DAILYMAIL.CO.UK | CHRIS WHITE | JUNE 24, 2024
PHOTO SOURCE | DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
PHOTO CAPTION | JOE BIDEN’S THREE-BED, 4.5 BATH LAKESIDE MANSION IN WILIMINGTON, DELAWARE IS CURRENTLY THE PRESIDENT AND THE FIRST LADY’S MAIN RESIDENCE OUTSIDE OF THE WHITE HOUSE. THE COUPLE BOUGHT THE FOUR-ACRE LOT FOR $350,000 IN MARCH 1996.

Joe and Jill Biden have been using their Delaware house for fast cash – refinancing 20 times with loans totaling $4.2M since buying the $350k home

  • POTUS and first lady refinanced their two homes 35 times over the years
  • Current Wilmington house has outstanding $541k load 28 years after purchase

Joe Biden and First Lady Jill have been using their homes as an ATM, taking out multiple mortgages and refinancing their Delaware properties an astonishing 35 times, a DailyMail.com investigation has revealed.   

The president has lived in two houses in his home state since 1975, when he bought his first property in Wilmington that he later sold in the late 1990s. 

But records obtained by DailyMail.com show the couple have had a habit of negotiating a new mortgage or credit deal on both homes every 17 months. 

Over the decades the Bidens have borrowed a total of $6million on both properties – and there’s still an outstanding $541,000 mortgage on their current three-bed, 4.5-bath Wilmington mansion nearly three decades after they bought it. 

The constant refinancing raises the question of why the Bidens, who have a reported net worth of $10million, needed a constant flow of extra cash.

‘It doesn’t make a lot of sense unless they were desperate for cash,’ a finance expert told DailyMail.com.

The revelation comes as questions grow about the president’s involvement in his son Hunter’s shady business dealings with Chinese oil giant CEFC and other foreign entities.

According to the mortgage documents, the president and first lady purchased their current four-acre lot for $350,000 in March 1996 but have since saddled it with 20 different home credit agreements and mortgages totaling $4.23million. 

Their previous five-bed, 2.5-bath home in the same town was purchased for $185,000 in 1975 – and sold controversially for $1.2million in 1996. 

Records show the property had a total of 15 mortgages and lines of credit attached to it.

The Bidens also own a summer home in Rehoboth Beach, which they scooped up in in June 2017 for $2,744,001, according to Sussex County public records. 

That property, however, has no mortgages attached to it and was revealed last year to have been a cash purchase. 

The property data suggests that the 46th president and his wife, 73, have needed money fast – and have used their homes’ equity as the main source of credit over the years. 

However, Biden, a career politician, and Jill, a college professor, are estimated to be worth around $10million, and additional financial records show the couple pulled in an income of $620,000 in 2023. 

The first couple released their tax returns in April and revealed their combined income was $619,976 last year and they paid $146,629 in federal taxes.

Biden and his wife earned four-fifths of their income from their jobs as president and teacher at Northern Virginia Community College, respectively.

Additional money came from interest on investments, pensions and a pass-through entity that collects book royalties.

But according to other financial forms from Joe, the president has had no royalties from his two books: ‘Promises to Keep’ and ‘Promise Me, Dad’ this year.

Financial records from the Office of Government Ethics last month revealed most of the couple’s debt is the mortgage on their Delaware home and an equity loan on that property. 

Additionally their debt consists of a term loan of about $15,000 and a loan against a mutual fund for about $50,000.

In total, the Bidens reported assets between roughly $1million and $2.6million and liabilities between roughly $350,000 and $850,000, according to the documents. 

Commenting on the couple’s money lifeline, LA realtor Tony Mariotti –  the founder of luxury real estate company RubyHomes.com – claimed the Bidens are making a mistake by using their home as an ATM.

‘I don’t understand why anyone would view their home as an ATM. Constantly pulling money out of your home,’ he told DailyMail.com. 

‘I understand to some that equity can feel like dead money that’s sitting there doing nothing, but over time, mortgage fees really add up.

‘I’ve always preferred the view that paying off a mortgage over time is a forced savings account that bears modest interest.’

