By Don Todd
According to public documents obtained by
Americans for Limited Government (ALG), Michael Steele, Chairman of the
Republican National Committee (RNC), is as fiscally irresponsible in
his personal life as he has been in the management of the RNC. A rough
estimate indicates that Steele is obligated to pay 117 percent of his
take-home pay in mortgages and taxes on his $1.7 million home in Upper
Marlboro, Maryland.
This is no ordinary home, but is a 6,440
square foot mansion with 6.5 bathrooms set on an almost four-acre lot.
On January 23, 2008 when Steele purchased
the property, there
was a mortgage recorded in the amount of $1,909,000. This was
later converted to another mortgage on November 5, 2008. There
is a first mortgage of $1,537,500 at 6.75 percent (5/1 ARM) and a
second mortgage of $195,000 as of that date. This comes to a total
of $1,732,500.
The monthly payment on the first mortgage
is $9,972.20. The payment on the second would be around $1,200 for a
total of around $11,236.20.
The current property
tax assessment for this home is $17,468.76 per year, which comes
to $1,455.73 a month. Adding the mortgage payments and tax payments
suggests that the monthly liability for the house comes to around
$12,691.93 (not to mention homeowner’s insurance and utilities.) So
how much money would you need to make to pay for an estate of this
magnitude? The short answer is a lot. The general rule for mortgage
qualification is that your house payment plus property tax and insurance
shouldn’t
exceed 28 percent of your gross income. Using the 28 percent
figure, a person would need a gross annual income of approximately
$544,000 to qualify for this type of loan ($544,000* .28 /12 =
$12,693.33).
As of 2009, Steele’s
salary at the RNC was $223,500 a year.
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