It’s a common enough story. A family puts their house up for sale after one of the parents gets a great job offer in another city. Sure, they bought the house at the peak of the housing bubble, but they refuse to sell for less than they paid. The house stays on the market for months on end.

Who is the father of this family with such a poor understanding of economics? Uh, that’d be Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner.

Geithner and his wife Carole put their 5-bedroom Tudor-style home in Larchmont, New York on the market for $1.635 million in February, just days after he was tapped by the Obama administration to help lead the nation out of the worst economic crisis in a century.

The Geithners paid a premium for the house when they bought it in 2004, plunking down $1.601 million after a bidding war. The “exquisitely renovated” home was originally built in 1931, according to a listing for the 0.2 acre property.

“When the house first went on sale it was very evident that he was not going to get what he paid for it,” said Scott Stiefvater of Stiefvater Real Estate in Pelham, N.Y. “He was [bound] to lose some money.”

This is an old story, which came to our attention, as many important things do, because “The Daily Show” covered it on Wednesday. Correspondent John Oliver notes that Geithner isn’t able to sell his house in part because of banking policies put in place by…. Timothy Geithner. Enjoy.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Home Crisis Investigation
www.thedailyshow.com
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Home Crisis Investigation [The Daily Show]
Even Tim Geithner can’t sell his house [CNN Money]

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