EXCLUSIVEHow Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff took out ten loans totaling $13million on their LA and DC properties - from bank she prosecuted for BILLIONS
Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff have refinanced their luxury properties on the east and west coast ten times with loans totaling $13M.
The second couple, both 59, have borrowed way in excess of what they’re worth – their joint fortune estimated at $8 million by Forbes.
And, surprisingly, their various home loans and lines of credit are all with Wells Fargo Bank, the lending giant Kamala battled when she was Attorney General of California.
Harris was in litigation for years with Wells Fargo just as she and Emhoff were living in a luxury property in the Los Angeles celeb enclave of Brentwood, propped up by the bank's millions.
Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff have borrowed more than $13 million by refinancing their real estate portfolio several times
The presidential hopeful has refinanced a number of her homes, including this mansion Los Angeles that is estimated at more than $7 million
The Democrat presidential hopeful helped build her legacy as California’s Attorney General who 'beat the big banks’.
In February 2012 after the financial crash, Harris won $18 billion in compensation for Californian homeowners facing foreclosure, who she claimed were the victims of predatory lending.
She negotiated with five large lenders – Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Ally Financial – to stump up the cash.
Along with five county district attorneys, she also successfully sued Wells Fargo in 2016 for $8.5M over privacy violations including recording consumer’s phone calls without the correct consent.
Emhoff bought this swish Brentwood pad for $2.7 million and saddled it with mortgages and several lines of credit – with the property almost doubling in value
Harris's loans through Wells Fargo are surprising given the significant legal action she took against the bank while California Attorney General, seen during her tenure in 2010
So it is perhaps surprising that she should use the same bank to finance her homes.
Situated just a stone’s throw from the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and LeBron James, Kamala and her husband have borrowed heavily on the $7 million Brentwood property for over a decade.
Entertainment lawyer Emhoff initially bought the swish pad for $2.7M in June 2012 and immediately saddled it with a $2M mortgage with an initial interest rate of 2.5 per cent – and was handed a separate $160k line of credit.
After the couple met in 2013 and married a year later, the four-bed, five-bath place with a pool was still only in Emhoff’s name, but was later transferred to a joint trust.
In September 2015, the Second Couple was given a $400,000 line of credit, which was increased to $2 million in July 2020.
A year later, in September 2016, they were given another $500,000 line of credit, which was upped to $2 million, also in July 2020.
In August 2020, five months before Harris officially became the country’s vice-president, they were given yet another $2 million home loan by Wells Fargo.
This means they borrowed up to $10.16 million over eight years with three separate lines of credit and three $2 million mortgages. There’s no online record as to whether any of these have been paid off.
The couple still own the home.
Alongside their California portfolio, the couple also took out loans on a two-bed condo, worth more than $1.75 million, in this lavish Washington DC complex
An inside look inside the lavish Westlight complex, where Harris and Emhoff owned the two-bedroom condo
Harris and Emhoff took out several loans on the Westlight complex condo in 2017, months after she was sworn in a senator
Having multiple lines of credit and mortgages can be useful if a homeowner wants to fund renovations or repairs, or for debt consolidation.
The property is worth $5.1M according to Zillow’s estimate – half the amount the couple borrowed.
They also took out home loans on a two-bed condo bought for $1.775M in November 2017 in Washington D.C’s luxurious Westlight complex that boasted a rooftop pool.
On this apartment, they had two consecutive mortgages with Wells Fargo, one for $1.412M to help with the purchase. It was paid off in May 2020.
The couple then immediately took out another for $1.35M, which was repaid when they sold the pad for $1.85M in October 2021.
In total, they refinanced their LA and DC homes with loans totaling $12,922,000.
Doug Perry, a strategic advisor at Realeastatebees.com, told DailyMail.com ‘the amount of financing is noteworthy.'
He believes they were taking advantage of historically low interest rates and increased values on both the LA and DC properties.
Previous to Emhoff, Harris had purchased a one-bed, two-bath duplex apartment for $299k in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood in October 1998.
She took out three home loans in succession, all of which are now paid off.
First, in October 1998, for $239,200 with Washington Mutual Bank, then, in March 2002, a $265k loan with Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp.
Finally, in August 2005, she took out $159k with Najarian Loans Inc. She sold the property for $860k in March 2021, making a $561k profit. She sold the property for $860,000 in March, 2021.
