Trump’s Childhood Home Sells for $1.93 Million After Years of Decline
Queens property rebounds after abandonment, Airbnb listing, and renovation
NEW YORK — The five-bedroom, three-bathroom mock-Tudor house at 85-15 Wareham Place has sold for $1.93 million. The transaction appeared on public real estate registries on Friday after a contract was signed in July, while the buyer’s identity remains shielded behind non-disclosure terms.
Built in 1940 by Fred Trump, the property was the Queens home where Donald Trump spent his earliest childhood years. Donald Trump, born in 1946, lived there until 1950, when he was four years old. As his father’s business expanded, the family moved to a much larger, neoclassical 23-room mansion that Fred Trump built on nearby Midland Parkway.
Fred Trump was a highly successful real estate developer who built thousands of residential properties, primarily targeted at middle-class families, across Queens and Brooklyn. He selected Jamaica Estates for the family residence, an exclusive, affluent enclave founded in 1907 and known for mature trees, cobblestone streets, and custom-built Tudor, Victorian, and Colonial homes.
The seller, local real estate developer Tommy Lin, bought the Wareham Place house in 2023 for $835,000. The steep discount reflected years of abandonment and physical decline. Before Lin acquired it at a distressed price last year, the vacant structure had become inhabited by a colony of feral cats.
A burst pipe had caused severe water damage and mold, prompting Lin to undertake an eight-month, $500,000 interior overhaul. He added a chef’s kitchen, herringbone wood floors, and spa-like bathrooms, while leaving the historic Tudor-style exterior intact.
The property had previously been marketed through its connection to Trump. In December 2016, shortly after Trump won the presidential election, real estate investor Michael Davis purchased it for $1.39 million. Less than three months later, in March 2017, Davis flipped the home for $2.14 million to an anonymous buyer operating under the name “Trump Birth Home LLC.”
That investment group listed the house on Airbnb for up to $725 a night. Political memorabilia used in the rental included a life-sized cardboard cutout of Trump, copies of his 1987 book *The Art of the Deal*, and a framed magazine cover.
The owners tried to sell the house for $2.9 million in 2019, but it failed to find a buyer and was left vacant. The resulting disrepair preceded Lin’s renovation and the property’s later sale for $1.93 million.
Trump eventually used his family’s outer-borough real estate footprint as a springboard into Manhattan’s luxury market, developing high-profile projects such as Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. During his presidency, he initiated several cosmetic updates to the White House, frequently opting for the gilded, French-classical design elements that have long defined his personal properties.
