A mysterious buyer using a pseudonym just purchased Donald Trump’s childhood Tudor-style home in Queens, New York, for $2.14 million, Politico reports.
Real estate speculator Michael Davis originally bought the house in December for $1.39 million, then ended up flipping it this month for a profit. The sale—to a mysterious buyer using the name Trump Birth House LLC—was 54 percent higher than the price Davis originally paid.
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It’s unclear what the buyer plans to do with the purchase. However, the fact that the buyer was willing to pay such a high price for the property—a premium for the neighborhood—suggests that the former resident was likely the main selling point and that the home could be destined to become some sort of attraction.
In his book, The Art of the Deal, Trump claimed to have made a mark on Jamaica Estates, the upper-middle-class neighborhood where he grew up. Although former residents do seem to remember that the Trump family rode around in cars with personalized license plates, little Donnie seemed to have made less of an impression personally. When SPY sent a reporter to his old neighborhood in 1990, the candy shop owner there said he didn’t remember young Trump despite running the shop for 28 years.
Regardless, it seems like someone is really committed to owning the place where he spent at least some formative years. The buyer’s motive will only be revealed with time.
“This property is so much more than just real estate,” a real estate rep told Politico. “Special properties are appropriately sold by auction, just like art is. As they say, beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder.”
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