Donald Trump's Childhood Home in Queens Is Up for Auction For the Third Time Since His Election
Donald Trump‘s childhood home is back on the auction block.
The president’s former house in Queens’ affluent Jamaica Estates neighborhood has been on and off the market several times since before his election. Most recently, it was listed briefly earlier this year with an asking price of $2.9 million. The home is now being auctioned off by Paramount Reality USA.
An undisclosed reserve price is in place on the home and no starting bid will be announced for the auction, which is open until November 14th.
The five-bedroom, five-bath Tudor-style home has had an interesting past that includes two auctions since Trump’s election in 2016, a investor who flipped the house for profit, and a mystery buyer with ties to China.
Paramount Realty also oversaw the two previous auctions of the property. The first, in October 2016, was cancelled, but led to a sale for $1.39 million to a mystery investor who turned out to be real estate mogul Michael Davis, of Wareham Holdings LLC.
In March 2017, Davis then sold the flipped house to the current owner at auction (again via Paramount) for $2.14 million, earning a $750,000 profit. That buyer purchased the home under the name Trump Birth House LLC.
The LLC lists Michael X. Tang, a Queens-based lawyer who specializes in working with investors from China, as its representative, according to the New York Times.
Now, that buyer is looking to offload the home as well. The property was listed with Compass for less than two weeks in February before being removed from the market.
Compass agent Edward Hickey told the Times that the agency chose to remove the listing due to an overwhelming response from the media. Instead, they handed the listing back over to Paramount to sell at auction for a third time. That auction is currently underway.
RELATED: Rihanna’s Former Home Is on the Market for $14.6 Million
PEOPLE spoke to the listing agent for the original sale in August 2016.
“We get a lot of curiosity seekers,” realtor Howard Kaminowitz of Laffey Real Estate, who represented the property, told PEOPLE at the time. “Hopefully we sell before the election. That’s our goal.” Kaminowitz initially listed the property for $1.65 million, before lowering the price three times over four months to $1.25 million, according to real estate records.
The seller was an acquaintance of Kaminowitz’s, who, the realtor explains, had been thinking of selling for years, though it wasn’t until the election cycle that he revealed to him the home’s presidential ties.
“He said, ‘You know who was born here?'” His heavy accent prevented Kaminowitz from understanding the name at first. “He was saying ‘drump, drump.’ I said, ‘spell it.'” When he did, the realtor recalls, “All of a sudden, fireworks went off. It took about a month of convincing” before he agreed to sell. “I said, ‘The guy is running for president of the United States and it’s an election year!'”
Kaminowitz suggested the home, which boasts 2,500 square feet of main living space and a 1,100-square-foot basement, would be “good for a large family.” Trump, 73, is one of five siblings that would have lived in the house.
The Tudor-style home boasts traditional details and almost as much character as its former resident. Features include a large fireplace in the living room, arched doorways and hardwood floors throughout.
RELATED: PHOTOS: The ‘Betty Crocker’ House Is Now on the Market for $675,000
The realtor described the neighborhood of Jamaica Estates as “a nice little enclave that’s built up over the years.”
The Times, writing about another home later owned by the Trump family in the area, reported that the idyllic neighborhood, which “has played home to doctors, politicians and political bosses on 500 acres of hilly, meandering streets,” was built in part by Trump’s father.
Paramount will also be hosting a contest in which participants can try to guess the eventual closing price of the house. The person who gets the closest will win a $10,000 prize. For more information about the contest and to register, visit listingnut.com.
