Dec 2, 2015

Trump Flim-Flams Baja Investors


Trump Baja venture leaves buyers high and dry

Deposits totaling $32.2 million are lost in the collapse of the celebrity developer's hotel-condo project.

March 07, 2009|Associated Press

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SAN DIEGO — Stephen and Linda Drake cast aside concerns about owning property in Mexico because they believed in Donald Trump.
The Southern California couple made a $250,000 down payment on a 19th-floor oceanfront condo in Trump Ocean Resort Baja in 2006 before the first construction crew arrived.
But admiration for the celebrity developer and star of "The Apprentice" has now turned into anger and disbelief as Trump's luxury hotel-condo plan collapsed, leaving little more than a hole in the ground and investors out of their deposits, which totaled $32.2 million.
"I can't even stand to see Trump's face on TV," said Linda Drake, a psychologist whose husband is a commercial airline pilot and financial advisor.
Investors were told last month that their money was spent and that they wouldn't get a penny back. A single mother in suburban Los Angeles lost $200,000 and won't be able to send her sons to private universities. A Los Angeles-area businessman lost a deposit of more than $1 million on four Trump units, including two penthouses.
The project's collapse comes at a delicate time for Trump, whose casino company, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection last month. He also is embroiled in a lawsuit to avoid paying debt on the struggling Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.
Trump and his children heavily promoted the northern tip of Mexico's Baja California coast. He sold 188 units for $122 million the first day they went on a sale at a lavish event in a downtown San Diego hotel in December 2006.
"I went out and saw this site, and I was blown away by it," Ivanka Trump said in June 2007. "From the minute I saw it, it was a deal I had to do."
The location was a contrast to more-expensive Mexican coastal markets such as Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and Cancun, she said.
The Trumps remained buoyant even as the U.S. housing market began to crumble. Ivanka Trump assured buyers in an October 2007 newsletter that all Trump projects were immune to a slowdown.
"In characteristic Trump fashion, Trump Ocean Resort Baja will be the best of the best, and consequently always in demand," she wrote.
All that remains of Trump Baja is a highway billboard with a large photo of Donald Trump that advertises condos for sale. It hovers over a closed sales center and showroom, a paved parking lot, a big hole that cuts a wide swath, drainage pipes and construction equipment.
The failure of Trump Baja is a big blow to a real estate market just south of the border from San Diego that was booming two years ago with U.S. buyers looking for second homes and easy profits but is now similarly swooning. The market has been hammered by Mexico's drug-fueled violence and the global economic crisis.
Other developers completed big projects nearby in recent years and the area remains home to thousands of Americans, but the cliff-lined coast is pocked with partially built towers. The steel frame of one oceanfront high-rise is rusting, with air ducts hanging from one floor and an idled crane out front. A wind-tattered sales sign hangs outside twin towers nearby -- one that appears almost complete and the other a much shorter steel skeleton.
Trump Baja demanded about 30% down for units that sold from less than $300,000 to $3 million, buyers said.
Deposits on abandoned projects are also at risk in the U.S., even in states like California that prohibit developers from spending the money on construction, lawyers say. The risk may be higher in Mexico because consumer protection laws are generally weak.
"The bottom line in Mexico is caveat emptor -- buyer beware," said Art Spaulding, an Irvine real estate attorney who does business south of the border.
Trump's condos went on sale when Southern California home prices were near their peak, offering a lower-cost alternative in the Mexican border city of Tijuana. Trump Organization teamed up with Los Angeles developer Irongate Capital Partners, the partnership behind Trump International Hotel and Tower Waikiki in Honolulu.
Guadalupe Mendoza, 47, paid a $200,000 deposit at the first-day sale in San Diego, refinancing her Downey home and getting a loan from a sister. She watched a giant screen show units getting snapped up.
After signing papers, buyers were ushered to a buffet of sirloin tip and fish tacos. Cheers erupted in the hotel ballroom for each new owner.
"I did it in less than a minute," said Mendoza, an administrator in the Los Angeles County Office of Education. "I remember my head was hurting and thinking, 'My God, what was that?' I was thinking maybe I should have asked questions. It was like a roller-coaster ride."
Buyers pressed for updates as construction fell behind schedule. They got a bombshell letter in December that said negotiations for a construction loan from German bank WestLB had collapsed and Trump Baja had only $556,000 left. It quoted a contract clause that gave the developer a right to spend their deposits

Trump Baja venture leaves buyers high and dry

Deposits totaling $32.2 million are lost in the collapse of the celebrity developer's hotel-condo project.

March 07, 2009|Associated Press

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Another letter came in January that said Trump was removing his name.
A Feb. 16 letter from a Mexican entity, PB Impulsores, said the project was scrapped "given the extreme dislocation of the financial markets." It said there was no money left to refund deposits.
The December letter said Trump was not an investor, but buyers said they were sold on his imprimatur.
"We thought of Donald Trump," Linda Drake said. "If Donald Trump was behind it, it was going to work. . . . I am embarrassed to tell people we got caught up in this."
Ivanka Trump said in 2007 that her father "is the boss" when asked about his role in the project.
"He is involved in every capacity," she said.
In response to a request to interview Donald and Ivanka Trump, Trump Organization issued a statement that said its partner violated an agreement to license the Trump name, missing deadlines to obtain financing and begin construction.
Timothy Hughes, an attorney for Irongate, said the project "will not be going forward" but declined to answer questions.
One buyer sued Trump and Irongate in Los Angeles County Superior Court last month, and more litigation is expected.
"They put their trust in this project and feel betrayed," said Bart Ring, a Woodland Hills attorney who says he represents about 75 buyers who haven't sued.
Homeowners and brokers in Baja welcomed the publicity and higher prices that Trump brought. Now they wish he'd never come.
"It was a two-edged sword that's cutting the wrong way," broker Brian Flock said.
"Everybody is shellshocked. I call it post-Trump syndrome."

copied from the LA Times

Geraldo Rivera and Noam Laden: Excellent in News/Talk Radio

Geraldo Rivera.
Geraldo Rivera. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Seriously, Geraldo and Noam are one of the best radio shows out there....proof in the pudding....just go out there and listen. The other shows are not just one-sided but lacking in information. I love Noam and I will also follow Geraldo--for all sides of the political picture and current issues Geraldo Rivera is the best and with a gift for interviewing and investigative reporting. The bad boy of San Diego drove me to search for Geraldo and Noam. I listen to Rush and O'Reilly but they are only one side.



from mediaite.............




