Donald Trump's Running Out of Time to Sell Mar-a-Lago

Former President Donald Trump is running out of time to sell Mar-a-Lago for cash that could help with his appeal bond in the New York civil fraud case.

Trump has until March 25 to find a bond or cash to appeal the $454 million judgment against him or risk having his assets seized, and recent court filings suggest it may not be possible without liquidating some of his real estate portfolio. Trump's lawyers revealed on Monday that despite approaching 30 underwriters to back the bond, Trump cannot find an insurance company to back the bond that he needs to stop James from beginning to collect on last month's judgment.

The former president's attorneys said that because underwriters are seeking cash not property to back the bond, Trump would need to mortgage or sell some properties to find enough cash to obtain an underwriter. Trump complained that he was being "forced to mortgage or sell Great Assets, perhaps at Fire Sale prices." But the window to do so is closing.

"These sales take weeks and months to negotiate," Richard Epstein, a New York University law professor who specializes in property rights, told Newsweek.

"Any potential sale of Mar-a-Lago would require an ample due diligence period to review liens and legal issues," Mary Shanklin, the author of American Castle: The Notorious Legacy of Mar-a-Lago, told Newsweek. "Also, the title is clouded with an easement to the National Trust for Historic Preservation."

Bess Freedman, a real estate expert and CEO of Brown Harris Stevens, also told CNN on Tuesday it's unlikely Trump has enough time to sell his properties, noting that he'd need at least 30 days to get any of them sold. However, Mar-a-Lago, where the president resides in Palm Beach, Florida, could be Trump's "best-case scenario" because it's "something that could be sold quickly."

"I think the valuation is something in the hundreds of millions and I think there could be a buyer for something like that," Freedman said.

"There could be plenty of international people who want to buy that property, and Palm Beach is like 'the Nvidia of real estate'—it's just shot up like a rocket," she said, adding that she would encourage that option if he's looking for a property to sell quickly.

Luxury home sales in Palm Beach increased by 20 percent year-over-year during the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a Douglass Elliman and Miller Samuel report. It said the average price per square foot in the luxury market, which represents the top 10 percent of all sales, rose to $3,770. At 62,500 square feet, that puts Mar-a-Lago at just shy of $250 million. Trump, however, claimed at trial that his Florida home is worth more than $1 billion.

Even though the Palm Beach market is "robust" right now, Shanklin said, "it's important to keep in mind that buyers with that kind of capital are rare—and even more so at the prospect of purchasing a property with approvals needed for alternations, expansions and some renovations."

But Epstein said there's "no reason" for Trump to be selling his property. Instead, he said the $454 million judgment should be challenged as an excessive fine before Judge Arthur Engoron and a federal court.

"There is no reason for this desperate action, which by the way would reveal how Engoron lowballed the estimate," he said. "It is a horrific situation where an utterly bogus judgment can insulate itself from appeal by imposing excessive damages. He had no methodology and could have said a billion dollars."

Update 03/21/24 5:01 p.m. ET This story was updated with comments from Shanklin.