The New Republic

Dayo --

Be careful.  I'm not sure you get what transpired here (and you're not alone).  My guess is that the for sale sign (although I can't see exactly where it is) applies to the vacant parcel adjoining Obama's property.  That land *is not owned by Obama* and is not his to sell.  It's owned by Rezko (or his wife).  My bet is that Rezko has abandoned any idea he may have had about developing the property (with a house or townhomes), and now that this transaction has come under scrutiny and he's under federal indictment, he's seeking to unload it for the cash.  The "Rezko strip" is in fact a small portion of the original Rezko property (1/6th) that Obama bought to enlarge his backyard, which I don't think has any independent value and couldn't be subdivided and marketed separately.

- jhildner

January 28, 2008 at 2:10am

CanWest, please get jhildner on the payroll.

Note to the crew: really, guys, you need to do a mite bit more original reporting and a mite bit less repetition of beltway and internet buzz....  

- teplukhin2you

January 28, 2008 at 2:50am

jhildner - good point.

One question I have from reading the Rezko stories is related to how Obama bought his house at $300,000 below asking price. Is or was that a typical discount to asking price for similar homes in that Hyde Park neighborhood in 2005?  I don't have access to MLS to get the data, but this "discount" leaves the appearance, probably not a reality, that Obama somehow got a better deal on the house than he should have.    Dayo, maybe you've already looked at this.   Thanks.

- jjridge

January 28, 2008 at 3:22am

I wish most Obama supporters could spend some time in Hyde Park -- they'd find it instructive!

- Lymon1

January 28, 2008 at 6:37am

Have any journalists actually looked at the dollar values involved in the the home and land purchase? Why did Obama get the house that he bought for $300,00 below asking price during a time when the housing market was booming? The person who sold Obama the house also sold Rezko the land next door on the same day in what was virtually a joint transaction Did Rezko pay more than the land was worth in exchange for Obama getting a $300,000 reduction on his purchase of the adjoining lot from the same owner on the same day? Does that represent an additional transfer of funds to Obama by a man who was widely known to be under active investigation for land deals and influence peddling at the time Obama took this deal. Has anyone looked at this?

This is not ancient history. This happened in 2005. Obama was a US Senator then.

It appears that Rezko, now under indictment for influence peddling, is selling the land that he originally bought in order to curry favor with Obama. Rezko obviously had no other use for the land. And selling someone a slice of your property for their benefit,when it diminishes the value of your property by more than you are gettingt, looks pretty much like influence-peddling to me. It is also worth noting that this is all to Obama's direct personal gain--this is not a question of campaign contributions.

- Eos

January 28, 2008 at 6:59am

Two quick notes: The reason that I find this for sale sign so comical is that the "Rezko strip" itself is highly unlikely to sell, regardless of the owner/seller. I don't know how long the sign has been up, and if's unclear whether it refers to the 1/6 of the property owned by Obama or the 5/6 owned by Rezko, but either way, just looking at it, the ten-foot "strip" itself (or the odd L-shape that abuts Obama's yard) is clearly undesirable property (unless, again, one is interested in buying into history). It's good news that the seller is looking to wipe their hands of the deal, but I'm highly skeptical this plot will move.

And Hyde Park/Kenwood home prices have skyrocketed since my family moved not far away from here in 1992--growing by something like 9-10% annually by 2004. In 2005, jjridge, houses in this neighborhood stayed on the market between three and five months, which seems to be slightly higher than the city median.

www.chicagomag.com/.../Chicago-Townhomes-Condos-etc

Whether this affected eventual asking/selling prices beats me. It's not inconceivable that a $300k price cut was above board, especially (and I won't fault my memory here) since dozens of large homes of this sort in Kenwood are old and require significant rehab. The new HPK bourgeoisie notwithstanding, many houses stood vacant for much of the 90s. I'm also pretty sure that this particular home was pretty run-down for most of my childhood.

jhildner: again, thanks for the clarification. And teplukhin, I did round out the visit by attending Sunday services at Trinity United Church of God (more on that later).

Dayo

- Dayo Olopade

January 28, 2008 at 8:35am

This just into the newsroom...Tony Rezko was arrested by the Feds at his home this morning and there's going to be a bond revocation hearing this afternoon in federal court. Sonmething about improper transactions related to his personal finances that violated the conditions of his pre-trial bond.

Stay tuned.  

- schrek2000

January 28, 2008 at 10:55am

Dayo - looking forwward to it, thanks. Appreciate your sharp insights. T

- teplukhin2you

January 28, 2008 at 11:29am

pc:

"And selling someone a slice of your property for their benefit,when it diminishes the value of your property by more than you are getting ..."

You have zero basis to make that claim.

- jhildner

January 28, 2008 at 5:27pm

Regarding the Obama-Rezko land deal:

First, Obama and Rezko bought adjoining lots from the same owner on the same day. That is an extremely closely coordinated transaction. Have you ever bought property? Do you know how tricky it is to set up a closing? To have these two closings occur on the same day, the coordination of the sales virtually had to be a condition of the closings. Obama paid $300,000 under asking for the property he bought. Was his reduced price made up for by the price Rezko agreed to pay for the adjoining lot? Did Rezko pay asking price or over asking price for that lot?

Secondly, Rezko did not use the property he bought? Why did he buy it? Clearly, to "sell" some of the land to Obama.

Thirdly, he sold Obama a strip of land that was very desirable from Obama's point of view, but that dimiinishes the desireability of Rezko's land. Why did Rezko do this?

Fourth, Rezko was under active investigation for illegal land transactions and for influence peddling at the time of the Obama-Rezko land deal. The investigation was widely know at the time.

Fifth, Obama recently denied knowing that Rezko was under investigation at the time of the deal. But Obama and Rezko were extremely close associates and the investigation had been headlined in the Chicago papers prior to the Obama-Rezko purchase. Why did Obama deny knowing what he must surely have known?

Finally, why hasn't this been better investigated by the national press?

- Eos

January 28, 2008 at 8:03pm

Also, remember that this was in 2005 when the home market was nearing its peak nationally. By this time, Obama was a US Senator.

- Eos

January 28, 2008 at 8:06pm