VP Pick J.D. Vance Has an Impressive Real Estate Portfolio: From Hillbilly Elegy to High-End Homes

Donald Trump‘s pick for vice president on the Republican ticket is J.D. Vance, a candidate who has famously defined himself by where he’s lived.

As documented in his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and later in a Ron Howard–directed film of the same name, Vance grew up in a middle-class Ohio home in the Rust Belt and often returned to his family’s old Kentucky home.

Downturns in the economy and drug abuse took their toll on residents of both areas in general, and Vance’s family in particular.

Despite his humble and challenging beginnings, Vance served four years in the Marines, graduated from Ohio State University summa cum laude with a degree in political science and philosophy, then graduated from Yale Law School. Following his school days, he wrote his memoir, worked in the San Francisco Bay Area, and was elected as a U.S. senator from Ohio in 2022.

Along the way, he’s accumulated an enviable real estate portfolio, with homes in Ohio, Washington, DC, and Virginia.

Let’s take a look at where it all started for America’s latest potential vice president.

The childhood home in Middletown, OH

Vance was born in Middletown, OH, and we’ve found the childhood home mentioned in “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Although his life was chaotic while he lived there, he credits his background with shaping him into the man he is today.

This two-story residence was considered to be middle class when Vance’s family lived there several decades ago. It was built in 1900 and extensively refurbished in 2017. It offers three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 2,000 square feet of living space.

The current estimated value of the home is $223,400, which is right in line with the median home price in Middletown of $222,500.

A townhouse in Washington, DC

According to real estate records, Vance and his wife, Usha, purchased a three-bedroom, 1,674-square-foot townhouse in the nation’s capital for $590,000 in 2014, after graduating from Yale Law School.

This was likely where the couple lived while Usha clerked for Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.

The Colonial townhouse features a primary suite with a high ceiling and two levels of windows, a rear courtyard, and an open living-dining room with a galley kitchen. The couple put the place up for rent in 2018 at $3,200 a month and again in 2020 for $3,475 a month.

They attempted to sell the home last August, but there’s no record of a sale and the home was pulled from the market in October.

It returned on the rental market last fall, marketed as the “perfect blend of comfort and convenience.”

A classic home in Cincinnati

In 2018, Vance bought a historic home in a hip Cincinnati neighborhood. The purchase came shortly after he sold the film rights to “Hillbilly Elegy.”

According to local architectural historian Walter E. Langsam, the home is a “rustic” example of “midcentury Gothic Revival transitioning to High Victorian Gothic.”

Built in 1900, the two-story house serves as Vance’s base for his constituents in the Buckeye State.

A home base near the U.S. capital

Vance also owns a chic Virginia farmhouse, which he purchased just last year.

The Vance family were “welcomed” to the left-leaning neighborhood with a “yarn bombing” incident, according to the Washingtonian. The local knitting community strung knitted flags, a crocheted rainbow, and a crocheted pink and white sign reading “Respect Our Rights” around a utility pole, sign post, and tree outside their new home.

Originally built in 1925, the Vance’s home was recently renovated. Highlights include mature gardens, custom masonry and cabinetry, wood floors, and a quintessential Alexandria front porch.

If the Trump/Vance ticket is victorious, come 2025, the Vance family will move into Number One Observatory Circle, a stately Victorian located on the grounds of the United States National Observatory in Washington, DC.