The family mortgage: When you obtain a mortgage from a relative, rather than a bank, it’s known as a family mortgage. In the 1940s, Fred Trump, Donald Trump’s father, bought the land where he would build Shore Haven Apartments, a massive apartment complex in Brooklyn. To pay for the construction, Fred got traditional mortgages from a bank. In the 1980s, Fred Trump transferred these mortgages to Donald Trump and other family members, turning them into his bankers. So now his children, not the bank, were receiving the regular interest payments. Fred Trump executed similar family mortgages at 14 other properties he owned. Often, Fred Trump paid his family members higher interest rates than he would have with a traditional bank loan. These mortgages were extremely lucrative. Over several decades, the mortgages paid Donald Trump the equivalent today of more than $7.8 million.