New Hyde Park Realtors Closer to Selling Serial Killer's Home

The East Meadow home of Joel Rifkin, one of the nation’s most notorious serial killers, is under contract to be sold.

And the new owners apparently have not been scared off by the history of the property, according to the real estate agency that is closing the deal.

“They did their own research and they found that out on their own,” said Greg Berkowitz, vice president and manager of Laffey Real Estate in New Hyde Park.

Berkowitz said the 1,675-square-feet home at 1492 Garden St. was sold to a family whose identity has not been disclosed.

“It’s under contract and within a few weeks of closing,” he said.

The home was originally listed at $424,500 and after several price reductions, is now listed at $350,000.

“They realized that they were getting certainly a devalued price for the home,” said Berkowitz of the new owners, whom he identified only as a couple. “Nowhere can you buy a home at that price and with that square footage. That apparently overcame the history.

“It’s a steal,” he added, in reference to the home selling well below the market price.

Berkowitz is said to have wrestled with how to tell potential clients about the home and he could not find anyone in the realty business who could tell him what he needed to disclose to a prospective buyer.

There were one or two other potential buyers who reportedly made offers higher than the $350,000, but backed out after they learned of the home’s deadly past.

When Rifkin’s mother, who owned the house for many years, recently passed away, his sister inherited the home.

Joel Rifkin, who is now 52, was convicted of killing nine women, mostly drug addicts and prostitutes, from 1989 to 1993. Rifkin actually admitted to killing 17 victims, with some of the murders being carried out in the East Meadow ranch he shared with his mother and sister.

Rifkin strangled his victims and brought some of the bodies to the home, where he would dismember them. At the time of his arrest, police found a chainsaw, bits of human flesh and blood in the garage of the home.

Rifkin was eventually caught by state troopers in Wantagh after a wild car chase in June 1993. He was sentenced in May 1994 to 203 years to life in prison.

The East Meadow home is listed as a “two-story handyman special, located in a wonderful neighborhood.” It was built in 1951 and has four bedrooms and two baths.

“It’s a really beautiful area,” said Berkowitz, whose real estate firm has listed the property ever since the home was first placed on the market close to a year ago.