Getty/Zillow Bernie Sanders and his lake house.
Bernie Sanders makes a big deal about income disparities in America, but he’s a wealthy man himself: Wealthy enough to afford three houses, that is.
In May 2019, Politico Magazine called Sanders, 77, “a three-home-owning millionaire with a net worth approaching at least $2 million.” He once explained to The New York Times of the level of income comfort he’s achieved: “I wrote a best-selling book. If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.”
Which houses does Bernie own, though? He received a spate of media attention when he purchased house number 3 with his wife Jane back in 2016.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Summer Home
Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane, have a new lake house and it cost them $575,000. The home, located in tiny North Hero, Vermont, will be used as a vacation home by the Sanders’ family, according to local news reports.
The latest house is located in a community called North Hero. It’s a “summer house,” reported Politico, purchased by Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane, for $575,000 in cash. In 2016, Seven Days broke the news of the summer home purchase of the lakefront property, declaring that Bernie was the “proud new owner of a summer home in the Champlain Islands.” You can see additional photos of Bernie’s lake home here.
Bernie Sanders’ home
The home has four bedrooms and 500 feet of Lake Champlain beachfront, according to Seven Days.
“We’ve traveled up to the islands many times over the years — almost always on day trips,” Sanders’ wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, told Seven Days. “We’ve been impressed with the North Hero community, eaten at the North Hero House and Shore Acres and have suggested them to friends who were looking for a beautiful place to stay or have dinner. St. Anne’s Shrine in Isle La Motte is my favorite church and it is nearby.”
Bernie Sanders’ home
Jane told the publication that she sold a lake home in Maine that her family had owned since 1900, allowing the family to purchase the third home. You can see an aerial view of the property here.
Bernie Sanders home
However, to CTV, Jane gave a more complicated story. She said “she sold her share of her family’s long-time vacation home in Bridgton, Maine, to her brother for $150,000, added some money from her retirement account and from an advance her husband got on a book he is writing to come up with the money to buy the couple’s third home,” CTV said, adding that the Sanders paid cash for the house.
The Burlington, Vermont Colonial
Sen. Bernie Sanders.
According to Vanity Fair, Sanders owns a house in Burlington, VT. You can view Sanders’ Burlington abode via Google Maps here. Jane Sanders gave Yahoo News Senior National Correspondent Lisa Belkin a tour of the Burlington home. You can watch that video here.
Yahoo News describes the family’s Vermont home as “cream-clapboard Colonial with a red door on a quiet residential street” and adds “it is exactly the kind of house where you’d expect doting grandparents to live.” The Sanders bought the home for for $405,000 in 2009.
The Washington D.C. Row House
Bernie Sanders.
Sanders also owns a house on Capitol Hill in D.C., according to Vanity Fair. This dwelling was described by Seven Day as a “row house.”
You can see a picture of the Washington D.C. row house in this article. According to The Washingtonian, Sanders purchased it for $489,000, and the estimated current value was listed at $562,500. THe Neighborhood was described as Capitol Hill.
“Like the socialist senator, this 1890 rowhouse is no-frills, with just one bedroom and two baths. What it lacks in frippery it makes up for with its location, three blocks from the Capitol and a half block from Stanton Park,” The Washingtonian reported.
In 2012, Bernie Sanders reported that the Burlington property was valued at $100,001-$250,000 and was a rental property, and he said he also had a 30-year mortgage of $50,001-$100,000 for the Washington condo, which was purchased in 2000, Politico said.
In his 2018 financial disclosure form, he reported having a liability of a 30-year mortgage of between $250,001 – $500,000. He wrote that he was the co-trustee of the Islands Family Trust in North Hero, Vermont, explaining, “I am a co-trustee in a family trust created when we bought a summer home.” In addition to his salary, he earned almost $400,000 in book royalties in 2018.