Trump's childhood home turns into an eyesore — and what to do if you've got one on your block, too

By Lucy Cohen Blatter | June 6, 2017 - 12:30PM

It's been a whirlwind few months for Donald J. Trump — and his childhood home in Queens, too.

After selling in January for $1.4 million, being flipped and sold at auction for $2.14 million a mere two months later, DNA Info is now reporting that the house has become an overgrown eyesore, according to its neighbors in Jamaica Estates. They say the grass has not been trimmed and pests have begun to take shelter there, and they claim that the power and gas was shut off weeks ago, and that the only people to come in are taking photos... and then swiftly leaving.

“It’s been left unkempt and anyone who sees it is going to consider it abandoned,” said Deborah Ayala-Braun, who lives next door, and worries that properties in the area may now see a drop in value instead.

The five-bedroom, four-and-a-half bath home, at 85-15 Wareham Place, is listed on the president's birth certificate and he lived there until he was four years old, when the increasingly wealthy Trump family moved to larger and fancier digs in Queens. It's believed to have been bought by a Chinese investor, and many suspect it to eventually become a museum of some sort.

Of course, New York City is full of abandoned building eyesores. Brick Underground previously took a deep dive into the phenomenon to find out what you can do if something similarly ugly and neglected is ruining your street's view, and the answer: Not much.

According to the NYC Department of Buildings, it has the authority to take action on properties that are dangerous to the public, not ones that are structurally sound but unoccupied, which means if that eyesore on your block is simply unsightly but not unsafe, there’s not much that can be done to eliminate it. (In the event that a building is declared structurally unsafe, the DoB seeks a court order to pursue a demolition. If this order is granted by a judge, the demo will be enforced and carried out by a contractor requested by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.)

But if you're worried about a particular structure in your neighborhood, you can always file a complaint by calling 311 or visiting www.nyc.gov.

Neighborhood Intel What's the deal with the abandoned eyesore on your block?

Buy Trump's childhood home just sold for $1.4 million. How do other NYC presidential homes compare?

Neighborhood Intel 5 things you didn't know about Jamaica Estates, Trump's former home in suburban Queens

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