Donald Trump’s childhood home is back on the auction block and the next owner could be … you!
The home, which Trump’s father, Fred, build in 1940, has changed hands a handful of times in the past few years. In July of 2016, once it had become clear that Trump would be the GOP nominee for president, its owners put the house on the market for $1.65 million. That was apparently too much for a 2,000-square-foot Tudor in Jamaica Estates; the price was lowered several times. Then, in December of 2016, after Donald Trump became President-elect Donald Trump, a Manhattan real-estate agent snapped up the house for $1.25 million without ever laying eyes on it.
Within months, he flipped it. In March of 2017, the house was sold for $2.14 million. The new owner’s identity was hidden behind a newly formed LLC called “Trump Birth Home,” but speculation pointed to China. By late summer 2017, the house was on the market in a different way. For $725 a night, Airbnb users could lay their head in the same home where Trump laid his for the first four years of his life.
In February of this year, the home was again listed, this time for $2.9 million. Photos showed that the house was filled with kitschy Trump memorabilia, including a cardboard cutout of the man himself. There was a framed magazine cover, artwork honoring Trump on the walls, and in one room, a plaque that read, “In this bedroom, President Donald J. Trump was likely conceived, by his parents, Fred and Mary Trump.”
The home was taken off the market within two weeks and now a new auction, set to end November 14, is scheduled. The Times notes that potential bidders must pay $100 to receive a survey of the property. They’ll also receive a copy of Trump’s birth certificate, which shows that he called the two-story Tudor home when his life began.
As for a potential buyer, the founder of the auction company selling the house said he has no concerns about who purchases the home. “I’m sure there are investors, especially Trump supporters — and maybe even some Trump haters — who would love to buy the property,” he told the Times. Turn it into a shrine or burn it to the ground, the only thing that matters when buying Trump’s childhood home is money. How appropriate.
