Mississauga Mansion Sells for Nearly Half the Asking Price

Image via www.thestar.com

By Penny Munoz

Once listed for $11 million, this Mississauga mansion is the new home of an anonymous bidder who bought it for a controversial $6.2 million.

Though the auction for the mansion filled the room with deafening silence, aside from the auctioneer’s slick wit and persuasive bait, some say that $6.2 million is still a deal. A neighbouring doctor named Neil told the Star’s reporters that the final price is “fantastic.” Bernard Siro, who was there to bid on jewelry agreed, adding that he predicted it would sell between $6.5 and $7 million.

The auction took place at the 18,000 square foot home on 2290 Saxony Court with photos posted online to try and attract international buyers. However, things went awry when criticism arose regarding the photoshopped images featured in the online gallery. Ambassador Fine Homes founder Michael Cerny and Ritchies Auctioneers director Hon. Col. Kashif Khan insisted that “cleaning up” photos is a standard practise and that the builder upholds “Building Trust” as one of their key principles in business.

Other bidders and market analysts speculated that the home was dramatically overpriced for the lot it is on. Mark Wai, a home builder who bid $4 million, a price he deemed “more-than-reasonable,” also told the Star that Cerny’s mistake was to build such a large home where “there is no lot.”

“You make a mistake, doesn’t mean other people do. He made a mistake,” Wai said. “Can you honestly in your head say that later on, you would make money or break even on this property?”

Agreeing with Wai, Daniel Sheikhan, the son of Wai’s realtor commented, “Overpriced,” saying the 23-room home should have gone for “anything under 6 (million dollars). Five?”

“Look at the lot. Have you seen the backyard? There’s no pool in this house. There’s no backyard,” Sheikhan said. “You can’t get it [a luxury car] in the eight-car garage. You take, like, a Rolls-Royce Phantom — somebody like this would probably own one — and you can’t make a turn. You’re going to scrape your car on the side of the road.”

With a state-of-the-art “high-end” kitchen, master suite with a luxurious room-sized closet, white marble ensuite, wine cellar, home theatre and a built-in elevator, Khan called this auction a “once in a blue moon” opportunity. “A lucky consumer is going to get a great deal on a house, worth double than its list price.” (FYI: though it was never advertised, the home was also listed in May 2012 for $8,900,000 and June 2013 for $7,500,000).

There were many other items up for grabs that day, including an 18-carat yellow diamond appraised for $1 million, a 21-carat sapphire valued at over $500,000 and a widely lusted over crocodile Hermes Birkin handbag valued at over $80,000. The best deal according to Star reporters was a 1-kilo gold bar worth approximately $40,000 on the market, which sold for $35,000.