Latest Fake Online Listing? Mar-a-Lago Sale
Zillow removed information as soon as it was discovered, but the former president’s home was listed at $422M ($24M value) for its 6K square feet (actually 62.5K).
NEW YORK – A Zillow listing that claimed former President Donald Trump sold his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate has been corrected after it was found to be fake.
The listing said the home had been sold on Aug. 4 for $422 million, much more than the estimated value of roughly $24 million listed on Zillow. The sold date also happened to be one day after Trump was arraigned in Washington D.C. on federal charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Several news outlets reported the alleged sale, but there were clues the Zillow posting was fake.
It listed the square footage as under 6,000 square feet, which is a fraction of the actual size of the 126-room, 62,500-square-foot mansion.
Actor Brad Pitt was listed as the contact for the property.
It was listed on Zillow under the correct address, 1100 South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Daily Express speculated that the estate had not really been sold, but merely transferred to an organization owned by Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. But on X, formerly Twitter, Eric Trump, the second son of Trump, responded angrily to reports that his father sold or transferred his Mar-a-Lago estate.
“This is pure FAKE NEWS and Zillow has corrected their listing,” he posted. “Mar-a-Lago has not been sold or transferred in any regard. This story is total BS.”
Zillow told Newsweek in a statement: “Zillow strives for accuracy on our site and if we become aware of inaccurate information, we will update it immediately. After an investigation, it appears that the information provided was incorrect. We’ve corrected the information on this property.”
By midday Friday, the home’s Zillow page had been corrected – showing that the last purchase was April of 1995, when Trump established it as a club. It’s now listed as “off market.”
The estate and all of its furniture were originally purchased by Trump in 1985 for $5 million. He now uses it as his permanent residence.
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