Category: Business

Categories
Business Donald Trump

Asking Price For Trump Condos Is Plummeting And Tenants Are Refusing To Live In Them

As he faces legal problems in several states and his name continues to be associated with the hatred, violence, and cruelty he inflicted on the country during his four years in office, Donald Trump is also watching as his business begins to circle the drain.

 

The Associated Press reports that Trump condos in several cities are selling for one-third of their original value, a stunning reversal of fortune for a man who built his brand and name on luxury at any price:

“An Associated Press review of more than 4,000 transactions over the past 15 years in 11 Trump-branded buildings in Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas and New York found prices for some condos and hotel rooms available for purchase have dropped by one-third or more.

“That’s a plunge that outpaces drops in many similar buildings, leaving units for sale in Trump buildings to be had for hundreds of thousands to up to a million dollars less than they would have gone for years ago.”

Some of the reduction in value may be attributable to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit real estate hard, but the bad associations of anything carrying the Trump name aren’t helping, especially since many people recall the insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 shortly after the former president urged his supporters to march on Congress:

“After Trump was accused of whipping up the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, things got really bad. Banks vowed not to lend to him, the PGA canceled a tournament at his New Jersey golf course, and New York City fired him as manager of a public course in the Bronx. Several brokers say many potential buyers won’t even look at Trump buildings now.”

In Chicago and Las Vegas, the fall in Trump property values has been even more dramatic:

“In Las Vegas, prices at Trump’s hotel have fallen 4% since he took office four years ago, while average prices for three dozen other hotels in the city that also sell condominiums and rooms rose 14%, according to data collected by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices broker Forrest Barbee. Since the Trump building opened a dozen years ago, prices per square foot have fallen 66%.”

Ondel Hylton, senior content director at CityRealty, had this to say about what’s happening with Trump-branded properties:

“I have never seen buildings plummet so dramatically. It seems like this is a bottom.”

Donald Trump probably thought being president would be a boon to his company. But it turns out his father was right: He’s a failure, no matter what he attempts.

 

Categories
Business Donald Trump Money

Trump Reportedly Desperate For ‘A Lot Of Cash’ And On The Verge Of Defaulting On His Loans

Donald Trump is on the verge of losing everything he owns, as banks are calling in his massive loans and threatening him with seizure of his assets (i.e. properties and bank accounts) unless he starts paying back what he owes them, which is estimated to be anywhere from $420 million to $1 billion.

 

Dean Enrich, financial investigative reporter for the New York Times, said recently on MSNBC that Trump is desperately trying to find way to make “a lot of cash quickly” to keep the wolves at bay:

“There are both civil and criminal and congressional investigations that are still seeking after years of trying to get Trump’s financial records from Deutsche Bank and, you know, it’s anyone’s guess what that is going to show. We know at Deutsche Bank, though, there were employers who raised money laundering concerns in both the Trump and [Jared] Kushner accounts. We still don’t have the full story about what happened there.”

MSNBC host Alex Witt asked Enrich:

“I trust you will get to the bottom of that, Let me ask you, though, is this just the beginning? How many more banks or financial institutions have relationships with Donald Trump and what’s the impact on his finances of this?”

Enrich responded:

“I think it’s a very serious financial impact for him. He has hundreds of millions of dollars of debt coming due in the next few years, most of it to Deutsche Bank, but not all of it. And normally, a borrower would go to the lender and say, ‘can we refinance the loan, extend it a few years?’ That’s not going to be an option for Trump with most of these loans.”

 

Things are so bad, Enrich added, that Trump is on the precipice of financial default, and that would be catastrophic because some of his largest lenders plan to go after his assets and grab them to compensate for lack of repayment:

“He’s going to need to come up with a lot of cash quickly or he’s going to be at risk of defaulting. In the case of Deutsche Bank, if he defaults, the bank has recourse to his personal assets. They could go to court to seize his property or the money he has in various banking accounts. So he’s going to need to come up with cash very quickly and his businesses right now are struggling, so it’s very unclear to me where he might be able to get that money.”

How will Trump raise hundreds of millions of dollars in a short amount of time? His name and brand are so toxic thanks to his deeds over the past few years that no one wants to do business with him. He, his family, and his company are also facing numerous legal threats in multiple jurisdictions.

Karma is starting to take one hell of a bite out of the Donald.

 

Categories
Business Donald Trump

Is The Trump Organization On The Verge Of Financial Collapse?

When he first announced he was running for president back in 2015, Donald Trump promised he’d run the United States the way he ran his business and every American would prosper as a result.

Six years later, however, the U.S. is in a deep economic recession and reeling from Trump’s failure to properly deal with the coronavirus pandemic, both of which led to him being consigned to history as a failed, one-term president.

And, six years later, the Trump Organization is quickly going broke, with CBS News reporting that four of Trump’s top money-earning properties in New York City are ailing financially:

“Last year marked the fifth year in a row in which the four most prominent Trump-owned buildings in Manhattan, including the Fifth Avenue Trump Tower made famous by ‘The Apprentice’ TV show, missed lenders’ earnings expectations, according to a CBS MoneyWatch review of publicly available documents. 

“Wells Fargo and other banks have told investors who have funded Trump’s loans that an income slump due in part to the ‘COVID-19 global pandemic‘ means the buildings might not generate enough cash to cover their mortgage payments, according to banker notes to investors reviewed by CBS MoneyWatch. ‘The loan is being monitored,’ said a note to investors in one CMBS deal tied to a Trump property from a unit of PNC Bank that services commercial mortgages.”

