$20M remodeled mansion in Las Vegas sells at auction — PHOTOS

When a homeowner buys a six-bedroom, 11-bath luxury estate for his family in an affluent Las Vegas neighborhood, then spends nearly $20 million renovating it into a masterpiece trophy home, it’s likely that when it comes time to sell, the cost of the home won’t be compatible with market value. It might even sit empty for years, particularly if the other homes on the street are selling for a quarter of that.

There is another option: Go with a luxury auction company that brings in buyers interested in specialty trophy homes.

Ivan Sher, Realtor and owner of the prestigious Ivan Sher Group in Las Vegas, had suggested a luxury auction to the homeowner of that six-bedroom trophy home with a near $20 million upgrade after Sher and his team spent time in Beverly Hills, where luxury home auctions are trending and having success.

Located at 9021 Grove Crest Lane, the Tuscan-style home on three-fourths of an acre was built in 2000 on the Tournament Players Club golf course. Its black 12-foot front double doors open to an opulent and exquisite foyer, symmetric, elegant and elaborately finished with Venetian plaster, curving walls, travertine floors, grand staircase and second-story wrought iron railings framing the $42,000 chandelier above.

Classical elegance and exquisite craftsmanship define each room, whether it’s through the stone-and-wood inlayed floors or dome-shaped cathedral ceilings, arched stone-line doorways, 24-karat gold fixtures or sculptural columns. Multiple rooms for entertaining are impeccably refined, as are the home’s large custom fireplaces and illuminated chandeliers.

French doors open to multiple courtyards, terraces and patios. The master suite is a sprawling, multiroom space with a hand-painted elaborate ceiling design, a grand custom fireplace, his and her spa-inspired baths (with 24-karat gold fixtures), large walk-in closets and a massage parlor. The other bedrooms are all junior master suites.

The home is complete with an elevator, five-car garage, 24-hour video surveillance and infrared heat sensors, home automation controlled by iPod and guest quarters with private entrance.

“He put years into redoing it in creating his vision,” Sher said about the owner, while standing in the sunlit formal dining room, next to an $85,000 wood table with gold inlay stretching the length of the elaborately stylized room. “What you see in front of you is the ultimate result. And, there’s really nothing like it. It’s sensational.”

Its grand foyer is mathematical perfection. To the right is a furnished parlor with a library, built-in wooden shelves, wood furnishings throughout, large windows, decorative furniture and fireplace, a perfect place to host the game, Clue.

To the left is the dining room, which leads through the butler’s pantry and into the gourmet kitchen with Carrera Marble countertops, furniture-grade custom cabinetry, Wolf brand appliances, farmhouse sink and a wood-finished breakfast bar.

The kitchen and breakfast nook overlook the outside patio and the spacious family room with coffered ceilings, a custom fireplace and French doors leading out to the back patio, pool and hot tubs.

The home flows from room to room with multiple staircases and access points. The art on the walls is as sophisticated as the rooms in which it hangs.

“He refined everything,” Sher said. “He put his own finishes in. He put in the glass that’s shatterproof, a lot of the ceiling detail, the Venetian plaster and the light fixtures, everything you see in the house. “He and his family got great use out of it. And they loved it. It was a very special home for them.”

In an environment of such refined beauty and opulence, Sher said, it “lives as a home.”

Priced at $13 million — much less than what the owner spent — it seemed a good fit for a luxury auction. The auction was held Feb. 15. There was a winner, but the deal has not closed, so the price and the new owner’s name were not disclosed. Leigh Searl, the managing director for Decaro Auctions, said it was the neighborhood’s highest-priced sale in the past six years. The deal is expected to close by the end of March.

Forrest Barbee is the corporate broker for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Nevada, Arizona and California Properties. He ran a detailed MLS search and found a Dec. 11, 2013, cash sale for $6.8 million for a Tournament Hills home at 9021 Greensboro Lane. That’s a few months shy of seven years. Ivan Sher was the listing agent for that sale as well. The 12,647-square-foot home had been on the market for 621 days and had been listed for $10.9 million.

The next highest sale was in 2011 for $4.88 million for a 21,835-square-foot mansion on 8920 Players Club.

“We spoke with other brokers who are doing it,” Sher said. “And we finally thought, ‘We have some homes that we do a really good job of marketing and selling, but for some reason our network was saturated.’ ”

They weren’t getting the traction they needed, he said, and so they had the seller interview different auction platforms. The owner chose Decaro Auctions International, a luxury real estate auction company started 40 years ago, which sent two of its business development directors, Jeff Rhoades and Jana Willardsen, to Las Vegas. Once on the ground, they launched a 30-day marketing campaign for the 15,479-square-foot home, opening it for viewings, reaching out to buyers in Decaro’s database, as well as marketing locally, nationally and internationally.

“A lot of properties that we take, they’re not comparable,” Rhoades said. “So really the best way to find out what the true value is to bring all the buyers together in one spot so they can compete for the property, and that’s how you find the ultimate value, which ends up being market value.

“This seller built something for him(self), and it’s a beautiful masterpiece, but there is nothing in the neighborhood that really compares on this direct street.”

The hard deadline of auctions creates the urgency to get people off the fence, Rhoades said, adding that it speeds up the selling process for high-end homes similar to the property on Grove Tree Lane from years of price reductions to a 30-day market process.

“It all culminates on auction day, where we have a live auction on the property and the highest bid wins the real estate,” he said. “These are buyers in our database looking for a trophy home, and they all want a deal,” he said “No matter what they buy it for, they feel that they got a deal because they bought it through the auction platform.”

The auctions might draw anywhere from eight to 20 bidders, depending on the house and location. Until auction day arrives, it’s anybody’s guess as to who will turn up, they say. Auctions last between 10 and 15 minutes.

There is no online bidding. Bidders must be present at the auctions or bid through the telephone with an absentee.

For a lot of people, auctions are the most exciting way to buy a property, Willardsen said. “There is a buzz. You get buyers all in a room. They all want it, and they don’t want to leave empty-handed. “

Sher said that this is the first time his team has taken this direction, and it’s exciting to try something new.

“There is always a risk, especially in this auction where it’s absolute,” he said. “The seller has to sell. Once the auctioneer calls the auction, it has to sell. So, it could sell for a dollar or it could sell for more than a dollar. Thank goodness we have a seller who is realistic to the market and is prepared to sell at whatever the market value is to that home.”