This week, The Extravagant connected with Trayor Lesnock of Platinum Luxury Auctions to explore the world of luxury real estate auctions. Lesnock’s firm has handled some rather impressive non-distressed properties, such as this Fifth Avenue condo we covered back in February. Aside from the unique properties often offered by Platinum, there are many benefits to purchasing luxury real estate at auction; to learn about these enticing advantages to purchasing a property from Platinum or another luxury auction, read on.
For those of us who are not already familiar with Platinum Luxury Auctions, can you tell us about your firm and the types of properties you represent?
“Founded in 2010, Platinum Luxury Auctions is a firm that specializes in what is broadly called the “non-distressed” auction sale of multimillion-dollar residential properties throughout the US, and occasionally abroad. The “non-distressed” nature of our sales means that our clients are generally affluent sellers who don’t need to sell their property (that is, there is no financial pressure motivating them to do so) but want to sell. Typically, they have also become frustrated at the inability to sell their property using the traditional brokerage process. While this sounds competitive to the brokerage industry, we actually conduct 95% of our sales in cooperation with the given listing brokerage/agent, protecting their commissions in the process. As such, much of our time is spent educating and informing the luxury real estate industry about our service platform. Most of our properties are in the $2- to $20-million range, and our team recently reached $1 billion in closed sales experience. We also developed the term “luxury auction” as it applies to this method of non-distressed auction sales, and we own the federal trademark rights to the term. It is now widely used in reference to high-end property auctions.”
Aside from generally transparent market based pricing, what are some other benefits to buying luxury real estate at an auction as opposed to a conventional sale?
“For a buyer, there are several benefits such as: 1) Simple, “brass tacks” terms of sale with no surprises; 2) Rather than dealing with the daunting nature of high-end property negotiations between a buyer and seller, an auction buyer instead gets to compete against other real buyers in that ever-important “transparent market” forum; and 3) A seller offering their property at auction is generally a serious seller, and buyers love to deal with serious sellers as opposed to those who are simply “testing the market” or are unrealistic as to pricing.”
Entry Hallway 
Great Room – Living 
Master Bedroom 
Office 
5th Avenue – New York City skyline with Central Park
Photo Credit: Platinum Luxury Auctions and Mentis Photography
Can you share with us some of your stand out auctions? What made them special in your opinion?
“This is a tough one for me, as many auctions stand out for various reasons beyond hitting a record price. For example, we just had a terrific, 8-figure auction sale on Feb. 19 for a condo on 5th Avenue in NYC facing Central Park- a previously unheard-of occurrence for such an asset in the Big Apple. While the price made us happy, what really stood out was having 14 registered bidders- all of an impressive caliber- participate in the sale. Another one of my favorite auctions occurred in Florida in February 2013. After learning the sales price from the auction (an equestrian estate that sat on the market for 3 years before we arrived), the seller arrived back on site and literally ran over to me and jumped into my arms, happily screaming about the price as we hugged and twirled around. It was just like out of a movie and I always wish I had that captured on film! Then she popped champagne for everyone on our team.”
What do you believe sets Platinum Luxury Auctions apart from your competitors?
“We pay meaningful attention to the rest of our industry – it’s an important part of staying competitive and relevant for any business. Thick layers of self-reporting and publicity are commonly used to frame the public’s perception of a success or failure in the real estate auction industry, so one has to look beyond that to assess real performance. By analyzing the real data (metrics such actual-vs-expected pricing, sales-vs-list-price, actual-vs-reported closings, etc.) and then measuring it against that within our track record, we consistently find that Platinum’s sales generate higher pricing on a pound-for-pound basis. We might not hold the highest auction sales price or the greatest volume of sales, but Platinum achieves the most pennies on the dollar on a per-property basis. That is our main differentiator, and our operating model is designed to achieve this result.”
Foyer Gallery 
Media Lounge 
Master Bedroom 
Casual Dining View 
Miami – Sunset View
Photo Credit: Platinum Luxury Auctions and Blue Ocean Photography
Where do you see the future of luxury real estate auctions heading?
“This is always a popular topic of discussion. Presently, so much of the answer depends on how the traditional brokerage industry continues to change. For example, while Platinum works openly with all luxury brokerages and agents, it currently has more formalized service contracts to provide luxury auction services to 3 major brokerages: Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and Engel & Volkers, U.S.A. This type of formalized, B-to-B relationship was relatively unheard of when I first entered the auction industry, as the luxury brokerage and auction worlds were simply too far apart at that time. While I expect to see continued and increasing harmony between the brokerage and auction worlds in the future, there is a lot to be said about luxury property auctions not being a “one-size-fits-all” process. They should be used when the right conditions are met, rather than universally. So, while I embrace growth and progress within our space, I remain slightly cautious as to the process being over-applied.”
What’s next for Platinum Luxury Auctions? Any special upcoming sales we should follow this spring/summer?
“We just capped two great sales- one in NYC and one in Miami- and are approaching our next round of offerings to close out Q1 this year. A couple of properties that we strategically held back last year due to COVID (such as a Fijian island that was inaccessible for nearly all of 2020 due to travel restrictions) should also see their campaigns launch this year. Plus, we’re in the midst of a brand refresh, recently hired a new public relations team, hired a new copywriter and are trying some new concepts on both the marketing and service model sides of our business. It’s a busy time indeed!”
