News | advice | area guide

This Couple Is About to Make Millions Off Trump’s Childhood Home

The next big winners of the 2016 presidential race? The owners of Donald Trump’s childhood home.

The divorcing couple who own the modest Queens house bet on Trump when they yanked it off the market last month after lowering the asking price to $1.2 million—and now it is expected to get 10 times that much when it goes on the auction block in December.

“I’d love to say we knew he’d win, but it was a gamble,” said Misha Haghani, owner of Paramount Realty USA, the auction house handling the sale for current owner, restaurateur Isaac Kestenberg.

Kestenberg and his estranged wife, Claudia, bought the 1940 Jamaica Estates five-bedroom Tudor in 2008 for just $782,500.

Now, experts tell The Post it could auction for up to $10 million to a wealthy investor bent on owning a piece of presidential history.

“It was a little bit of a risk, but it worked out,” said Haghani. “We waited and it turned out to be the right thing to do. Now that it is the childhood home of the president-elect, it has increased value.”

The auction will be scheduled for the first week of December, The Post has learned. The Kestenbergs had listed the house for a comparatively measly $1.2 million as recently as October.

“The house has at least tripled in value if not 10 times in value” since then, superbroker Dolly Lenz told The Post.

“It is almost like gambling—what is the house worth?” she said.

“Now that he’s [president-elect], it’s worth a lot more. It’s a huge deal. And there are lots of wealthy people who buy trophy homes as one-offs,” she added.

“Think of all the billionaires who could turn this into a museum. That’s the highest and best use for this house. It’s an amazing opportunity for somebody.”

The couple, who are currently going through a lengthy divorce, first put the home on the market in June, for $1.65 million.

When it hadn’t sold by October, they lowered the price to $1.2 million, and planned to put it up for auction with a minimum bid set at $849,000. But hours before the bidding started, the couple canceled the auction.

Interest had grown too high, he explained.

“More people wanted to register at the last minute and it just wasn’t possible,” Kestenberg told The Post.

The Tudor was built by Trump’s real estate investor father, Fred, who then moved the family to a large brick mansion literally around the corner back when Donald was just 4 years old.

The tree-shaded home is far less ornate than Trump’s subsequent addresses on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue.

It features a fireplace, a formal dining room, a sunroom, a paneled study, a “summer kitchen” and a five-car driveway with a two-car detached garage.

Its listing on Streeteasy.com reads:

“Ideal For Large Or Extend Family. Brick & Stucco Tudor, 5 Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths, Liv Rm, Fireplace, Formal Dining Rm, Eik W Sliders To Sun Rm, Paneled Study W Ose, Oak Floors. Full Finished Basement W Bonus Rm Includes Full Bath + 2 Outside Entrances, Summer Kitchen. 5-Car Driveway W 2-Car Detached Garage. Walk To Subway, Shopping. Birthplace Of President Elect Donald Trump.”

The post This Couple Is About to Make Millions Off Trump’s Childhood Home appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com.

Source: Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com » Real Estate News