my calculation of his mortgage from a tool at [www.mlcalc.com]
Why is this story here? Where are the calls to activism?
Trump throwing $4.8 million to Ed McMahon is like me buying the bum outside a cheeseburger at Burger King.
I dont think Trump will miss the money one bit… or maybe he will just file for bankruptcy… again… and start over.
@dorianh49: The faulty assumption is that as soon as he takes out a mortgage for $2.6 million, he owes $8.2 million, even if he pays off the loan immediately or part way through the term of the loan.
I don’t get why this is interesting news, here or any other place. Many families are faced with losing their homes and it grosses me out to read a story that some really rich dude is helping out some other rich dude. Maybe Trump can also use a little of his gazillions to help out some of the hundreds of other people faced with foreclosure who haven’t made tons of money from hosting TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes.
@Drowner: Heh. “I remember back when I was working towards my Summa Cum Laude MBA at Harvard Business School, the coach of my 3-time-in-a-row-world-champion debate team said to me: “Donald, as you are our most valuable debater…”
That was nice of him!
Too funny though, I didnt know Spears was actually a force that could decrease someones property value
I always thought Ed McMahon was one of those multi-millionaire Hollywood types. I was shocked when I learned he’s nothing but a broke old man.
Totally for publicity? Sure.
However, jaded though I may be, I’m still glad to see a happy ending.
Oooh! It’s nice to know that if you’re wealthy and famous, there’re people out there who’ll lend you helping hand.
Donald Trump absolutely must be receiving a good deal out of the arrangement.
Did McMahon think of his property as an ATM to get his balance that high?
The best good publicity is the kind money can buy.
I think huzzahs are in order.
Besides I hate Donald Trump for raising that frickin’ huge flag on his golf property.
@CourtStreetCourt: Exactly!
Why should Donald Trump bail Ed McMahon out just because he’s too stupid to save the millions of dollars he earned from The Tonight Show? “Hey, Ed or Donald. Give me a couple million dollars. I promise I won’t piss it away on Rodeo Drive.”
Whoopieitydoo! Millionaires helping millionaires. How sweet…
While I don’t want Ed to be homeless, I also wonder why The Donald didn’t help some of those regular families that are now homeless or their pets who are now in shelters.
I have read that there was a serious problem with toxic mold in the house. It made McMahon and his wife very sick and they had to move out for quite a while during the cleanup. McMahon blames the toxic mold for the death of his dog.
@jaydez: Almost. Why buy a cheeseburger for a bum when you can buy a cheeseburger for a bum AND milk it for all the publicity you can get AND naturally scare the bum into paying you back for the cheeseburger, plus a few cheeseburgers worth of interest.
And I thought he went to the “Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, a school that thinks terrorism is bad, that helped defeat the finest minds of the Soviet Union, whom wanted to turn us into radioactive waste and make us sing hymns to Stalin, a member of the esteemed Ivy League and a school in the Great State of Pennsylvania, part of the United States of America, the great nation under God, Creator of Heaven and Earth”.
@eddmel: McMahon blames everybody else for his problems. He’s also suing a friend of his because he fell down in his (friend’s) house, and now claims he can’t work.
Like nobody’s ever done voiceovers.
What I’m taking away with this is that security tends to start around the c-list and probably improves the higher on the list you go.
Since most of us are no-list we’re screwed though.
Dear Mr. Trump:
My husband has been unemployed for 14 months, and we may have to default on our mortgage, leaving two adults, two teens, a dog, and two parakeets out on the pavement in the cruel New England climate.
Might you see your way to buying our house and allowing us to rent it from you for half the amount of our current monthly mortgage payments? We are excellent tenants and could give you many glowing personal recommendations from our friends who count on us to host summer cookouts at the shore here.
Being your tenants would be totally awesome, Mr. Trump, sir, Your Excellence, Your Magnificence. By the way, I think your hairstyle rocks. I really do.
Most humbly and sincerely,
Elizabeth D
@dorianh49: Umm, I don’t know where to start. The fact that you are actually claiming that a person ends up owes the sum of all payments over thirty years at the inception of the loan AND you work for Countrywide is scary. But may go a long way to explain why Countrywide screwed the pooch so bad when it comes to running home mortgage company.
