Posted: Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:31 PM - 14,083 Readers

By: Shonda Novak

A luxury lakefront estate in Spicewood that originally was on the market for $10.8 million and most recently was listed at $4.8 million was sold at an auction earlier this month to a couple who paid nearly $3.3 million. The opening bid was $1.9 million.



The 11,925-square-foot estate, at 19700 Angel Bay Drive, is on 13.6 acres that have 1,100 feet of frontage on Lake Travis. The house has seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, two private guest residences, a spa, a waterfall, a massage room, a sauna and a 1,200-bottle wine room/cellar.

There were four bidders for the property, said Michael Schwartz, director of sales for Premiere Estates Auction Co., the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-firm that conducted the auction.

"That's not bad when you're dealing with multimillion dollar properties," Schwartz said. "Our job is to go out and find buyers."

Premiere Estates had another successful auction in Spicewood in April, auctioning off a 17,000-square-foot house for $6.3 million. The house had been on the market, priced in $9 million range, Schwartz said.

Last week in Houston, the company auctioned a bank-owned French-style chateau at 14525 Champions Drive with 26,000 square feet for $3.5 million.

Premiere Estates also will be auctioning one of the highest-priced homes ever to go to auction in the nation — a 10,500-square-foot Malibu estate with five bedrooms and 9½ bathrooms that had been on the market for $65 million. That auction is currently being marketed via Premiere Estates' On-Going Auction Platform, which allows bids to be reviewed at any time.