The brick-and-stucco house where Donald Trump spent his earliest years in Jamaica Estates, Queens, sold this summer for $1.93 million, nearly $1.1 million more than the developer who flipped it paid just last year.
Developer Tommy Lin bought the five-bedroom home at 85-15 Wareham Place for $835,000 after the property had sat vacant for years, ravaged by a burst pipe, mold, and a colony of feral cats. He then sank more than $500,000 into an eight-month gut renovation before listing it at $2.3 million. The final sale price, confirmed exclusively to the New York Post by listing agent Joe Zhu of RE/MAX Edge, landed at $1.93 million, $70,000 below the most recent asking price of $1.99 million.
The roughly 3,100-square-foot house has changed hands several times, but its connection to the 47th president keeps drawing buyers willing to pay a premium for a piece of American political history.
President Trump's father, real estate developer Fred Trump, built the residence in 1940. The future president lived there until approximately age four, when the family moved to a larger home nearby in Jamaica Estates. The address has carried that presidential association ever since, and it has driven the property's value well beyond what the local market might otherwise support.
In 2017, shortly after Trump entered the White House for his first term, the home sold for $2.14 million. At some point afterward, it was listed on Airbnb as a tourist attraction. But the novelty wore off, upkeep lapsed, and the house eventually fell into serious disrepair.
By the time Lin acquired it, the place was in rough shape. Burst pipes had caused water damage, mold had spread, and feral cats had moved in. The property had been sitting empty for years.
Lin's renovation kept the home's Tudor-style exterior intact while overhauling the inside. The work included a chef's kitchen, herringbone floors, and spa-like bathrooms across the four-bathroom, five-bedroom layout. The project took eight months.
After the renovation, Lin initially listed the property at $2.3 million. It came off the market at some point, then returned at a reduced price of $1.99 million, just under $2 million. The Post first reported in July that the home had gone into contract, though the agreed-upon price had not been disclosed at that time.
Zhu described the contract offer as "very close" to asking.
Zhu told the Post that the president's connection to the property was a major draw for prospective buyers. Some saw what he described as "additional historical value" in owning the home.
"There were quite a lot of people" interested because it was Trump's former home.
The identity of the buyer has not been disclosed. Nor has the exact closing date. What is clear is that Lin turned a substantial profit: he paid $835,000, invested more than $500,000 in renovations, and sold for $1.93 million. Even accounting for carrying costs and transaction fees, the Trump name added a layer of value that a comparable Queens house would not command.
The sale price still fell short of the $2.14 million the home fetched in 2017, when Trump had just entered the Oval Office and public fascination with his personal history was at a peak. But given the condition Lin found the property in, vacant, moldy, overrun by cats, a nearly $1.1 million gain on the purchase price is a sharp turnaround.
In real estate, location is supposed to be everything. At 85-15 Wareham Place, history helped.
