Estate goes for $5.72 million

29-year-old nabs McAfee mansion for vacation home

Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, May 11, 2007

WOODLAND PARK - A 29-year-old commodities trader with Colorado roots scooped up software mogul John McAfee's mountain estate near Colorado Springs for $5.72 million.

"It will be a vacation home," said buyer Jeffrey Patrick Wu, a Chicago commodities trader who grew up in Evergreen and attended Colorado Academy in southwest Denver and the University of Chicago. "I do not plan on subdividing it."

At the end of about 11 minutes of bidding at the estate, Wu had outbid 20 other registered bidders from Colorado and elsewhere around the nation - paying a fraction of what the property was said to be worth.

Each registered bidder put down $100,000 for the right to participate in the sale of the roughly 280-acre property, situated outside this mountain town and 18 miles west of Colorado Springs.

The final price includes a 10 percent "buyer's premium" that will go to the auction house, Alabama-based National Auction Group.

Prior to the sale, the vast property reportedly was worth an estimated $20 million. It looks out on the south side of Pikes Peak and is adjacent to Pike National Forest.

"I think the new owner got an excellent deal," McAfee, founder of an anti-virus software company that today bears his name, said minutes after the sale. There was no minimum price.

"It's an auction. You get what you get," McAfee said about the final price tag. He has auctioned three other properties in the past three years.

The 61-year-old opted to auction off the property he's owned since 1992 because he seldom visits it anymore. He has homes in Tucson and Rodeo, a small town in southwestern New Mexico.

McAfee's recent passion for flying ultralight aircraft attracted him to the Southwest, where he and a group of fellow fliers known as the Sky Gypsies pilot their tiny aircraft close to the ground across the region's deserts and canyons.

The Colorado estate contains a main mansion that's about 10,650 square feet. The eclectically furnished home contains five bedrooms and five full bathrooms. The purchase price includes the furniture.

Nine guest cabins dot the estate, forested with ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and aspen. The mountainous terrain also has four fully stocked trout ponds.

Auctioneer Eddie Haynes opened the bidding at $15 million but quickly dropped that to $10 million when no bids emerged.

The first bid was for $3 million. When the bid price hit $5 million, Haynes said: "I saw an appraisal for this (estate) . . . and it was about three times that," noting that the figure excluded the value of the furnishings that would go with the home.

Wu, the buyer, said after the sale that his price limit had been "about $6 million."

Meet the buyer: Jeffrey Patrick Wu

• Hometown: Chicago

• Age: 29

• Profession: Commodities trader

• Colorado roots: Grew up in Floyd Hill section of Evergreen and attended Colorado Academy in southwest Denver.

• Notable quote: "I plan on living here this summer," he said of his plans for the estate.

fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2467