The art of the deal has apparently been lost when it comes to President Trump’s childhood home — the 2,000-square-foot Jamaica Queens estate failed to garner a bid on auction block, according to a report by the New York Post.
Misha Haghani
The home last sold in 2017 to a Chinese investor for $2.24 million and it’s been an uphill battle ever since to find another interested buyer able to pay a multi-million dollar price tag.
“We postponed the auction to give campaigns a chance to raise money,” Haghani told the Post after a failed Nov. 14 auction. “As a house, it’s worth about $1 million. We aren’t selling real estate. We are selling a dream, a collectible, something that is meaningful to a lot of people.”
Trump lived in the home until age 4 until his father moved the family into another larger home nearby. The five bedroom, 3.5-bathroom home has some of the same furnishings from 73 years ago, save for a life-size cardboard cutout of Trump in the living room along with copies of The Art of the Deal in each room.
Fred Trump’s former study.
“Not much has been changed since the Trumps lived here, the kitchen is original and the opulent furnishings represent the style and affluence in which the Trumps would have lived,’’ read a listing description from the home’s short-lived tenure as an Airbnb listing. “This is a unique and special opportunity to stay in the home of a sitting president.”
One of the original bathrooms.
The home has bounced around the market since 2016 when real estate investor Micheal Davis bought the home for $1.4 million. The current owner placed the home on the market for $2.9 million in February, and pulled it off the market in favor of auctioning it instead.
Haghani expects the home to be purchased by a group of investors who either love or loathe the President, as evidenced by multiple campaigns to purchase the home and turn it into a Trump museum, demolish it, or transform it into a safe place for refugees.
The most notable campaign is “Tear Down Donald Trump’s House,” a $5 million GoFundMe campaign started by Los Angeles resident David Yates.
“I want to buy it and tear it down,” read the campaign page, which has yet to raise a single dollar. “Trump grew up in the house. God forbid some Trump maniac buys the house and turns it into a shrine, or a museum.”
Haghani is holding out hope that someone — even the President himself — will buy the home and do something positive with it.
“People have talked about demolishing it, creating a museum, donating it to immigrants or veterans, creating a presidential library and other things,” Haghani said. “I’d love to see something positive happen with this very unique property, like donating it to a 9/11 first responder, either that or see President Trump buy it himself.”
The next auction date has yet to be determined.
Editors’ Note: A previous version of this article misstated the sales timeline. The home has been sold twice and placed on the auctioning block once (Nov. 14). A second auction is currently in the works. We apologize for the mistake.