It turns out that the late Bernie Madoff's name is mud on the real estate market, too. Or at least that's one possible explanation for why the owner of his former estate in the Hamptons has been trying off and on for four years to find a buyer for it, most recently listing it for $22.5 million according to the New York Post. Contrary to the usual practice in such situations, that's actually a higher asking price than it has been listed with on previous occasions.
Steve Roth, head of Vornado Realty Trust, first listed the three-bed, three-bath (and one half-bath) mansion for $21 million in April of 2018. Then, the price was slashed to $19.9 million. Still no luck, and the property was listed in 2020 for $17.9 million. After more than two years at that price (both publicly listed and not), it's now back on the market at its highest price yet – which hasn't done anything for its prospects as of yet.
Madoff purchased the property back in the 1980s along with his wife Ruth. They paid just $250,000 for the vacant lot, then built up the home with an extra tenth of an acre of waterfront which reportedly cost them another $20,000. Decades later, when the government was attempting to recoup funds to pay back victims of Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, the home was seized and put up for auction, with Roth ending up the winning bidder.
The Madoffs' dream home boasts 180 feet of waterfront and numerous touches of subtle luxury, like a stone fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows for letting plenty of natural light inside. And the property's official listing also touts its dreamlike location:
"This exquisite home is ideally located, just 5 minutes from the seaside resort community of Montauk with its premier shopping and fine dining, and 10 minutes from Amagansett with its world-class golf clubs and lively downtown."
Whether it's the Madoff name that's preventing it from selling or some other vagary of the luxury real estate market is hard to say for sure, but clearly Roth still has confidence in the property, having hiked up the price in its most recent listing.
You can check the former Madoff place out for yourself in the video below from Bespoke Real Estate:
