Hot Trend: Get Ready for More Luxury Real Estate Auctions in Texas: Waterfront, Wine, or BOTH?

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5800 Shorefront ext

UPDATE 9:00 am : I’m now told this property SOLD prior to auction. Details forthcoming!

Luxury Real Estate bargain hunters, rev your engines. Before the sun sets on North Texas dirt on Saturday, April 9, two luxury homes will have been sold: a giant one in Flower Mound, one in Heath, both boasting water and wine. One home even has a state of the art wine cellar on the lower-level custom built by the current homeowner, using his expertise as the owner of California based Red Mare Wines.

Question: will they have samples?

Once again real estate auctions are perking up in Texas, says the founder and CEO of Florida-based DeCaro Luxury Auctions.

The winemaker’s five bedroom, nine bath estate boasts a bricked-barreled ceiling, floor-to-ceiling 6,000 bottle wine cellar. That’s a lot of vino! Once listed at $2.6 million, there is even a special tasting island in the cellar with temperature controlled wine-refrigerator and additional storage. There is also an indoor/outdoor patio with retractable screens and a gourmet kitchen, an in-ground pool and a waterfall.

5800 Shorefront ext 2

5800 Shorefront

Two homes in one day. Isn’t this a heck of a lot of real estate to auction off in 24 hours? Daniel DeCaro, CEO and founder of DeCaro Luxury Auctions, says it’s all in a day’s work:

“As long as I am coming to Texas, I might as well sell a couple homes for motivated sellers — and these sellers are motivated! ” he told me by phone.

There’s more action two days later: the 15th most expensive home in the DFW Metroplex is going up for auction on Monday — 1904 Bayshore Drive in Flower Mound. This is a BIG home, an Italian mansion of about 14,000 square feet on two acres. The auction is now scheduled for April 11th at 12:00 PM. (We’ll have a separate post on this pup later.)

 Wny are real estate auctions hot again?

5800 Shorefront 3“Some sellers want to know there is an end game. If they are motivated with little or no debt on the property, we are motivated,” says DeCaro. “These are not people with unreasonable expectations. These are people who can afford to give a discount and are willing to do so just to move on.”

That’s when you pick up the most value. DeCaro, who founded DeCaro Luxury Auctions 40 years ago, told me that new construction all over the country is going up against older construction, no matter how tricked out it is. And sellers are increasingly turning to auctions as a way to unload these properties and just move on.  He even has another spin on the phrase real estate auction —  “accelerated marketing”.

“We were the originators of accelerated marketing back in the 1980’s,” he says.

He was an early disruptor! DeCaro worked in the antique auction business in the 80’s and applied the principles to Real Estate. He’s worked with the founders of Concierge Auctions back in Sarasota. When Realogy absorbed Sotheby’s Real Estate brand, he launched his own company and has settled billions of luxury real estate properties across the country. His candidates are motivated sellers with little debt on a property who have tried and exhausted traditional sales methods.

“If you know you are going to sell the property in 30 days, you factor that into your discount,” he says. “Property carry is at least 1% a month, so 12% a year is very conservative, depending on the mortgage interest and taxes. If you are asking $2 million, that’s a $240,000 a year carry at 1%. which you can save by discounting your property up front.”

5800 Shorefront poolThe trophy home at 5800 Shorefront Lane in Flower Mound has five-bedrooms, seven full and two-half bathrooms on two sprawling acres of land that surround a man-made fish pond with a center fountain.

“5800 Shorefront Lane was built to resemble a luxury villa-style estate, which stands out from other properties in the Flower Mound area,” said DeCaro, CEO and founder of DeCaro Luxury Auctions.

There are architectural accents, a pool and a huge indoor, outdoor patio that was created for year-round entertaining. The estate also uses up to 50 percent less energy than a typical home of this caliber, as it was built with eco-friendly features, like enhanced insulation and tankless water heaters. The home cost at least $17 million to build, says DeCaro.

Double iron-clad front doors lead to the home’s first floor, which features Italian marble flooring, cathedral ceilings and walnut wood beams. A family room with a bar area and a second dining room are also located on the main level, and are separated by a double-sided fireplace, which abuts the home’s billiard and game room.

The gourmet kitchen features walnut wood cabinets and an 11 foot by 9 foot center island with a granite counter top, two sinks and a breakfast bar with seating for four. Built in refrigerator and Wolfe appliances include an eight-burner gas stove, topped with a pot-filling faucet.

Besides the aforementioned wine cellar, the estate’s master bedroom features high tiered ceilings, wood floors and a bay window with a seating area that overlooks the grounds. The master bath is equipped with an oversized jetted and soaking tub and his and hers vanity sinks. All four bedrooms feature ensuite bathrooms.

At the back of the property is the home’s indoor/outdoor patio, which has retractable screens that open to the backyard and also provide insulation in colder months. The patio is fully equipped with an additional gourmet kitchen, a section for BBQ grilling, a dining area with seating for 16, a fireplace and a large flat-screen TV. The estate’s backyard features a kidney-shaped in-ground pool with a waterfall, a large pergola with shaded seating areas and a fish pond with a fountain.

All of the custom furnishings throughout the home, including an armoire that belonged to Napoleon in the early 1800s and several other antique bedframes, dressers and tables, are also available for purchase.

Located in an exclusive gated community, 5800 Shorefront Lane is just minutes from Grapevine Lake.

“We are getting calls on a regular basis from people in Texas,” DeCaro told me. “This is a process that will just grow in Texas. Everyone you deal with is a CFO who understands the importance of selling now rather than in three years.”

DeCaro also told me that Texans are more financially savvy when it comes to Real Estate than folks in other regions of the country. People are level headed here, he said, and approach the investment in a different manner.

“We definitely anticipate more auctions here,” he said. “The calls from DFW and Austin are strong, and we expect Houston will be on the line soon.”

132 Shepherds Glen Rd

132 Shepherd’s Glen Road

132 Sheperds Glen Rd pool

132 Shepherd's Glen boat slip

132 Shepherds Glen kit

Dallas-based Tom Charron and his partner Alicia Chmielewski are the local marketing representatives for these homes.

“Having three incredible DFW luxury homes go to Auction in the same month, two in the same day, is unprecedented,” he told me.

More than 100 buyers and agents have already toured these luxury homes in the past week, and Tom says he is already booking auctions for May and June.

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Candy Evans, founder and publisher of CandysDirt.com, is one of the nation’s leading real estate reporters.

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