Charles Rangel does a Casey Serin

Charles Rangel is not in trouble.

Rep. Charles Rangel claimed on mortgage papers that a Harlem brownstone was his principal residence -- even though he was living elsewhere at the time, The Post has learned.

"It's fraud or a mistake," said David Reed, an author of several popular books about mortgage lending.

"Owner-occupied dwellings -- where you hang your hat -- always get better interest rates and lower down payments than rental properties or second homes," Reed added.

"That's because if a borrower goes south, you're likely to dump your vacation home or your investment property first."

Serin did this and didn't wind up in jail and at least Rangel makes the payments. It's pointless for Rangel's political appointments to get worked up over this since it's pretty clear that lying on multiple loan documents is no longer a prosecutable crime.

More on Law Hawk:

The terms would be different, however, if the home were properly classified as a second home or rental property because it would have a higher interest rate and additional terms and conditions.

Rangel is in hot water here, and Democrats are doing their best to ignore this situation. Rangel can't simultaneously claim that he lived in the rent stabilized apartments (of which he owned four units and already admitted to improperly using one as his office in contravention of state law) as his primary residence while claiming that this brownstone was his principal residence.

He is caught in a lie.

A big lie.

So what? Mortgage fraud is no longer being prosecuted. If someone can fraudulently acquire over $2 million in properties, default on the loans, brag about it in a very public way and never be prosecuted, why should anyone get their panties in a wad over what Rangel apparently did?