Ivana Trump’s NYC townhouse STILL hasn’t found a buyer one year after hitting the market & we think we know why
The average time a townhouse like this sits on the market is about five and half months. Ivana's place has been sitting for twice that.
One year after hitting the hot New York City real estate market, Ivana Trump’s Lenox Hill townhouse is still–still!–up for sale.
The Versailles-inspired property, which had been a dentist’s office when Ivana purchased it for $2.5 million in 1992 after her divorce from Donald Trump, was first listed in November 2022. The price tag? $26.5 million.
But after failing to attract a single buyer in 10 months, the place was re-listed in September 2023 at a $4 million discount. The new asking price is $22.5 million.
That’s right, folx! $22.5 million for 8,700-square-feet of gold ceilings, pink-marble flooring, gold railings, leopard-print carpeting, gold hardware, crystal chandeliers, and gold-trimmed wallpaper.
But it’s not just the tacky fixtures or the fact that the property hasn’t been renovated since Ivana first purchased it 30 years ago that’s the issue. A new report from CNBC suggests the problem is all the Trump branding everywhere:
In many instances, sellers have their homes professionally staged to make their residence more appealing to prospective buyers. In this case, the interiors at 10 E. 64th St. are still very much in the taste of its late owner.
Since her death from a fall on the home’s grand staircase, the residence remains a time capsule, with family photos still adorning walls and shelves. A large poster of one of Ivana’s magazine cover appearances hangs on a wall outside the home office. Her book “Raising Trump” sits on the coffee table in the living room.
We could see why that might turn potential buyers off. Especially as two of the people featured in those family photos, Don Jr. and Eric, are currently on trial in New York for fraud, and the other one, Ivanka, is set to take the stand later this week (more on that in a moment).
Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm, told CNBC that the townhouse is simply overpriced. In addition to the $22.5 million price tag, property taxes are $10,900 a month, or about $130,000 per year.
Also, the decor isn’t doing it any favors.
“The highly personalized interior decor of this townhouse is also probably contributing to the marketing delay since,” Miller added.
The average time a New York townhouse like this sits on the market is about five and half months, he also noted.
Ivana’s place has been sitting for twice that amount of time and, with the holiday season fast approaching, the real estate market will likely be slowing down, which means the property could be sitting vacant for quite a while still.
Now, about the fraud trial.
Ivanka is scheduled to take the stand in the case on Wednesday, in what is expected to be blockbuster testimony. Many predict she’s finally going to throw her dad and brothers, who are all defendants in the case, under the bus for good.
The former first daughter tried to wiggle out of testifying by claiming she’s a very busy mother of three living in Florida and traveling to New York for a court appearance during the school week would be hugely inconvenient. But both the judge overseeing the trial and an appeals court denied her request to be excused from taking the stand.
Over the weekend, Mary Trump mocked her cousin for that “pretty amazing excuse.”
“I think it just speaks to the breathtaking entitlement of these people that they don’t even think that other people are going to look at their past behavior to realize that they leave their kids home all the time,” she told MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan on Sunday morning.
Mary also noted that Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, “probably have lots of help that most people with young children don’t have.”
And, she added, “she also seems to have forgotten that she has a husband who can presumably take care of their children.”
Related:
Ivanka’s court loss means the latest phase of the Trump Hunger Games will convene next week
Things are about to get real messy.
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