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Sellers turn down top bid on farm
By JOSH ZIMMER © St. Petersburg Times, published March 26, 2001 ODESSA -- The day started with high hopes. Before the scheduled auction of their 36-acre property Friday, James and Shirley Spicer luxuriated under a canopy of grand oaks with their daughter and son-in-law, Jane and John Terrell. They talked about the challenges of juggling a full-time equestrian business -- Fiddle-De-Dee Farm Inc. -- with daytime careers. "This is a full-time job, we discovered, and we already have jobs," Jane Terrell said just before the 11 a.m. bidding got under way. They saw an auction as an opportunity to attract aggressive buyers and unload the property quickly. But an hour later, anticipation had given way to disappointment when the sale of the entire property failed to attract a higher bid than $800,000. Professional auctioneer Walter Driggers prodded and even taunted this stubborn group of 14 bidders. To no avail. In the end, family members told Driggers to inform the group they were rejecting the top offer in hopes of negotiating a better deal. Family members who huddled with Driggers after the auction appeared somewhat deflated. Driggers, who is based in Hernando, said he would continue to talk with bidders. Some already had offered higher prices on their way out, he said. He would not reveal the family's minimum acceptance price. But in his opinion, the horse farm, a sprawling complex of barns, stables, horse trails, split-rail fencing and homes, should have sold for at least $1-million. By mid afternoon, he said progress had been made in bridging the gap between the family's desired price and an unidentified buyer. "We're real close to putting something together," he said. The negotiating started soon after Driggers announced the family's rejection and his crew of uniformed employees began closing up shop behind the property's biggest house -- a 4,500-square-foot, white-columned structure off Lutz-Lake Fern Road. Ilaria Ippolito and Joe Barness, two licensed Realtors from Tampa, were the top bidders. They follow the real estate auction circuit and often invest together. At one point in the auction, Barness said he liked the farm property so much, he was willing to withdraw an offer he had made on a $529,000 homestead in Cheval. But $800,000 was as high as he was willing to go. He was willing to throw in some other property that he owns, in exchange for a drop in the price. "No more cash," he said. Had their bid been accepted, Ippolito and Barness would have had to deposit $88,000 with Driggers, an amount equal to 10 percent of $880,000 -- their bid plus a 10 percent buyer's premium. Lurking in the background was another interested buyer, art collector Harcourt Syms. Syms, from Tarpon Springs, did not bid but said he would be interested in the parcel with the large house. Syms and his family are interested in opening an arts complex to house his extensive collection, as well as crafts shops. Syms, a former auctioneer who said he often was paid with prize pieces from fine estate sales, said he believed he could match the offer -- $440,000 -- made on that particular parcel. But he is eyeing 8 to 10 different properties. "I'm looking for the best deal," he said. Bidder James Talley, who, along with his partners, made the highest bid on the main house, said the group is interested in buying a couple of parcels for residential homes. Spicer and his children spent years developing cow pasture into a full-fledged horse farm, he said. But they all had careers. In recent years, Jane Terrell has launched a business making children's furniture and riding clothes and accessories for women. While the Terrells lived in the big house, the Spicers used a smaller second house as a weekend place and a holiday getaway. - Information from Times files was used in this report.
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