The childhood home of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is finally up for sale, months after it was supposed to go up on the auction block.
The house was to be auctioned off on Oct. 19, the same night that Trump faced Hillary Clinton in the final presidential debate, but the homeowners and realty firm decided to postpone the auction until after the election, citing increased interest.
Misha Haghani, the owner of Paramount Realty USA, says postponing the auction was the right thing to do because Trump’s election has attracted even more attention.
“I mean, it’s a house. It’s a typical single family house, it’s charming,” Haghani told CTV News Channel. “But the response has been astronomical, particularly from the media.”
The 1940s Tudor-style home was built by Trump’s father, Fred Trump, in the Jamaica Estates neighbourhood of Queens, NY., where it's surrounded by other Tudor, Victorian and Colonial-style homes.
Trump lived there until he was four-years-old, when his family moved to another house built by his father in the same community.
The 3,600-square-foot house features a brick and stucco exterior with a winding slate path and long driveway. It has five bedrooms, 4 ½ baths, a finished basement and a library. The back of the house also features an enclosed rear porch and two-car garage.
According to Haghani, some industry specialists have speculated that the house, with its connection to Trump, could be worth between US$3 million and US$10 million.
“The house, as a house alone, is worth one-point-something million,” said Haghani. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see it sell in the US $2 million or US $3 million range.”
The house was previously listed in summer 2016, for US $1.6 million, before it was reduced to US $1.39 million. According to then homeowners, they had received some offers, but decided that auctioning the house was the best way to go. In December 2016, after postponing the auction, Isaac Kestenberg, the then-owner of the house, was approached by a bidder with an offer that was accepted. But, rather than move in to the house, the new homeowner decided to keep it on the auction block.
“He bought it in order to auction it which is really, really unique in a situation where frankly everything is pretty unique,” said Haghani.
According to Kestenberg, he did not know that the house was lived in by Trump until a few weeks after he bought it.
The deadline to submit a bid on the house is 4 p.m.
With files from The Associated Press
