NAPLES, Fla. — Eager to move on, former golf pro and Golf Channel analyst Mark Lye has put his home up for auction at Mediterra in North Naples.
He’s hired an agency, Elite Auctions, in hopes of speeding up a sale.
It’s worked for him before — twice.
He’s sold two other homes in gated golf communities in the Naples area this way, one in 2018 in Talis Park and another in 2020 at The Isles of Collier Preserve.
Well, kind of, as the auctions never actually happened. He canceled both after they spurred strong offers ahead of the scheduled events from serious buyers who feared losing out in a bidding war.
“Did I get top dollar? No, but I sure got offers the first two times to execute,” Lye said.
Once again, Lye isn’t going far.
Soon-to-be-empty nesters with two teenagers in high school, he and his wife are making a switch to condo life.
“We’re just scaling down,” said Lye, who is 69.
With a closing looming on their new high-rise residence at Kalea Bay’s third tower, the Lyes are in a time crunch to sell their current home.
“Our new place will be done in November,” he said.
Their abode at Mediterra has been on the market since April, reflecting a cooling of a white-hot real estate market.
“My broker said: ‘Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine.’ Finally, it started to be July, then August. I said to the broker ‘if it doesn’t sell by Sept. 1, I’m going to Elite,’” Lye said.
And, so he did, with no offers on the table.
“It puts a sense of urgency on things,” Lye said of the auction.
He admits the carrying costs in a gated golf community, such as Mediterra, are high, often with big, unexpected assessments for maintenance and upgrades, so there’s reason for urgency, besides wanting to move on to the new chapter of his life.
“I don’t think the gated communities are for us anymore,” Lye said. “We don’t like too many rules.”
The family still plays golf, but elsewhere.
While he owns and has interests in other residential property in Southwest Florida, Lye said he plans to lease those, with his heart set on his nearly-ready condo in Kalea Bay.
“The amenities at Kalea Bay are off the charts,” he said. “The view is drop-dead gorgeous. It’s really first-class.”
Built in 2013, the Lyes’ sprawling home in Mediterra is currently listed at $4.25 million. Stretching 4,117 square feet, it has four bedrooms and four bathrooms, overlooking a freshwater lake.
Among its stand-out features? A…
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