Luxury Patchogue home, Montauk property near ocean being auctioned

Two high-end Long Island properties are being auctioned off to drum up demand, organizers say.

One property is a waterfront mansion in Patchogue with a $3.2 million minimum bid. Its initial asking price had been nearly $8 million when it was on the market. The deadline for offers is Oct. 24.

The roughly  8,000-square-foot home was built in 2009 by its current owners. The property has views of Patchogue Bay and Fire Island and is on a 9.25-acre lot.

The owner is a commercial builder on Long Island and constructed the home for personal use, but is moving to Palm Beach, Florida, says Misha Haghani, owner of Manhattan-based Paramount Realty USA, which is holding the auction. “Now they’ve reached a certain point where they don’t want to market the property and list it for sale,” Haghani says. “They’re looking to sell, not just list the property.”

The owners of another property, in Montauk, received an accepted offer at a Sept. 12 auction for a yet-to-be-disclosed price. It is a gutted Tudor-style home four blocks from the ocean with approved renovation plans, says Richard Maltz, chief executive officer and president of Maltz Auctions in Central Islip. The property had previously been on the market for $1.995 million, and the minimum bid was $950,000, he says.

The owners live out of the area and bought the property as an investment, says Maltz, adding that they were "looking for a quick and easy sale.”

Auctions have increased in popularity over the last few years as a way to drum up interest in luxury properties that would normally sit on the market while waiting for the right buyer, the auction company owners say. In both auctions, the owners can accept or decline offers.