Multimillion Dollar Bay Area Estate Heads to Auction Block To Lure Chinese Buyers
WOODSIDE (KPIX 5) - After 7 years of going on and off the market, a multi-million dollar estate in Woodside is going up for auction, ready for an international audience.
"Traditionally, we think in our minds that an auction is a distress sale. That's not the case here," said Intero Real Estate agent Kim Connor.
"It's a sense of urgency to determine when the property will sell, so it brings people to the table in a different format."
Connor has listed the home for $16.9 million. The seller is relocating to La Jolla, so she partnered with Concierge Auctions, which is handling the sale, to fast forward the marketing time.
For the first time, the company is holding a live auction in Hong Kong to target Chinese buyers.
"We think this will be a really interesting way to engage the buyers across Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing," said Erica Fox, Project Sales Manager with Concierge Auctions.
"When we had been showing this property across China during our very recent marketing tour in China, they were very intrigued by this property."
The 12,000-square foot, 4 bedroom, 6 bathroom estate features a formal dining room, gourmet kitchen, theater room, gym, guest house and a 13,000-bottle wine cellar. It sits on more than three acres of land at 700 Kings Mountain Road in Woodside.
Bidding starts online on December 14th and ends December 19th. Concierge auctions expects more than 100 people to attend in Hong Kong. Bidders will consider 18 properties around the world.
There is no reserve, which means the Woodside house will sell to the highest bidder--no matter what the final number ends up being. Real estate agents anticipate opening bids between $5 to $9 million.
There are already a few preregistered bidders.
"When a property's been on the market for awhile, people think, 'Oh, I'll get around to it, or maybe I'll go see it,' or something like that," said Connor.
Connor says part of the reason she believes the home had trouble getting off the market was the drastic fluctuations in price. It may have confused potential buyers.
The property is the latest ultra-luxury home to go to auction in recent years. This month, Concierge Auctions is auctioning 20 homes, including five in California.
In total, they auctioned 110 properties this year. In 2019, they will do triple that with 360 homes.
"I think when people live inside a property, especially a trophy property like this, they're very private. And so, opening the doors to people all the time, there's a lot of people that just like to look. But the auction changes that; it's people that are coming in that are interested, truly interested, which is very refreshing," said Connor.