BIGFORK – A Flathead Lake estate listed for sale at $3.2 million two years ago sold at auction Thursday for $1.7 million — a sign that the market for upscale homes has become stagnant.
John Thornton, a developer from Tennessee, bought the property in 2005. It includes a three-bedroom restored 1940s-era house, a guesthouse, a small orchard and 345 feet of lake frontage — all on 5.5 acres south of Bigfork. The investor owned it only a couple of years before he decided to sell it to streamline his property portfolio.
More than 200 people gathered at Thursday’s “absolute” auction, which ensures a sale to the highest bidder no matter how low the highest bid may be.
The top bid — $1,701,000 — came from Douglas Stober of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Stober vacations with his family in the Flathead every summer and owns property on Bigfork harbor.