Due Diligence: Rush Limbaugh

On my first major blog post, I'd thought we jump right in with some good ole' fashion internet gumshoe reporting; see how much we can find out about people and what we can do with this here internet thingy. The internet makes easily obtainable to the public sources of information--always openly available--but previously known only to a few. Means of research commonly used by law enforcement, reporters or financial institutions are now literally at your fingertips. Case in point:

Rush Limbaugh is the most nationally syndicated talk radio show in the country.

He lives in Palm Beach County, Florida. He often says so on his show. Also easily available is his full name: Rush H. Limbaugh, III.

If we go to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, and do a search for Limbaugh we find that "R H Limbaugh" owns property along North Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach.

Public information for that property is found here. Among the information immediately visible is the following the following:

He originally paid $3.9 million for the property.

The property is a 2.92 acre lot with a 31,761 sq. ft. house built on it.

The property is assessed for a total value of around $30 million. This year, Rush will pay $436,088 in property taxes.

A mailing address given for the owner of the property is P.O. Box 2182, Palm Beach, FL 33480-2182

When we go to the Structural Detail link, we get to learn more about Rush's residence.

This part of Limbaugh's residence consists of four buildings, build in 1992. The main building is a 5br/6.5ba, 2 story home with a stucco exterior and hardwood and marble floors on the inside, complete with garages and patios. Somewhere on the complex is an indoor pool and an elevator. Two of the other outbuildings were build in 1997 and 2001 respectively. The later one contains 2br/2.5ba, perhaps a guest house or a servants' quarters. Floor plans are available for these buildings.

We also see that Limbaugh also acquired an adjacent older house through his now ex-wife Marta F. Limbaugh, a 4br/3.5ba also with an indoor pool built in 1934. They paid $2.3 Million for this property, with a 2005 property tax of $26,236.00.

Deeds for these parcel can be found here, here and here. Limbaugh owns property under "R.H. Property Holdings, L.C." and "The RH Trust". Other documents show (1) that he got the kitchen and bathrooms remodeled in 2002, (2) that the trust bought and sold an adjacent parcel, and that (3) they’ve bought for $450,000.00 and kept this parcel, a relatively small 4br/3ba brick house built in 1951 (vesting deed here). It would appear that Limbaugh is trying to buy out his neighbors and expand his estate.

All these details on where Rush lives come into focus when we see a satellite image of his residence on the corner of N. Ocean and Mediterranean . He’s carved out quite a nice niche for himself on the Florida barrier island, beachfront property only a mile away from a marina and a golf course.

A little more digging revealed two phone numbers for the "RH Trust". One was a fax machine and the other, at last check, just rang until some weird beeps picked up.

None of this information was acquired through illegal, mendacious, or even impolite means. It’s all public record easily acquired on the internet, if you know where to look.

Disclaimer: The "Due Diligence" series is a work with political, literary, artistic and scientific merit protected under the First Amendment, and a republication of readily available public information. It is not the will or intent of the author(s) or the webmaster(s) to harass or cause emotional distress to any party, or to aid and/or solicit those who do. Any incidents of use of this information to harass or "cyberstalk" a party will be reported to the appropriate authorities.