"Going once . . . going twice . . . Sold! for $1.478 million to bidder number 707."
With that declaration and the bang of auctioneer Eddie Haynes' gavel, Salt Lakers Jeff and Nancy Flamm became the new owners Tuesday of the Big Cottonwood Canyon compound known as "Maxfield's Lodge."The original Maxfield's Lodge was built before the turn of the century on a 5.4-acre parcel in the Storm Mountain area of the canyon and for decades operated as a restaurant. In the early 1960s, it was torn down, and a sprawling, Frank Lloyd Wright-style house was built in its place, but the name stuck. It remains "Maxfield's Lodge" to this day.
In 1989, David Vanier, an employee of the Utah State Tax Commission, and his wife, Judith Lamb-Lion, bought the property and have used it as a second home since that time. They also auctioned off their primary home in Holladay Tuesday, only hours after the sale of the canyon property. High bid was $677,250.
Vanier said he had tried to sell Maxfield's the traditional way but with no success. That's when he and the other owners of the compound -- there is a small cottage and cabin on the property owned by others, as well as a half-acre building lot -- decided to turn the sale over to The National Auction Group Inc., based in Gadsden, Ala.
Asked during the bidding what he expected to get for the lodge, Vanier shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Who knows? It's impossible to get comparables for a unique property like this, so appraisals don't mean much."
The auction was "absolute," meaning the property would be sold to the highest bidder with no minimum price and with no regard as to whether the owners thought they had gotten ripped off.
"I think it was a fair price," said a smiling Jeff Flamm following his and his wife's successful bid for the properties. He said he wanted Maxfield's Lodge to use as a "gathering place" for his family, which includes six children.
Flamm said he previously owned an employee benefits firm called Health Benefits America, which he sold, and currently owns a speed-reading firm called Infinite Mind.
Asked if he intends to return the lodge to a commercial enterprise, he said he may run his office at the site but "right now, it's for personal use."
The Flamms didn't participate in the early bidding in which the lodge, cottage, cabin and building lot were auctioned separately. During that phase, the bidding for the lodge and 3.72 acres of land began at $500,000 and topped out at $625,000. High bid for the cottage was $190,000; for the cabin, $180,000; and for the half-acre lot, $41,000, for a total of $1,036 million.
Following a brief recess, the bidding began all over again, at $1.1 million, for all of the properties combined. If there had been no bids in that phase, the parcels would have been sold to the earlier, separate bidders.
That didn't happen, but there seemed to be only two bidders for the total package among the 15 registered bidders and 50 or so people gathered in the lodge's living room, and the Flamms quickly emerged the winners with their bid of $1.478 million.
Auctioneer Haynes is straight out of the old school of rapid-fire delivery, and he's supported by a staff of seven aides who roam the crowd with referee whistles urging the bidders on with shouts, gestures and the occasional whistle blast, all intended to whip bidders into a competitive frenzy and push the price higher.
According to auction spokesman John Marshall, many people across the country are choosing auctions over traditional sales techniques to sell high-end properties. He said National Group sold Sen. Lloyd Bentsen's 10,000 acre south Texas ranch for more than $6 million in 1997 and sells more than 50 $1 million-plus estates every year.
Marshall said people decide to auction their properties mainly because it's speedy and they have a guaranteed date -- the date of the auction -- at which they know the property will be sold whatever the price.