ALBANY – Gov. Pataki’s former Florida neighbors weren’t surprised to learn yesterday he had reaped a $315,000 windfall by selling a modest ranch-style home he bought just 17 months earlier.
Some even said he should have held out for more.
Pataki disclosed Monday in his income-tax returns that he sold the home at 318 Tacoma Lane on Singer Island, West Palm Beach – just two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean – in October for $675,000, after buying it for $360,000 as an investment in May 2004.
“He got market value for his house and I think he could have gotten more,” said former neighbor Anthony Lyes of 312 Tacoma Lane. “I’m right next door and mine is worth $1.2 million,” added Lyes.
Walker Cushman of 339 Tacoma Lane said Pataki’s selling price “may have been too cheap.
“Properties in this area have just gone bananas in the last three years,” said Cushman.
Virginia Walsh, of 309 Tacoma Lane, said, “Everyone down here makes a big profit.”