I don't do journalism. Never claimed to. But, to me, a story on the front page of The Salt Lake Tribune yesterday stinks to high heaven.
The opening paragraph is "Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, sold his home in a short sale two years ago to a friend and then rented a home nearby from the same man, a neighbor, federal contractor, and campaign donor."
I haven't done mortgages since the crash, but, before that, I was in mortgage company management for 10 years. One "rule" that was never violated in my day was that short sales could not be accepted unless the buyers and sellers were in a "true arms length transaction". Any relationship between them whatsoever and that deal was dead. The unrebuttable presumption was that there was simply an unacceptable opportunity for hanky-panky.
And there's also the fact that Sen. Lee holds himself out to be superior to almost the entire world (what with his father, Rex Lee having been Solicitor General under Reagan, and Mike having once clerked for, prior to his present appointment, Jusitice Alito).
It's all fair game after that in my book.
Before he decided to become a politician, the Lee's had a nice newly purchased mansion style home at 917 QUAIL HOLLOW CIR - ALPINE. Around seven grand total square footage, 5 bedrooms on an acre and a half, etc. etc. They paid, like a mil, or 1.1, and got out of it in the short sale, according to the newspaper, for $720,000. Poor Mike Lee. Poor J.P. MorganChase, the lender. Not necessarily so bad for the buyer, Ron Mcmillan, though, since the current Utah County assessed tax value is now $1,074,200. But, hey, real estate values move, and I'm sure that Sen. Lee would rather have his family living in the lap of Utah luxury, rather than the dump they're now in. Missed bet, but no harm, no foul, right.
Except that Lee did land on his feet, and the rule is "only true arms length transactions".
Lee and McMillan do belong to the same religion, did belong to the same congregation, and do belong to the same congregation after they traded houses. Oh, did I forget to mention that McMillan used to live at 854 E Canterbury Ln, Alpine, UT, and now lives at 917 QUAIL HOLLOW CIR - ALPINE. And Lee had to settle for parking the wife and kids at 854 E Canterbury Ln, Alpine, UT, where they may pay a princely sum of $2,200 month rent (according to the newspaper story) and had to squeeze into a home assessed for barely $500,000, with no more than 5,000 total square feet on a half acre. Oh the sacrifice.
But it's all clean. according to Sen. Lee because all of the stuff that might look like it's not coincidental really is. And the $7,200 campaign contribution (according to the newspaper) that Mr. and Ms. McMillan sent on over to the folks who were soon to become the sellers of their current home, and the "tenants" (real estate purchase contracts are not required to be recorded in Utah to be valid) could, one supposes, have gone to anyone.
So, I totally disregard the $2 million that McMillan and his partners billed to the feds in FY 2010 (according to the newspaper), because that amount then shrank to "only" $215,000 after that.
But there's something about the fact that McMillan is one of the founders of VitalSmarts, LLC, and the company website specifically mentions that it is a contributor, albeit through The United Way, to "The Rex Lee Run—a Utah Valley tradition supporting cancer research and awareness" that makes me wonder how much of this story of no one knowing nothing, and no one doing anything together, and everyone coming out smelling like roes really is true.
Hopefully the professionals can sort that out for all of us.