Sluggish New York City Home Sales Market Throws Curve at Treasury Secretary Geithner

LARCHMONT, NY—The nation’s bloggers are having a field day today. They are poking fun at Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner—not because of any new government policy decision but at Geithner’s unsuccessful efforts to sell his home.

Geithner, however, has proven he is a savvy real estate market watcher.

After three months of no-takers for his five-bedroom, 78-year-old home in the north New York City suburb of Larchmont, NY, the treasury secretary has rented the Tudor-styled property for $7,500 a month or $90,000 on an annualized basis.

That revenue will cover Geithner’s annual property tax bill of $27,000 but still won’t be enough to match his monthly mortgage payments on two loans totaling $1.25 million, according to published reports.

However, persons in a position to know doubt seriously that Geithner will be seeking temporary relief on the mortgage payments from his lender.

He makes $191,300 as Secretary of the Treasury, the same as his boss, Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke. Last year, as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Geithner earned $398,000. President Barack Obama makes $400,000 a year.

Geithner and his wife, Carole Sonnenfeld Geithner, paid $1.6 million for their home in 2004, according to Westchester County real estate records. After being named Treasury Secretary in January of this year, the Geithners put their home on the market with an asking price of $1.635 million.

Three weeks later, they dropped the price to $1.575 million. On May 21, they rented the house to an undisclosed tenant. The name of the Geithner’s real estate agent also was not disclosed.

The median home price in Westchester County in the first three months of this year was $532,000, according to the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. Only a few sales in the $1 million-plus category have been closed to date.

Westchester County Realtors don’t expect prices to stabilize this year because of the surplus of available properties, according to published reports. That means more Westchester home owners will be renting rather than selling over the next 12 months, they estimate.

The Geithner home has a Larchmont mailing address but the property is actually nearer to the town of Mamaroneck, according to local Realtors. The Winged Foot Golf Club, home of frequent golf championship events, is located in Mamaroneck.