After less than two months on the market, Donald Trump’s childhood home in New York will be available for auction in October.
The brick-and-stucco one-family house in Jamaica Estates, Queens, was listed in July with Laffey Fine Homes at $1.65 million. A month later, the price was reduced by $100,000 and cut again a few weeks later by another $151,000. It was last listed at $1.39 million.
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Now the home, which is listed on the Republican presidential candidate’s birth certificate, is available at a suggested opening bid of just $849,000, according to Paramount Realty USA, which will conduct the auction on Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
The property, however, is still listed with Laffey, and if a buyer surfaces with an offer acceptable to the owners, the house could change hands before the auction, Misha Haghani, principal of Paramount, told Mansion Global.
The current owners of the five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home are Isaac and Claudia Kestenberg, who bought the property on Wareham Place in 2008 for $782,500, according to city public records. They are selling the house because they are getting divorced, according to a news release from Paramount.
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"We are choosing to auction the property because we don’t know what it’s worth," said the couple, both Manhattan restaurateurs, in the statement. "It is unique and the market has changed so much since we purchased the property; we will let buyers bid what they wish and tell us what it’s worth."
Interested buyers will need to purchase the Due Diligence Information available online in advance. The documents, which carry a fee of $20, include a copy of the Purchase & Sale Agreement, Terms of Sale and property photos. Additionally, they will need to bring to the auction a bank or certified check in the amount of $90,000. Three open houses have been scheduled for those who would like to preview the property: On Sept. 25, Oct. 6 and Oct. 16.
"Its connection to Trump makes the sale quite timely," said Mr. Haghani. The auction will take place less than three weeks before Mr. Trump faces Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential election on November 8.
The house, built in 1940, has an eat-in-kitchen with sliding doors to a sunroom, a fully finished basement, a patio and an outdoor summer kitchen. There is also a two-car garage and a five-car driveway.