John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... What is being described as the only undeveloped ski-in, ski-out home site in Arrowhead at Vail is hitting the auction block at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The 2.06-acre lot, with views of Vail Village, Vail Mountain and the Gore Range, will be sold at a private “absolute” auction, along with a 4,856-square-foot, never-occupied home in Buffehr Creek, across from Vail Mountain. An absolute auction means there is no minimum bid or reserve price.
In other words, the top-bid takes these multi-million dollar properties.
Auctioneer Val DeVine, co-founder and CEO of Grand Estates, the auction company selling the two properties, is especially familiar with the land parcel.
That is because she owns it.
She bought the land in February 2007.
At the time, she was married and her then-husband wanted to build his “dream house,” on the lot, she said. The lot is big enough to handle a 14,000-square-foot home, she told InsideRealEstateNews.com.
“You might say this is a divorce-driven sale,” she said. “Since I don’t ski anymore, I ride horses, I have no need for it.”
When she bought the land, she said there were nine lots available, All of them either have been sold and either have houses on them, or have houses under construction.
She said she bought it at a fire-sale price. It had been on the market for $5.6 million.
“I bought the lot from a distressed seller and kind of stole it,” she said. “A lot closed up there in July 2008, and it sold for $4.2 million. And it was only one-acre. This is two acres.”
But she said what she paid for the land – and what the custom home being auctioned was listed at – doesn’t matter.
“The best way to sell is at the auction,” DeVine said, whose company has offices in Vail, Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.
“An auction will tell you what the value is today,” she said. “And auctions are never wrong, assuming the auction is done properly and advertised well.”
She said she will not sell distressed properties and in this market, she will not sell a home with a reserve price or a minimum bid.
“We’ve done some auctions with reserves in ascending markets, but not in a market like this one,” DeVine said. “A minimum-bid auction is really just reducing the list price. We will let the bidders determine the true market value.”
She said the vast majority of homes in reserve auctions do not sell. She said for every 10 homes that are presented to Grand Estates, they will look at five of them. Of those five, they will only auction one of them. Partly because they are so selective, she said they have a success rate of 95 percent or better.
The Vail home includes four-bedrooms, four full baths, two half baths, four stone fireplaces, a three-level elevator, and a 2,000 square feet of heated Colorado flagstone decks, patios, and a terrace with an eight-person outdoor space. It includes an over-sized game room, gourmet kitchen, wine cellar and three separate guest suites. The house, at 1445 Buffehr Creek Road, was last listed at $4.195 million.
There will be previews of the home and properties on from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Monday. On Sunday, the properties will be available from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and on Tuesday, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.
People can register for the auction up to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Bidders need a cashier’s check of $50,000.
“That is the cost of entry,” said DeVine, noting that unlike some other auctions, this one is not open to the public. The winning bidder or bidders will pay cash, she said. They must close within 30 days of the auction.
“Our typical buyer is between 50 and 75 years old,” she said. “They are buying either a second, third or fourth him. But right now, we also are seeing a lot of baby boomers. We are seeing that they are buying their future retirement homes.”
So far, she has received 228 inquiries about the property. In addition to the U.S., the properties have garnered a lot of interest from prospective buyers from Mexico, she said.
For more information: 800 552-8120 or 704 529-0026 or www.GrandEstatesAuction.com.
Lot to be auctioned on Tuesday
John,
Very interesting story….I will be looking forward to the result of this.
Auctions have been around a long time especially in the land and ranch niche. We in the luxury resort real estate segment are having a difficult time getting sellers to price to the ‘current’ market, not the 2007 market. Many sellers have no financial pressure at all and buyers generally want a ‘deal’. Most Colorado resort markets are off their 2007 market volume by 70% or more. No stimulus money for the high end markets and our clients are being looked at to ‘pay’ for a lot of new proposals by the Obama administration. This slow down in the high end resort markets in the U.S. could be here for a long time. We’ll see.