The sale of a recently renovated home has set a new price watermark for the Biltmore community within Camelback East Village and could inspire other homeowners to upgrade their properties to boost values.
On Sept. 4, 40 Biltmore Estates Drive traded hands for $9.5 million, beating out the previous sales record for the Biltmore area that took place last December — and happened to be the home next door, 41 Biltmore Estates Drive.
Frank Aazami and Dinesh Wilson of Russ Lyon Sotheby's International Realty represented the seller. The two worked with West USA Realty's Brock O'Neal, who represented the buyer.
Aazami also had his hands on the previous record deal, representing the buyer for 41 Biltmore Estates, putting a deal together for $7.9 million.
The home at 40 Biltmore Estates Drive is 14,554 square feet on 1.3 acres and has six bedrooms and seven and a half bathrooms. It was built at the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club and is a short walk from the Biltmore Fashion Park shopping center and the office district along Camelback Road.
It was built in 1970 and last sold in 2013 for $3.3 million, according to Homes.com. Upon new ownership, the home underwent a major renovation that went "down to the studs," Aazami said. Some features include a grand foyer, media room, wine cellar, swimming pool and a two-bedroom guest house.
"It's just like what you would see in resorts and really high-end estates," he said, adding the transaction was an all-cash deal.
Capitalizing on the value
In another recent top-dollar deal, the nearby 18 Biltmore Estates Drive traded hands last December for $6.5 million.
Aazami said these prices could encourage others in the neighborhood to invest in renovations to recoup their investment when it's time to sell.
"This gives people confidence that now you got three good sales there in a row, and now, if somebody wants to put a million into their home and ask more, they can get it," Aazami said. "A lot of the homes there are at least 20 years old or more that all need to be resurfaced and updated."
The home is a subregion within the Camelback East Village, which has pockets like the Biltmore area, Arcadia, Arcadia Lite and parts of Scottsdale, according to Homes.com. The recent sale of 40 Biltmore Estates ranks among the top deals of the year for the neighborhood. The year's top sale occurred in May with the $16.5 million sale of 7140 N. 40th Street, an 8,132-square-foot home in a new community by custom-builder BedBrock Developers.
Camelback East Village's boundaries are just outside the town of Paradise Valley, home to some of the most expensive residential real estate in Arizona.
In Biltmore, Aazami feels buyers can get a high-value home without paying Paradise Valley prices. The average price per square foot for a home sold in Camelback East was $469 compared to $933 in Paradise Valley, according to Homes.com data.
"If you take this home and this setting and you dropped it in Paradise Valley, it would be no doubt $5 million more," Aazami said.