A New York investor makes a $1.06 million profit on Donald Trump's childhood home

Washington Post

28 Mar, 2017 08:04 PM4 mins to read

Donald Trump's childhood home, a five-bedroom Tudor-style house in Queens, sold last week. Photo / AP

It's a deal that would make the president proud: A New York investor made a US$750,000 (NZ$1.06 million) profit on Donald Trump's childhood home, flipping it for a 54 per cent premium in a matter of weeks.

Real estate investor Michael Davis bought the five-bedroom, Tudor-style home in Queens for US $1.39 million (NZ$1.98 million), sight unseen, right before the election. The transaction closed in mid-December. And although Davis lives in Manhattan, he never made it over to Jamaica Estates to see his prize. He also resisted any temptation to gut, say, the kitchen and improve the property. Still, weeks later, he decided it was ready to flip.

The living room of Trump's childhood home. Photo / AP

And he was right. He put it up for auction and a buyer came through with a US$2.14 million (NZ$3.05 million) cash offer.

"We bought this with the expectation that Donald Trump would win the election - that was the gamble," Davis said. "After he won, we didn't hold it very long."

The house now belongs to Trump Birth House LLC. The buyer, whose identity has not been made public, was represented by Michael X. Tang, an attorney who specialises in helping Chinese investors buy real estate.

It was not immediately clear how the new owners planned to use the home, but they have talked about possibly turning it into a library or a museum, according to Misha Haghani, owner of Paramount Realty USA, the New York auction house that facilitated the sale. He would not comment on whether it was purchased by an overseas buyer.

"The value of this property has nothing to do with the physical house," Haghani said. "Normally people buy real estate because of its location. In this case, frankly, location has very little to do with the value of the property. Size of the house, size of the lot, number of bedrooms and baths - these things are all irrelevant. Somebody bought this because of what it's associated with, and that's the current president."

The living room of the home where Trump spent his early childhood. Photo / AP

President Trump's father, Fred C. Trump, built the home in 1940. According to the auction brochure, the home has "an old world charm interior featuring arched doorways, hardwood floors and more." Its address, 85-15 Wareham Place, is listed on Trump's birth certificate.

The 2,000-square-foot house originally hit the market last summer for $1.65 million. Eventually its owners decided to put the house up for auction, with a starting bid of $839,000. The auction was scheduled for Oct. 19, the night of the third presidential debate between then-candidates Trump and Hillary Clinton.

The kitchen in the house where Trump spent time in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood of Queens. Photo / AP

"But the publicity in those last 24 hours was so tremendous that we decided to postpone it," Haghani said. "We wanted to see if there would be more buyers."

The auction was called off. A few weeks later, on election night, Davis called with an offer. He agreed to pay $1.39 million - an 11 per cent premium on the then-asking price of $1.25 million.

By the time the transaction closed in December, Trump had won the election. The house was an even hotter commodity, and another auction was set for January 17.

"It was that simple," Haghani said. "We sold the house twice in 60 days."

He would not, however, comment on the buyer, or how many bids it received.