Six heirs who cannot agree on what to do with the family house. A divorce decree that orders a lakefront home sold. A professional athlete traded mid-season, with a house to sell in the city he is leaving. In each case, someone has to sell a valuable property on a timeline, and the usual answer is to list it and wait.
Luxury real estate auction house DeCaro Auctions is betting the professionals behind those decisions want another option. The firm, which has conducted luxury property auctions for more than 40 years, has launched two specialist divisions: Trusts & Estates, which works with attorneys, wealth managers, family offices and other fiduciaries, and Sports & Entertainment, which works with athletes, entertainers and the managers who represent them. DeCaro says it is the first luxury real estate auction firm to create dedicated divisions for these clients.
Auction companies have traditionally marketed to two groups: sellers and real estate agents. Yet many high-value sales are set in motion by someone else, such as the trustee settling an estate, the attorney handling a divorce or the family office managing a principal’s real estate.
“Every auction firm talks to sellers and agents. Nobody has told trust attorneys, wealth managers and family offices that we’re a tool for them,” says Mario Vargas, partner and CEO of DeCaro Auctions. “We’ve all done this work for those clients. No one has spoken to the professionals directly.”
The divisions formalize work DeCaro has done for decades and put dedicated leaders behind it. Sonny Saito, managing director of Trusts & Estates and head of Sports & Entertainment, brings a background spanning private equity, private banking, wealth management and family offices. He previously served as CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate in Japan and is an alumnus of the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is joined by Avery Irwin, director of Trusts & Estates and Sports & Entertainment, who came to DeCaro from wealth management roles at Morgan Stanley and Fisher Investments.
“The advisors behind the most significant estates, fortunes and careers have been underserved. Most have never been shown what an auction can do for their clients,” Saito says. “I’ve spent my career in investment banking, private equity and luxury real estate, serving institutional investors, family offices, ultra-high-net-worth families, and trusts and estates. Together with Avery and our team, we can now give them what they’ve been missing: a firm date, a private process and a result they can stand behind.”
The model has precedent in brokerage. Several large firms, including The Agency, Douglas Elliman and Compass, run sports and entertainment divisions. Vargas says auction houses have not, even though these clients often need what an auction is designed to deliver: a firm sale date and a private process.
The common thread across the Trusts & Estates division’s work is time. Vargas points to the situations it is set up to handle:
Family offices are another focus. A billionaire’s family office typically has one person handling real estate, another handling taxes and another handling investments. DeCaro wants the real estate lead to know a property can be sold quickly and quietly.
Vargas stresses that these sellers are rarely in financial trouble. “Most of the sellers who come to us aren’t in financial distress. They’re in time distress,” he says. “Time is the most important thing in the world, and auctions give you time.”
For heirs, he adds, the return is often measured in something other than dollars. “When you inherit a property, it’s not only dollars and cents anymore,” he says. “It’s emotional freedom.”
For athletes, the classic case is the mid-season trade. A player has to buy a home in a new city and sell the old one fast, usually with an agent or business manager handling the details.
High-profile clients come with their own rules: nondisclosure agreements, no use of a client’s name or story in the press without permission, and the ability to work through representatives while still dealing directly with the client when needed. DeCaro is placing its entire company under a permanent, company-wide NDA because of these clients and the family offices it expects to serve. The firm’s past sports clients include Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., who chose DeCaro to sell his home.
Both divisions use the same date-certain process DeCaro runs for every sale: typically about 30 days of marketing tailored to each property, then one week of bidding, with closing in 30 days or less. For an attorney or advisor, that means a firm date to plan around instead of an open-ended listing.
DeCaro does not replace the professionals already involved. The firm works with a listing agent on every sale and protects the agent’s commission, and it coordinates with the client’s attorneys, managers and advisors. The team behind the new divisions is listed on DeCaro’s specialties page.
Matthew Rollins, partner and chief marketing officer, says the world these divisions serve is small and runs on trust. “This clientele values the transparency and certainty of auction,” he says. “The greatest compliment is a referral.”
Vargas expects the bigger shift to happen on the advisory side. “Financial professionals are going to say, ‘I never thought of an auction company as a partner for my clients,'” he says. “We want to be the first to tell them we can help.”
About DeCaro Auctions: DeCaro Auctions is a boutique luxury real estate auction house founded by Daniel DeCaro in 1983, with more than 40 years in luxury auctions. The firm runs date-certain auctions for whole homes and co-ownership, and partners with the listing agent on every sale; learn more at decaroauctions.com.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
Disclosure: Individuals or companies mentioned may have a commercial relationship with KeyCrew.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here