Not including an HELOC he must have taken out, the payoff amount on the original loan (if in fact he had a loan for the entire purchase price) will not exceed the amount borrowed. On my $150,000 mortgage I will pay almost $400,000 over 30 years at the minimum payment, but I am on track to have it payed off in 8 years at a total cost of just over $200,000.
Disclaimer: I don’t work for a bank or other lending institution. I just understand how a mortgage actually works.
The reek of publicity stunt is stinking the whole story. Donald Trump doesn’t know Ed McMahon? So it was the Donald’s evil twin who shaved him in another publicity stunt!
@crazydavythe1st:
exactly.
i bet rent money isnt that bad for a house of that cost when its bought outright. not to mention donald could probably resell later it and worst case break even.
course this is all chump change to the don so the real reason is to convince all the blue haired, empty headed, tabloid lemmings that trump is a great guy. “oh, i heard that that donald gets a bad rap, but he’s a swell guy. he helped out ed mcmahon, dont you know…”
Wow this new is going to be “HUGE”!
It’s about time some rich f**k bailed out Ed. I’ve been wondering why someone like the Pitt-Jolie’s or some other obscenely wealthy Hollywood folk didn’t help one of their own. As for Donald LEASING back the house to him, kinda shitty. Geez, it’s not like he couldn’t afford to just give it to him. Donald probably wipes his ass with more cash that this.
@dopplerd: Wow. That’s a little harsh. I’m just an administrative assistant for a regional manager, and don’t work with loans that much, and admit that I could very well be wrong. I’m not extremely knowledgable about loans, but don’t have to be in my position.
However, I have absorbed some stuff through assmosis through the years, and I’m pretty sure that my math is correct. I know that a borrower wouldn’t owe $8.2M on a $2.6M loan right away. That amount is amortized over 30 years if the borrower only pays the minimum monthly payment. It was just a simplification to demonstrate how Mr. McMahon could conceivably owe $4.8M after 18 years of paying on a $2.6M loan. If he only paid the minimum payment of $22,000 and took out some HELOCs here and there, it could happen. That’s all I was saying.
Wonder if Mr Trump does that for let’s say someone who bought into one of his projects and was about to be foreclosed on-the average guy.
What’s the deal with Ed’s neck brace on tv all the time?
Anybody who is suing a friend or neighbor because they fell on their ass in the neighbor’s home is required to wear a loose and totally useless cervical collar when appearing in public. It’s kind of a uniform that lawyers use to bolster their claims of disability for their clients.
@Advertising Guru: You are missing the current value of the home in being next to Spears. The Donald will put scafolding in the back yard high enough to look over the fence into Brittney’s yard. Charge the Paparazzi a “access” fee for prime spying locations into Brit’s yard and you can make a killing that way!
I think that it is a nice thing to do. Ed NcMahon gave plesure to millions of people and must be close to two hundred years old by now. Mr. Trump may consider this a short term arrangement. I think Ed should by some magazines, he might get lucky and find himself at his own doorway.
See, Uncle Don isn’t that evil! It’s just that haircut that presumes so…
Either McMahon borrowed too much money against his house or someone’s math is off… regardless of how much Ed will pay upon completion of the mortgage term (i.e. $10M, as quoted above), if he sells his property tomorrow he only needs to pay his outstanding mortgage obligation, which is whatever the principal borrowed is. If he bought the house at $2.6M with (let’s say) $800k down, then he should only be in the hole about $1.8M + some legal and other costs. Given the $22k per month payments, he should be down to around $1M by now.
Besides the mold problem, his house should be worth well in excess of $5M by now, so he really should have been $4M in the black at this point.
Obviousyl, whoever said his wife is sucking him dry is probably closest to the truth, and he’s been pumping up his mortgage to compensate. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
Does he really DESERVE another bail-out? At this stage – with his neck collar in tow – he’s more someone you’d feel sorry for, and not someone you’d respect as a mouthpiece.