Mortgaged To The Hilt

The Bidens bought the Wilmington house for $350,000 in March 1996

1. 21 Jul 1997 – Beneficial National Bank – $400,000 [PAID – 20 Nov 1997, construction mortgage]

2. 20 Oct 1997 – Beneficial National Bank – $499,900 [PAID – 26 Feb 1998, construction mortgage]

3. 24 Nov 1997 – Beneficial National Bank – $134,070.27 [PAID – 8 Jul 1999]

4. 27 Feb 1998 – Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp – $550,000 [PAID – 25 Aug 2003]

5. 6 May 1998 – Beneficial National Bank – $94,450.04 [PAID – 11 Oct 2002]

6. 16 Jul 1999 – Commerce Bank – $35,000

[PAID – 6 Nov 2000, line of credit]

7. 18 Sep 2000 – Commerce Bank – $80,000 [PAID – 31 Jan 2003, line of credit]

8. 18 Oct 2002 – Commerce Bank – $143,600 [PAID – 18 Sep 2003]

9. 11 Jan 2003 – Commerce Bank – $20,000 [PAID – 17 Oct 2003, line of credit, then extended to $30,000 on 7 Jun 2003]

10. 5 Aug 2003 – Wilmington Savings Fund Society – $649,000 [PAID 3 Apr 2013, balloon rider attached, mortgage modified on 20 Jul 2010 to $564,442.91]

11. 5 Aug 2003 – Wilmington Savings Fund Society – $99,000 [PAID – 31 Mar 2005, line of credit]

12. 11 Feb 2005 – Wilmington Savings Fund Society – $149,000 [PAID – 3 Apr 2013, line of credit]

13. 3 Mar 2010 – Wilmington Savings Fund Society – $10,000 [PAID – 11 Jul 2011, line of credit]

14. 10 Jun 2011 – Wilmington Savings Fund Society – $45,000 [PAID – 6 Feb 2012, line of credit]

15. 4 Jan 2012 – Wilmington Savings Fund Society – $95,000 [PAID – 17 Aug 2012, line of credit]

16. 16 Jul 2012 – Wilmington Savings Fund Society – $115,000 [PAID – 3 Apr 2013, line of credit]

17. 28 Jan 2013 – TD Bank – $541,150

OUTSTANDING

18. 28 Jan 2013 – TD Bank – $260,000 [PAID 18 Mar 2014, line of credit]

19. 19 Feb 2014 – TD Bank – $300,000 [PAID 11 Dec 2018, line of credit]

TOTAL: $4,230,170.31  19 mortgages/lines of credit and one credit extension 

Taking their current home first, a year after buying it in 1996, they took out two construction home loans in 1997 totaling $899,900 to build the property from scratch, records show. 

Then they borrowed a further $134,070, $550,000 and $94,450 over the course of six months from November 1997 to May 1998 with two different banks – Beneficial National and Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp.

Before these three were all paid off in August 2003, they took out another $143,600 mortgage and negotiated three credit facility agreements for $30,000, $35,000, and $80,000 – all with Commerce Bank.

They cancelled all of this debt by October 2003. But, by then, they’d just taken out a $649,000 mortgage with Wilmington Savings Fund Society and a separate $99,000 line of credit with the same bank.

Over the course of the next nine years up to July 2012, they had six separate home equity credit agreements with the same bank – $149,000, $10,000, $45,000, $95,000 and $115,000.

Many of these lines of credit deals lasted just a few months, before being paid off, then the Bidens moved onto the next refinance deal.

Their final agreements were two lines of credit with TD Bank for $260,000 and $300,000 in January 2013 and February 2014 respectively, the former only paid off in December 2018.

Yet one more mortgage remains – a $541,150 loan with TD Bank issued on January 28, 2013.

On to their first property, which was sold controversially to the vice chairman of credit card company MBNA, at the time the largest employer in Delaware, who donated a maximum $2,000 to his senate re-election.

DailyMail.com exclusively reported in October last year that it appeared to be for an inflated selling price of $1.2million, as it’s now worth only $1.6million according to realtor site Redfin, 28 years on.

Also that year of 1996, Biden’s son Hunter was hired by MBNA and went on to become a senior vice president.

For that place, they took out 13 different home loans and two credit agreements from June 1978 to May 1994 totaling $1.72M.

They used Artisans’ Bank, Delaware Trust Company, which was acquired by Wells Fargo, and borrowed $50,000 from one individual, George D Herrmann Jr, in December 1986. It’s not known what connection he has with the Bidens.

New Castle County records don’t disclose if any of the mortgages were satisfied, but it’s highly likely, as they purchased a new property.

LINK TO ARTICLE AT DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

Last Updated on June 26, 2024 by Real KBrett