A real estate firm selling President Trump’s childhood home has launched a crowdfunding appeal asking his supporters to help raise $3 million to buy the property for America’s most famous landlord.
“Love Trump? Thank President Trump by contributing to this campaign to buy his childhood home in his honor,” says the GoFundMe appeal run by Paramount Realty USA.
The unconventional move is a response to a thorny problem: The house in Queens, New York, was put up for auction last year but failed to meet its reserve, according to the New York Times.
And the new effort is also struggling with only $155 raised from 14 donors by Thursday morning.
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom home is priced way above comparable properties in Jamaica Estates, which are listed for about $1.3 million.
It was built by Trump’s real estate developer father, Fred Trump, in 1940, and the family lived there until the future president was four years of age.
During an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s TV show four years ago, when the house was on the market previously, Trump was asked about his memories of growing up there.
“I had great parents, and I had great brothers and sisters, I had a really good childhood, I will say … oh, that’s sad to look at that. I want to buy it. I want to buy it, that’s beautiful,” he said. “I love it, it was a warm place.”
In 2017 it sold for $2.14 million to a buyer believed to represent a Chinese investor and was most recently on the market for $2.9 million, according to Paramount Realty USA.
“We are raising funds to buy President Trump’s childhood home for him, or a charity of his choosing, as a token of appreciation,” says the firm in its appeal. “What happens to the historic property is up to him!”
