Harris, Trump real estate portfolios paint stark contrast

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have very little in common aside from their ambition to be the next president. 

Of course, one is a Republican, the other a Democrat. One is a man, the other a woman. One is a convicted felon, the other a former prosecutor. One is a billionaire with a sprawling portfolio of personal homes and real estate investments, and the other has just one home.

While Harris can’t match up to Trump’s real estate portfolio, her mortgage with a 2.625 percent interest rate is tough to beat, according to the Wall Street Journal. The veep and newly anointed presidential candidate and husband, attorney Doug Emhoff are risk averse when it comes to real estate and investing. An analysis by the outlet found that overall, the couple cautiously manages their money, with most of their assets in retirement accounts. 

Harris and Emhoff own a 3,500-square-foot home in Los Angeles that he bought for $2.7 million in 2012, before the two married. Zillow now values the home at $5 million. WSJ projects the couple has between $3.6 million to 7.36 million in assets and bank balances.

Before moving into the VP digs in the U.S. Naval Observatory in 2021, Harris also had a condo in San Francisco she bought for $489,000 in 2004 and another in Washington, D.C. she bought for $1.8 million in 2017. She sold the San Francisco unit for $799,000 in 2021, the New York Post reported. She sold the D.C. pad for $1.9 million that same year, according to Architectural Digest. 

“She’s a little boring financially,” Megan Gorman, a wealth manager in San Francisco told WSJ. “She has clearly taken great care to avoid anything controversial or overly risky.”

The same would never be said of Trump, who made a name for himself as a risk-taking real estate developer.

While Trump’s actual net worth is difficult to pin down and is often debated, the most recent estimate puts him at $7.5 billion, thanks in large part to the Truth Social IPO earlier this year, according to Forbes. His personal property holdings include, but are not limited to: three houses in Palm Beach worth an estimated $86 million; a $50 million penthouse in Trump Tower in New York City; an $11 million St. Martin home; and a $30 million estate in Bedford, New York, per the Forbes analysis. His real estate and resort holdings combined amount to an estimated $1.9 billion. 

Trump’s assets and wealth are completely unprecedented for presidential candidates.

President Joe Biden owns just two properties in Delaware. He bought his longtime Wilmington home for $350,000 in 1996, according to Newsweek, now worth about $1.4 million, and a vacation home in Rehoboth Beach for $2.7 million in 2017. Forbes reported that nearly half of his estimated $9 million net worth is in those two homes. 

Former president Barack Obama’s real estate holdings are a little pricier. He and Michelle Obama own an $11.8 million, 29-acre Martha’s Vineyard estate, an $8.1 million mansion in Washington, D.C. and a Chicago house they bought for $1.7 million in 2005, according to published reports. The Obamas’ net worth has continued to climb since the couple left the White House in 2017, largely due book deals, speaking engagements and their $50 million deal with Netflix in 2019.

Perhaps the only presidential candidate to come sort of close to Trump in terms of real estate and wealth is 2012 Republican nominee and current Utah Senator Mitt Romney. The year of his candidacy, Forbes estimated his net worth to be in the low nine-figure range, with around $18 million in his real estate portfolio. Since then, the senator has bought and sold several properties, including a 2021 sale of a $23.5 million beachfront mansion in La Jolla, California.