As chief executive of HSBC USA, Martin Glynn was at the forefront of the mortgage revolution: his company brought the joys of homeownership to thousands of individuals who might never have been able to get a mortgage in the past. With ownership comes equity, a place on the property ladder — and, of course, the prospect of serious price appreciation.
Which is why it’s kinda interesting that we find out today from Footnoted that Glynn’s own mortgage was — well, he didn’t have one. And not because he bought in cash. But rather because he clearly thought it smarter to rent his apartment, at a cost of $14,800 per month. Did he think that the housing market was going to crash and that he’d be better off renting? Did he know that he’d be canned at the end of 2006? And what of his lieutenant, Brendan McDonough, who also rented his apartment — and got a bargain price of just $6,250 per month?
McDonough and Glynn even managed to get HSBC to pay their rent for them — nice! By the time that the bank threw in a “tax gross-up” and a “housing and furniture allowance”, Glynn got $327,600 and McDonough got $259,000 towards housing they didn’t even own. I wonder what their borrowers thought of the fact that their lenders were staying well away from the housing market themselves.
Hey felix.
your an idiot. clearly you didnt do your research because hsbc owns the apartments, they dont rent. so your entire article makes no sense. Nice work.