A unique Calgary-area luxury home, described as a modern European estate residence, will go on the auction block in an attempt to sell the property, which is currently listed for sale at $3.25 million.
Bidding for Kingsdown Manor, through Lambert Premier Auctions, will be held November 30 through December 3. Lambert Premier Auctions is collaborating with listing agent Rachelle Starnes of the Starnes Group at Coldwell Banker Complete Real Estate.
The property is in the upscale Springbank acreage area just outside of Calgary. It is set on a ridge overlooking the Rocky Mountains.
Alec Lambert
“Kingsdown Manor is an impeccable property with assured privacy, but where it really shines is how perfectly sized it is, and how correct it is for today’s luxury buyers,” says Alec Lambert, managing partner, Lambert Premier Auctions. “Sitting on 1.98 acres, the home features over 6,100 square feet of developed living space, including many rooms that are work-from-home ready. It has found the sweet spot of being a glamorous estate that is really livable – one with lots of room but without being overwhelming and in a location that’s hard to beat,” he says.
“We go in and evaluate the home up front, get it all positioned for selling it, including inspection reports and all the things a buyer might want to know about the property. So a lot of due diligence happens ahead of time before we ever go to the market and then position the home so it’s ready to go for the buyers,” Lambert says.
“That’s a big thing. That they’re fully educated on the kind of condition a home is in and the area and the information on the community and all of that stuff. We do a lot of work ahead of time to prepare the home for the buyer group.”
Lambert says homes like this one in the luxury market are difficult to price.
“It is a tough market in Calgary right now. There are a lot of luxury products on the market. And how do you price it? It’s difficult to know where to price it at and what the auction does is it facilitates the market price, because you invite the buyers that may be out there to participate and at the end of the day they participate in pricing the home in an open platform.
“In the case where there’s an auction, the sellers are ready to move on. They’re motivated by the timeliness of an auction procedure.”
He says that at the end of that procedure, the market has spoken and the sellers will know the value of the home in today’s market.
The platform allows buyers to bid remotely from anywhere in the world.
The home “has found the sweet spot of being a glamorous estate that is really livable,” says Alec Lambert.
Kingsdown Manor has four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. It is within easy access to Banff National Park, Lake Louise and downtown Calgary. Additional features include the mountain views, dedicated work-from-home rooms, outdoor entertaining areas, a Tyndall stone exterior, stone gardens and mature hedges, two woodburning fireplaces, a custom kitchen, a den clad in rich wainscoting, a formal dining room and a long curved main driveway with a triple garage set off to the left with its own separate driveway.
On the lower level is a family/TV/games room, a wine cellar, a bedroom and a designer bathroom. The upper level houses the primary bedroom with a palatial ensuite bathroom, two children’s bedrooms and a laundry room. Al McDowell of McDowell and Associates crafted the architectural design and Brian Murray of Granville Homes built the home.
Lambert says protection is offered to the sellers with an undisclosed reserve price on the home.
“They’ve offered up quite a range in value to make it available to the buyer group. Of course we do set a reserve or have some level of protection that someone doesn’t come in and buy it for $100,000 or something crazy, which would be very much an upset,” says Lambert.
He says the sellers have the option to remove that reserve or lower it.
The Kingsdown Manor auction marks the Vancouver-based Lambert Premier Auctions entry into the Alberta real estate market. The company says there are more auctions on the horizon.
For sellers, the auction includes a strong marketing program that publicizes the home in a targeted way, generating significant interest in the property, Lambert says. On average the company generates about 40 times the leads that any normal real estate deal does, he says.
“We’re signalling to the market that these sellers are serious, they want the place sold. They’re not going to give it away for a dollar but these people are serious, they’re real sellers, they’re aware of the market conditions, they go in with eyes wide open and buyers are interested in that. They don’t want to waste time putting in offers, insulting people and everything else people are nervous about doing in a market like this. So we invite buyers to set the price in the market,” says Lambert.
“People are frustrated when the market is slow. The absorption rates are low. And (auctions) are a mechanism to present your property more aggressively for sale and it invites the buyer,” says Lambert. “I’m getting more calls all the time . . . And let’s not forget it’s very common everywhere else in the world. Canada is a laggard in this particular area,” he says.
For more information on Kingsdown Manor, including property details, exclusive virtual tour, diligence documents and more, click here. Or check out the YouTube video.
Mario Toneguzzi is a contributing writer for REM. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald, covering sports, crime, politics, health, faith, city and breaking news, and business. He now works on his own as a freelance writer for several national publications and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Mario was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list.
