Yeah, just the begging of the end for your investors
While looking to re-locate to Mexico, Jim and I made several trips to Rosarito Beach. Although the weather was great, and we could get a place right on the ocean, Rosarito Beach was not for us.
Why? Because it was just to difficult to cross into the U.S. at the San Diego border crossing. More than once, we were blocked from getting on the off-ramp to San Diego by the Tijuana police.
Only when we paid them, like a hundred bucks, did they let us through.
Let me say right here, that Mexicali is NOTHING like Tijuana – I’ll be writing more on that real soon…
Trump Ocean Resort Baja - huh?
It was while driving down to Rosarito Beach that we first saw the huge billboard of Donald Trump’s face smiling down on us. He had super condos to sell. This was Donald Trump!
We visited the sales office, but it was deserted. Strange? We knew we couldn’t afford to buy, but still wanted to know the prices. We looked around and there was no evidence of any building being built.
So, it comes as no surprise to us that maybe there was going to be no Trump Tijuana condo project.
Get this.
Trump sold 188 units for $122 million the first day they were made available at a lavish San Diego event in December 2006. Even Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, gushed to the press, “I went out and saw this site, and I was blown away by it – From the minute I saw it, it was a deal I had to do.” Yeah, sure.
In October 2007, Daddy’s girl, Ivanka, assured buyers in a 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. Daddy’s girl, for sure.
Trump’s investors had put down deposits mounting to $32.2 million to reserve their condos.
Would you buy a glass of water from this man?
Hopes for living the Trump life in a beautiful condo has now turned into anger and disbelief as the Trump Ocean Resort Baja plan has collapsed, leaving little more than a hole in the ground. Investors were told last month their money was spent and they won’t get a penny of their $32.2 million back. Jim said, “Shucks, I could dig a hole like that for a lot less than $32.2 million.”
Didn’t those deposits go into some sort of escrow account? Isn’t that California real estate law? Or is the Donald too big to fail, like some of those big banks.
Trump sounds like another Bernie Madoff.
A single mother in Los Angeles lost $200,000 – a Los Angeles businessman lost a deposit of more than $1 million on four Trump units, including two penthouses.
These are tough times for Trump. His casino company, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., filed for bankruptcy last month. He also has a lawsuit to avoid paying his debts on his hotel in Chicago.
It is unfortunate when people see the face of Donald Trump on a billboard, and just hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars for an invisible condo. Their money is gone and I wonder if Donald Trump, himself, a savvy businessman, got a bite of that huge sum of money?
Maybe – maybe not. Maybe Trump is not the savvy guy he appears to be. After all, he didn’t make his money – he inherited it from his Daddy, Fred Trump. In fact, as soon as Trump got out of college he went to work for Daddy – just like Ivanka went to work for Daddy.
Donald Drumpf?
Trump’s last name isn’t even “Trump.” Originally it was “Drumpf.”
“How’d you like to live in Drumpf Towers, or hi, my name is Ivanka Drumpf” Jim laughed.
Jim looks down on people who change their names. The reason is that Jim’s last name, and mine now, is “Dogooder.” A lot of people like to make fun of our last name. Back in school, one of the kids called Jim “dog odor.” Jim disassembled that guy real fast.
The way our name should be pronounced is not “Do Gooder,” but “Dagudder.” That’s very important to Jim.
Sometimes he jokes, “Hell, why didn’t I think of changing my last name to “De Gouderrre,” like I was some kind’a French nobleman or something.”
Jim and I are just ordinary folk, and are not impressed by the big names of the wealthy. As Jim says, “Don’t he put his pants on one leg at a time?”
Is Donald Trump the Bernie Madoff of invisible high end properties in Tijuana and elsewhere?
Jim and I sure think so.
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