Doug Vaughan mansion: Going, going gone

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A buyer who submitted the winning bid Tuesday for disgraced real estate agent Doug Vaughan's mansion got a sweet deal.

The four-year-old custom-built home on Tanoan's Golf Course hit the market last summer for $2.5 million. With no takers, the four-bedroom, seven-bathroom home eventually dropped to $1.8 million. But still nobody wanted it.

And even today, when it went up for auction at the Dennis Chavez Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse at 5th Street and Gold Avenue in downtown Albuquerque, the house attracted just one bid. The buyer -- GMC LLC of Albuquerque -- offered the minimum price for the property -- $1.4 million -- but paid in cash. The purchase took only minutes and came with little fanfare.

"GMC is an investment limited liability company that buys real estate improves it and sells it," said Jennie Behles, the company's attorney.

Within two hours, real estate agents slapped the sold sign on the Vaughan property.

A few other people were interested in the house, but when it came to bidding time, only one buyer stepped forward. Another potential buyer withdrew an offer at the last minute and a third couldn't get qualified in time.

"People had to prove they could buy and not everybody was able to do that in time," said Bryan Lee, Vaughan's Realtor.

The purchase price did not include the furniture inside. At this point, it's unclear what will happen to the furnishings.

Money from the sale of the mansion will go toward the million-dollar mortgage, administrative costs and then to investors who lost more than $70 million in a ponzi scheme allegedly orchestrated by Vaughan.

"Anything that we can put into the state that we can get back is really important and this was a hard sale," said Kelly Hardison, another Vaughan Realtor.

Vaughan's odyssey doesn't end with the sale of his mansion. He has 17 more properties that real estate agents are trying to sell to help repay his debts