Unique Properties
GOING ONCE…
Auctions becoming increasingly popular at the high end
As a work of art, it will not fit in your living room. But it comes with a living room.
Tulip Hill, located in Maryland and considered one of the finest pre-Revolutionary War estates in the U.S., sold at auction in April for more than its listing price of $2.375 million. The sale was part of the growing trend of offering luxury properties through auctions.
“It really was a true example of selling a piece of history; a piece of art that can’t be replicated,” says Laura Brady, co-founder of New York-based Concierge Auctions, which handled the sale.
“Our auctions are executed on the level of other fine things: antiquities, cars, art,” she adds. “Those auctions are not only identifying value, but helping to elevate value.”
Tulip Hill is only one example of high-profile properties being sold at live auctions. For example, in January, Concierge sold a home in Hawaii designed and owned by Cher for $8.72 million. As of May, the company had sold and closed 10 properties this year for a total of $39 million and had 10 auctions underway with properties previously valued at $72 million.
Last fall, J.P. King Auction Company sold the Coalson Plantation in Georgia for $2.75 million. The event took place on site and included live music and hors d’oeuvres. The company reported its highest-grossing year since 2006, with fourth-quarter sales alone topping $50 million.
The Tulip Hill auction attracted more than 100 interested buyer prospects and 17 registered bidders from Dubai, England and six U.S. states.
“Sellers and buyers both are just becoming knowledgeable, particularly in the luxury real estate realm,” says Concierge’s Brady. “Our sellers, for the most part, are in an equity position; they’re just making the decision to sell through auction.
“Today there is a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace as to what values are. Our process helps to create a transparent atmosphere where buyers are actually identifying what the properties are worth in front of the rest of the crowd.”
In Kealia on Kauai, Hawaii, this estate pictures above at 4380D Paliku Place sold in March through Concierge Auctions to a buyer from Colorado for $3.1925 million.
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‘YOU COULDN’T BUILD IT AGAIN’
Malibu oceanfront estate is irreplaceable
Finding another Malibu property such as this California villa estate, set on 3 acres and 245 feet of beach frontage, might be impossible — now or ever.
“No matter how much money you have, you couldn’t build it again because of the restrictions,” says Bob Hurwitz, who has the $49.95 million listing for Hurwitz James Company. “It’s unique in its entirety. Usually, in Malibu, either you have a small place on the sand or a big house on the land side that really doesn’t interact with the ocean. This design integrates the whole indoor-outdoor lifestyle presented by the site.”
There are six bedrooms, each en suite with private patios and loggias. Glass doors along the ocean side of the home withdraw to reveal flagstone decks, a full outdoor kitchen and tapas bar, and an Italian- inspired saltwater pool and spa. A private pathway leads to the beach. A gourmet eat-in kitchen with ocean views opens to the dining room and family room, with bar and fireplace. The entire space opens to the outdoors via an operable glass wall.
— Ken Weingartner
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