iN VIDEO: $13M asking price on world class North Okanagan estate
A five-day-long auction will be held in June to sell a 15,000 square foot home in Coldstream with an asking price of $12,999,999.
The estate served as a summer home for an owner with roots in the United Kingdom, Richard Deacon, the listing agent with Engel and Volkers Okanagan in Kelowna told iNFOnews.ca, May 3.
“The attention to detail in this place is staggering as far as the quality of craftsmanship,” Deacon said. “The builder (Vernon-based Heartwood Homes) would tell you this is a three to five year build to build this house, not even how long it takes to get on his list to actually build.
“You’re probably looking at a minimum of five years to actually build a house like this. People who can afford $10 to $20 million houses, anywhere around the world, time is money, especially so for them. What we’re hoping for is somebody is going to look at this and say, we’re going to buy this for less than what it would cost to make and we’re going to majorly fast forward our lives for five years because we would be waiting three to five years to get a home like this finished.”
The house is on five acres at 133 Ravine Dr. in Coldstream. It features dramatic views of Kalamalka and Okanagan Lakes and offers about 15,000 square feet of living space on three floors. Counting the garage, it’s close to 16,000 square feet, Deacon said.
He explained that the owner lived in it for part of the year as a base for exploring the Okanagan in the summers.
It comes with five bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and can sit 45 people for dinner. There are 24 parking spaces.
“Sublime craftsmanship and luxury materials throughout are sure to impress, including American black walnut cabinetry and detailing, Swarovski crystal fixtures, and rare handcrafted antique palace doors from India,” according to Deacon’s description on the Engel and Volkers web page.
It includes a summer kitchen, alfresco dining area, and a “Scottish bothy” with kitchen, bathroom and sitting area.
The U.K. online website Huts and Cabins describes a bothy as a rustic cottage used by hikers and mountain bikers in Scotland.
This is more like a cabana by the pool and is not open for public use, Deacon said.
Built in 2007, it was valued by B.C. Assessment last summer at just over $6.6 million, with only $435,000 of that being for the land.
Assessed values for properties, especially in the current hot market in the Okanagan, are generally much lower than what they currently sell for.
“This home is valued somewhere from $900 to $1 million a square foot to replace, so your replacement cost is probably somewhere between $13 to $15 million to replace and the lot is probably worth about $1 million,” Deacon said in explaining why the asking price was more than double the assessed value.
The auction is being run by Concierge Auctions and is unreserved, meaning there is not minimum bid. It will take place over five days from June 10 to 15.
The five-day sale period is needed to demonstrate, first of all, that the auction is actually going ahead and get buyers re-interested in the sale.
What normally happens in this kind of auction is that packages are sent to Concierge’s clients and promoted in other ways. There are about 400 people who have show an interest.
Potential buyers have to qualify by making a $100,000 deposit and proving they can pay what they will bid.
Since such auctions are sometimes cancelled if there are not enough bidders, potential buyers often sit on the sidelines, Ian Johnson, Concierge’s project sales manager explained.
“Once the auction is open it actually, gives us an opportunity to reach back out to the market to say: ‘The auction is open. It’s really happening. If you you like the house you should get in,’” he said. “Also, it gives us the opportunity to say this is the current high bid. Because sometimes people look at the articles that are written and go: ‘Thirteen million dollars. There’s no way I’m going to get in there.’ Then the find out the high bid is starting at six, and they go: 'Wait a second.’ Ultimately we get more bidders and ultimately it winds up with a better price for the seller."
The same holds true for not having a reserve bid because that will also drive some buyers away, Johnson said.
In the end, five or six buyers generally participate in such auctions, he said, but last year, he held an auction for a property Kalavista Drive that attracted seven bidders and set a record for the highest residential property sold in the Vernon area at $8.9 million.
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