Mariano Rivera bought a newly built mansion in Rye, Westchester County, in 2006 for $5.7 million. He sold it in June 2022 for $3.78 million. That is a loss of roughly $2 million over 16 years in one of New York State’s most expensive counties, and it is the single most surprising number in his property record.
The other building associated with him isn’t a house he lived in. His foundation spent around $3 million restoring a 107-year-old church in New Rochelle for the congregation his wife Clara leads, a congregation that started in the Riveras’ own living room.
This guide covers both, and what is and is not known about where he lives now.
Mariano Rivera’s property record
| Property | Location | Key figures | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mansion, 13,050 sq ft, nine bedrooms | Rye, Westchester County, New York | Bought new in 2006 for $5.7 million; listed November 2020 at $3.995 million; sold June 2022 for $3.78 million | Sold, at a loss of about $2 million |
| Restored 107-year-old church | New Rochelle, Westchester County | Around $3 million spent on the restoration by his foundation | Home of the Refuge of Hope congregation |
Who is Mariano Rivera?
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian former baseball pitcher who spent his entire nineteen-season career with the New York Yankees, almost all of it as their closer. He retired as Major League Baseball’s all-time saves leader with 652, won five World Series titles, and in 2019 became the first player ever elected unanimously to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He grew up in Puerto Caimito, a fishing village in Panama, in circumstances about as far from a Westchester mansion as it is possible to get, and has spoken about that background throughout his career. He has been married to Clara since 1991.
The Rye mansion
Rivera bought in Rye in 2006, taking a newly completed house of 13,050 square feet on about 1.2 acres at the end of a cul-de-sac. The price was $5.7 million.
The specification is what you would expect of a large new build from that period: nine bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and a half, a four-car garage, a butler’s pantry, a home cinema, a billiards room, a sports bar, a gym, a basketball court and an outdoor pool. It is a house designed around a family with young children and a great deal of space to fill.
Rye is among the most expensive towns in Westchester, well positioned for Manhattan and close enough to the Bronx for a player’s commute to Yankee Stadium to be manageable. On paper, it was exactly the right purchase.
The sale, and the $2 million loss
The Riveras listed the house in November 2020 at $3.995 million, with reporting at the time noting they were downsizing now that their children were grown.
Note the asking price. They came to market at $1.7 million below what they had paid fourteen years earlier, which tells you they already understood the position. Even so, it took until June 2022 to close, at $3.78 million.
Against $5.7 million paid in 2006, that is a shortfall of roughly $1.9 to $2 million before commissions, transfer taxes, and sixteen years of property tax on a 13,050-square-foot house in Westchester, which is not a small sum in itself.
The buyer had an unusual route to the purchase: they had been renting the house for around $19,000 a month, and chose to buy it rather than move out when another offer arrived.
The explanation for the loss is structural rather than personal. Very large new-build houses from the mid-2000s have performed poorly across the American Northeast because buyer taste shifted away from that scale and format, running costs are punishing, and the taxes are high. Westchester as a whole held up; nine-bedroom trophy houses did not. Other Westchester properties covered on this site, such as Vanessa Williams’s home in Chappaqua, sit in the same market with very different results.
The church that started in his living room
The building Rivera is arguably most identified with is not a residence. Refuge of Hope, or Refugio de Esperanza, is a Pentecostal congregation led by Clara Rivera. It began in 2009 in the Riveras’ own home, with a small group meeting for prayer, and grew from there.
When it outgrew the house, the family took on a long-vacant 107-year-old church building in New Rochelle. Rivera’s foundation put approximately $3 million into restoring it, and the congregation moved in. The work was covered at the time by ESPN and CBS New York, among others, and framed as a rescue of a building that was otherwise likely to be lost.
For an article about houses, that progression is worth pausing on: a congregation founded in a living room, outgrowing it, and ending up in a restored century-old church a few miles away, paid for by the man whose living room it started in.
Where does Mariano Rivera live now?
The public record does not establish a current residence.
What is documented: he sold the Rye house in June 2022, and no subsequent purchase by him has been reported. His and his wife’s church remains in New Rochelle, in the same county, and their charitable work continues to be centred on Westchester, which suggests the family has stayed in the region rather than leaving it. He also retains strong ties to Panama, where he grew up and where his foundation has operated.
What is not documented: any specific property in Westchester, Panama, or anywhere else. The 2020 listing said the couple was downsizing, so a smaller local house is the obvious inference, but it is an inference and no record supports it.
Anyone offering you a current Mariano Rivera mansion with a valuation is almost certainly describing the Rye house, which he has not owned since 2022. Compare a contemporary whose post-career moves genuinely are on the record, such as David Ortiz.
Sources
- The Real Deal on the June 2022 sale, the loss against the 2006 purchase, and the buyer’s prior tenancy.
- Forbes and 6sqft on the November 2020 listing, the property’s size and its features.
- ESPN and CBS New York on the restoration of the New Rochelle church and the roughly $3 million spent on it.
- Refuge of Hope on the congregation’s founding in the Riveras’ home in 2009.
