Donald Trump’s childhood home in Queens closes at $2.14M

Donald Trump made the selling price of his childhood home great again.

The Jamaica Estates home, which was auctioned in January, closed on Thursday for $2.14 million. The house at 85-15 Wareham Place, the address listed on Trump’s birth certificate, was originally placed on the market in July for $1.65 million.

It was reduced to $1.399 million in August, according to Zillow, before the homeowners opted to take the house to auction. The initial auction was scheduled for October but was postponed because of increased media attention. The owners then sold the house in December for $1,390,500 to a real estate investor, who auctioned the house on Jan. 17, three days before Trump’s inauguration.

Call it a Trump Bump.

“This was a great success for everybody,” said Misha Haghani, principal of Paramount Realty USA, the firm that handled the auction. “The house, aside from the connection to Trump, is worth about a million bucks. So the original homeowner sold it for almost 40 percent more than that. And then the investor was able to come in and make a 50 percent profit in about a month’s time. So I think it’s a win-win-win situation.”

Haghani, who declined to say how many bids were made, said the house was purchased under the entity of Trump Birth House LLC, and that the new owners wish not to be identified. As far as the owners’ plans for the house, Haghani said, “they’ve mentioned a couple of things like a museum or library, but I don’t know that they are sure yet.”

The Tudor home, built in 1940 by Trump’s father, Fred, features five bedrooms and 4-1/2 bathrooms. The 2,500-square-foot house, which sits on a 40-by-120-foot property, also has an eat-in kitchen, a formal dining room, full finished basement and a two-car garage.

Trump lived in the home until he was 4.

“I think this really reinforces why auctions are appropriate for unique, special and high-profile properties,” Haghani said. “We’re not just selling real estate, we’re selling something with intangible value that a buyer will pay indeterminate sums for. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, this is a perfect example of that.”