Just a few months ago, a three-section painting by artist Francis Bacon (Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards, 1984) sold at auction at Christie’s for roughly $80 million. This staggering sum is perhaps the best example of what can happen when one matches a unique historic narrative with a particular asset and then add international marketing and human nature.
Even over time, there remains no serious alternative to a private auction when sellers of fine art, automobiles, jewelry, rugs, or antiques are seeking to find the best vehicle for the true market value of these assets.
But oddly enough, real estate, historically one of the first assets to be sold using the auction process, has preferred the broker/agent model for the better part of the last 100 years. With Hollywood depictions of bankers on the steps of distressed farmhouses not helping the image, houses going to auction has been stereotyped as the last resort for homeowners or their lending institutions. That “stigma” however seems to be lifting when it comes to large homes, and that includes the Eastern Shore big estates.
Local real estate expert Dan DeCaro has been leading the charge for the auction option for unique properties for over thirty-five years in every part of the country.
In his Spy interview, Dan talks about his own history with auctions, the marketplace for high value homes, and his own observations on the high end real estate sector.
In this video is approximately seven minutes in length
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