Geraldo Rivera Claims WABC/New York Fired Him, Locked Him Out Of Studio

SHENANIGANS 95
rivera-300x201Fox Newspersonality Geraldo Riveraalleged that new executives at WABC/New York, where he hosted a daily radio show on WABC 770, fired him and locked him out of the studio.
Rivera made the accusations public on his Facebook page on Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. That’s when he was informed by Cumulus Media CEO Mary Berner and New York VP Chad Lopez “that they do not intend to honor the handshake deal I made with the ousted company chief John Dickey, an agreement to extend my current contract for a year.”
“The decision to renege on our deal on the eve of Thanksgiving is especially upsetting,” said Rivera, “coming in the wake of my emotionally charged and highly rated coverage of the Paris massacre and frantic efforts by authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
In a subsequent Facebook post on Saturday, Rivera praised the medium of radio while lamenting Cumulus Media and WABC’s business practices. He also commended the “honorable” John andLew Dickey, the former heads of the station.
Screen Shot 2015-12-01 at 1.21.17 PM
Rivera also claimed that WABC had locked him out, literally.
In locking me out of my studio as of last Friday even though my contract does not expire until December 31st and in refusing to honor the 2016 deal negotiated by the ousted Dickeys, they have breached my contract.
That slight will not go unanswered.
The Fox News personality didn’t explicitly say he would sue Cumulus Media, WABC or both, but his wording in the Facebook post suggests as much.

Dec 1, 2015

Noam Laden: Chris Christie--Donald Trump with A Brain

Noam Laden at the helm of the WABC 77 News/Talk Radio ship this holiday season and always asking pertinent questions for the voters.

Today Noam Laden is suggesting that Chris Christie is Donald Trump with a brain and asking the callers to respond to the idea that Christie could eventually lead the GOP in a race against my girl, Hillary Clinton.

Noam thinks the folks out there are starting to get into the deep sleep mode from an overdose of the trumpster.

Could the donald actually act properly as the President of the United States--can he be trusted about anything and are his falsehoods finally starting to shed light on his qualifications.


Noam Laden said perhaps Chris Christie is enough of a straight talker to fill the bill that many have said is the attractive component of the ginger haired half-wit.

Prior to Bridgegate and a few unnecessary real loud and aggressive shouts at reporters and town hall questioners this blog lady in love with politics thought the Clinton-Christie race would be exciting and close.

The cat hair cook thought Christie could give Mrs. Clinton a run for her money not to mention the fact that Chris Christie and Bill O'Reilly were banging the headboard on a nightly basis--only on the O'Reilly fantasy side.  It was only a longing and dream........"I don't know why Christie won't come on my show," was often exclaimed after a flattering memo.

It was as if O'Reilly and Roger Ailes had gotten together and said lets go with Chrisite against Hillary--we have got a real good chance.

But then the wheels quickly came off that cart with the emergence of Bridgegate.


Right--do you remember.


Bill was exasperated.

Now what is our hope to win against Hillary Clinton?

Frankly, it seems like Bill is exasperated with Trump, as well--he said it last evening--he is impossible to question being that he just keeps going back to his original statement of hugeness and shouts it until the time is up.

Noam Laden says Christie will fill the trump void as he is straight talking, loud, honest (more of less), and somewhat appears as an outsider. He fills the trump gap.  Yet, Christie has the qualifications and experience of not saying the first thing that comes to his mind that will end up alienating the voting population.

We could say  Chris Christie has somewhat of a filter on his mouth--loosely speaking.

Chris Christie did well in the last debate and won the accolade of the union leader of  New Hampshire to give him a much needed boost in the upcoming election.

To this blog lady Chris Christie appears that he does have the welfare of the citizens of New Jersey front and center.

I've got your back...was the word he seemed to be saying to the residents of the Jersey shore when he showed he cared about their fate after Sandy and the President Obama hug.

Christie is a brilliant orator and fun to watch--not the entertainer like qualities of the wild haired wonder but the experience of a Governor and a very smart politician.

Let's see what happens...is Noam Laden correct?

A caller said to Noam Laden today, "I went to a party with a bunch of physicians and they were down playing trump and making fun of him but then he interjected that trump was saying everything they were thinking but too embarrassed to verbalize......paraphrasing.

Readers and fellow cat and pit bull lovers--I worked for very many years with plenty of physicians, yes--very rich people and they did indeed say the same sentiments of trump.  I realized that right off the bat.  Some even touted the expertise of the bombastic Barbie, Ann Coulter.

What has happened to our world?

Seriously, Noam Laden has asked important questions this Thanksgiving season--earlier he had the media manager from Patterosn, New Jersey explaining that the event trump described of thousands and thousands of Muslims rejoicing over the 9/11 tragedy just did not happen.  This city official went into detail and further said he was out and about.  Noam said that is my job to find out facts and there are not facts to support Donald's claims.

Good shows, Noam, good week and well done.


Your thoughts--agree of disagree welcome.


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