O.C. developer throws in the towel and will auction his mansions

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Two years ago, spec developer Larry Igarashi started building this 16,500-square-foot house in Coto de Caza, figuring he could get about $10 million for it. So did the bank that lent him the money. Construction was completed this year, and you can guess what happened. There just aren’t many people out there ready to drop 10 mil on a house, even one with a 4,000-square-foot climate-controlled garage and wine storage for 1,400 bottles.

Igarashi also has another house nearby that sat vacant on the market for two years, listed for $5.75 million. Igarashi said he turned down a few offers for that one, a more modest 10,500-square-foot ‘villa’ -- decisions he now regrets.

He’s auctioning the houses Saturday. The larger one has an opening bid of $5.99 million, and the less-large one opens at $2.799 million.

You may see more of these multimillion-dollar home auctions as builders decide it’s finally time to cut their losses -- or their lenders decide for them. Or maybe not. In December, an auction of five Manhattan Beach houses priced over $1 million yielded no buyers.

Details of the Coto de Caza auction are at this site.

-- Peter Y. Hong