For anyone interested in buying the former residence of Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., or at least taking a peek inside, open houses for the 24-plus acre estate in Reisterstown start Saturday.
Ripken plans to auction the lavish home in Worthington Valley on May 12. The estate has six bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms and five half-baths, an in-home theater, pool and pool house and plenty of other sports-related amenities. There's a gym with a full-size basketball court, batting cage, training room, locker room and a full-size baseball diamond.
The auction next month, handled by DeCaro Auctions and the Bob Lucido team of Keller Williams Integrity, will be held at the property at 11 a.m. and is to go to "the highest bidder WITHOUT RESERVE," the website says.
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/RTRYMYFHSRBCDC4RGB2UA7B45Q.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/KAZQKCJRNVDONOW7OSPGG7JPAA.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/37FCXDFT4RFSZFMHOCI4OQZ2QA.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/NB4YKTO24NHKFDZRFMGSOUNPVM.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/HPTKJLHN7VEGJDZABZ553CRHDU.jpg)
Open house tours, by appointment only, are planned for every Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. until the auction. The DeCaro office, at 1-800-332-3767, is taking appointment requests.
Lucido said in an interview that many sellers overprice their houses "and they sit on the market" for several years.
"I personally like the auction process for houses over $2 million," he said. "I don't really like the word 'auction.' It should say 'accelerated marketing program.' It condenses the selling process into a small window of time where it creates urgency. I believe it will bring the highest market price you can get."
The Evening Sun
In Ripken's case, Lucido said the auction "is simply a financial tool. There is no financial stress."
The house at 13301 Dover Road was originally listed for sale for $12.5 million in September 2016. Ripken lowered the price to $9.7 million in April 2017 before taking the house off the market last August.
Property records show Ripken bought the property in 1984 for $215,000 and built the home in 1987.
Sun reporter Jeff Barker contributed to this article.