Why Do Wealthy People Auction Multimillion-Dollar Homes, Rather Than List Them?
Hundreds of wealthy homeowners are taking the riskier route. Here's why.
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Count Spaur zu Flavon und Valer’s family had lived in its 80-room castle in the Dolomites for more than 650 years; having recently poured more than €10 million ($11.25 million) into its restoration, the count decided in 2012 that it was time to sell. And then the castle, which was priced at more than €30 million, languished unsold for four years.
Halfway around the world, in Mendocino, Calif., Rudy and Linda Light, the owners of a 1,750 ranch in Mendocino, had watched their property languish on the market for the better part of two years. Priced at $8 million and boasting a 7,500 square-foot mock-Victorian house, the listing had failed to attract buyer interest.