Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is paying just 3% interest on both his California and Maryland homes after refinancing in 2020 — a rate even lower than the 5.625% mortgage deal that is now central to a federal fraud investigation against him, according to newly released documents.
The Justice Department alleges that the California senator improperly claimed two separate homes as his primary residence for over a decade in order to secure lower mortgage rates and reduced property taxes. A Maryland grand jury is currently considering whether to indict the former 12-term congressman, the New York Post reported.
Newly released annual financial disclosures reveal that even after Schiff finally reclassified his Potomac, Maryland home as a secondary residence in 2020 — after 16 years — he still secured the same rock-bottom mortgage rate as his California property when refinancing both that year.
At the time, the average 30-year mortgage rate for primary residences in the U.S. was 3.10%, with secondary homes typically carrying rates up to 0.5% higher. According to an analysis by The Post, those terms boosted Schiff’s wealth, saving the California Democrat an estimated $30,000 to $50,000 over the course of 16 years.
The 3,420-square-foot home, located in one of Washington, D.C.’s wealthiest suburbs where neighbors say Schiff spends most of his time, is now valued at $1.4 million — nearly double the price he paid in 2003.
Meanwhile, Schiff also took advantage of a homeowner’s tax exemption by designating his much smaller 650-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath condo in Burbank, California, as his primary residence, cutting his property taxes by about $7,000.
Records also show that the senator’s bank assets climbed to between $1.18 million and $2.63 million in 2024 — up from between $1.02 million and $2.37 million in 2023, and from $578,000 to $1.35 million in 2002, the year before he purchased the Maryland home.
Schiff, 65, who spearheaded the first House impeachment inquiry into President Trump and often declares that “no one’s above the law,” failed to report his mortgages on annual financial disclosures until 2011, according to a Post review. This omission came despite his purchase of the Potomac property in 2003 and the California condo in 2009 — a lapse he has yet to explain.
