Foreclosure looms for McAfee estate

One of the Pikes Peak region's most star-studded home sales in recent years - the purchase of the sprawling mountain estate built by software pioneer John McAfee - is in danger of becoming one of its highest-profile foreclosures.

Jeffrey "Patrick" Wu, a Chicago commodities trader who bought the property from McAfee at an on-site auction in May 2007, still owes about $3.2 million on a loan he took out to finance the $5.72 million purchase, according to a published notice by the Teller County Public Trustee's Office.

A June 3 sale of the 280-acre compound, near Woodland Park, has been scheduled by the Trustee's Office in Cripple Creek, according to the notice.

The estate, once McAfee's yoga retreat center and one of several residences he owned, includes a 10,000-square-foot main residence, with an entertainment center, three guest homes, nine cabins, four trout ponds, a horse paddock and unobstructed mountain views.

McAfee, who gained fame as being one of the first to market antivirus computer software with the company that bears his name, reportedly spent $25 million to build the estate and spent more than 15 years filling it with collectibles from around the world.

"People are curious, so we've had general-interest calls on the property, but nothing serious so far," said Pam Cronce, deputy public trustee.

Seven months after Wu purchased the property, he put it back on the market at an asking price of $8.9 million. He later dropped it to $7.5 million, but no buyers emerged.

In November 2008, the estate once again went on the auction block. But offers fell short of the $3.8 million minimum bid. Wu could not be located Tuesday for comment.

Wu's purchase marked one of the largest residential property sales in the Pikes Peak region. And it will rank as one of the highest-valued residential foreclosures in Teller County, Cronce said.

Most foreclosed homes in the county range in value from $100,000 to $300,000, she said, with some reaching $500,000.

In Colorado, property owners who miss three months of mortgage payments are served with a foreclosure notice - called a notice of election and demand. State law gives property owners a few months to catch up on their payments. But if they fail to do so, or if they can't work out a deal with a lender, the property is put up for sale by a public trustee.

Foreclosures have been climbing steadily during the past five years in Teller County, jumping from 162 in 2005 to 277 in 2008, according to the Trustee's Office. But this year has seen a slight decline: 76 foreclosures in the first quarter, compared with 81 in the first three months of 2008.

Keli Konczak, a broker with Prudential Colorado Real Estate in Woodland Park, said many in the real-estate industry were surprised to learn of the pending foreclosure sale on the former McAfee estate.

"It's an interesting place in a very beautiful spot, and in the past, many people have been interested in it," she said.

But the home and other dwellings on the site have not been well maintained, which has decreased its value, Konczak said. She handled the August 2007 sale of an airstrip that McAfee owned in South Park and is also listing two pieces of land McAfee owns that are adjacent to Wu's property.

If no one steps forward at the foreclosure sale, ownership of the property will revert to the lender, First American State Bank, and the estate will likely be placed back on the market - but that could take six months to a year, Konczak said.

"One of the pitfalls has been that the community in that area is opposed to any huge developments going in there, so the next buyer also might have to be someone who falls in love with the property," she said.

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Gazette writer Rich Laden contributed to this report.