These latest developments regarding the Trump Organization are not unexpected. Last year, The Economic Times reported that Trump’s business was in big trouble:

“Like other hotels around the world, Trump’s have been forced to lay off most workers — and face the fact that the $435 million in revenues that the Trump Organization reported in 2018 is likely to plummet this year.”

Trump’s legal problems could also spell doom for his company, which is run by him and hit three eldest children, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric:

“Beyond the four buildings’ marketplace challenges, their financing could also pose a legal risk for Trump. New York City prosecutors have obtained millions of pages of Trump’s tax records and related correspondence as part of an ongoing criminal probe into his financial deals. Sources with knowledge of the investigation tell CBS News that prosecutors are reviewing financial documents involving the four Manhattan buildings. Subpoenas indicate the prosecutors are also scrutinizing at least one other Trump property in suburban Bedford, New York.”

The Trump Organization is about to go the way of the dinosaurs. Don’t be surprised if it collapses entirely within the next six months.

 

Categories
Business Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s ‘Fortune’ Is Disappearing – He Lost A Third Of His Total Net Worth Last Year

While he loves to brag about what a great businessman he is and how much money he has, a new report from Bloomberg makes it clear that the Trump “fortune” is dwindling by the day, with his total net worth plummeting by a third in 2020 alone.

Ironically, Trump’s own failures as president — the coronavirus pandemic and being associated with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection — have been catastrophic to his bottom line:

“His financial disclosures and loan documents, interviews with former executives and industry analysts, and a host of legal fights and investigations reveal just how much trouble Trump and his company could face. Covid has been hard on office buildings key to his wealth and hotels and resorts that bear his name. The fallout from the Capitol assault has hurt his relationships with brokers and lenders. At least $590 million in loans come due in the next four years, more than half personally guaranteed by Trump, and his scrapyard of failed enterprises has only gotten more crowded.”

The foundation of the Trump Organization, commercial real estate, has been pummeled by the ongoing fears over COVID-19 which exist both in the United States and across the globe:

“No segment in Trump’s business world is as important as commercial real estate, which accounts for about three-quarters of his net worth. And few industries in the U.S. have been as hard hit over the past year, when workers disappeared from office towers and business districts became ghost towns. He’s facing a ‘triple whammy’ from Covid, the Capitol riot and an aging portfolio of properties, says Ruth Colp-Haber, who runs office consultant Wharton Property Advisors. ‘These are the businesses you don’t want to be in right now.'”

Even Trump Tower — seen by many as emblematic of Trump’s corporation — is suffering, with rents on Fifth Avenue where the tower is located plunging 32 percent over the past two years, which raises questions about whether Trump will ever be able to turn around the losses he’s currently seeing when he looks at his balance sheet.

In recent years, Trump has pivoted to licensing his name to properties and businesses in an effort to offset some of his losses in the real estate sector. But that line of revenue is also suffering badly:

“After the Capitol riot, Trump Plaza in Florida’s West Palm Beach voted to strip Trump’s name, and New York City is trying to pull his contracts to run ice rinks, a carousel and a golf course.”

And let’s not forget the plethora of legal landmines Trump and the Trump Organization are facing, especially in New York, where both the Manhattan D.A. and state attorney general suspect crimes ranging from bank, insurance, and fraud to money laundering, all of which could bankrupt the failed, one-term president and send him and his children to prison for decades.

Donald Trump probably thought his four years in the White House would be great for his company. Clearly, he was wrong, and clearly he is also one of the worst businessmen on the face of the planet.

 

Categories
Business Donald Trump

The Trump Organization Is Hemorrhaging Massive Amounts Of Money: Report

Donald Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, is hemorrhaging money, especially at its golf resorts, according to a report from Forbes:

“The Trump Organization, which has … declared losses of roughly $90 million at its European golf resorts, according to an analysis of records from Ireland and the United Kingdom. Since the president opened his Aberdeen course in 2012, he has lost $15.5 million. Business has been even worse at Turnberry, which Trump bought in 2014 for $65 million. Despite investing an additional $75 million or so to fix up the property from 2014 to 2018, the place piled up losses of $58 million, according to an analysis of financial reports. The 2019 figures, first reported by the Scotsman, bring Turnberry’s total losses to $61 million since 2014.”

All of Trump’s golf resorts — which were once a major source of revenue for the company — have seen dramatic declines since Trump took office:

For example, at the 643-room Trump National Doral in Miami, Forbes notes:

“Revenues dropped to $87.5 million in 2016, and profits slid to $12.4 million. After election night, the resort lost 100,000 booked room nights, according to someone familiar with the business. Revenue plummeted to $75.4 million in 2017, and profits sank to $4.3 million.”

This latest bad financial news comes on top of the losses suffered by Trump’s hotels during the coronavirus pandemic, which has also negatively impacted the Trump Organization’s bottom line, as was first reported earlier this year:

“Seventeen of Trump’s clubs and hotels have closed. The remainder of Trump properties are operating at a fraction of their normal capacity: hotels running with restaurants closed, golf clubs operating with clubhouses shut down, and golfers warned not to share carts or touch the flagsticks.”

Simply put, not only is Donald Trump and his company facing serious legal problems in the very near future, there’s a very real possibility that the Trump Organization could be on the verge of bankruptcy.

Looks like karma is starting to catch up with the ex-president in a major way.