Belton Estate Auction Sale Price Beats Its Last Record

A Central Texas mansion that nabbed a local sale price record in July reached a new high at auction.

After a bidding period that ended with a live auction in Miami last week, the 13-acre estate at 8536 Armstrong Road in Belton secured a winning bid topping its last sale price, Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty Agent Debbie Stevenson confirmed. The seller, manufacturing mogul Chaz Neely, bought the property through an LLC in a previous auction in July for $3.2 million, according to public records. It was the first home in Belton to sell for more than $3 million, Stevenson said.

According to a Concierge Auctions press release, six bidders competed for a sale price of $3.6 million at the Miami event. That is below its asking price of $6 million. The winning bidder wasn’t present at the auction, and Stevenson declined to confirm the final sale price. The sale is now pending, Redfin shows.

On a 13-acre lot abutting Salado Creek, the 7,000-square-foot home has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. A second residential building adds another 3,000 square feet of living space, according to county records. Neely thoroughly renovated the home after buying it in July, Stevenson said.

“I don’t think that the live auction for these properties is the right method, simply because it moves so slow. It took, for example, an hour to auction a penthouse in Miami before we came on,” Stevenson said.

“For something other than real estate — if you’re liquidating a ranch, say. There’s nothing better than where they can actually put eyes on the implements, touch, feel, things like that. But there is a time and a place for the online auction, and I think luxury real estate is it,” she added.

The buyer plans to live in the home, according to Stevenson.

It’s a notable sale for Belton, a distant midpoint between Dallas and Austin.

“I honestly was against even mentioning Austin [in the listing], because usually when people come to live here, they’re trying to get away from Austin,” Stevenson said.

Neely owns San Antonio Steel Company, the biggest wholesale supplier of farm fencing in the country.