NEWS

This is what a $3.9 million house looks like

Jeremy Cox
jcox6@dmg.gannett.com

The five bedrooms, koi pond, saltwater swimming pool, glass tiles imported from Italy, putting green, floors heated by piping-hot water — all of it can be yours if you're the highest bidder.

You'll probably have to dig deep, though.

The asking price is a cool $3.9 million. If that indeed is the amount inked onto the deed, the sleek structure at 12933 Old Bridge Road will become Worcester County's priciest residential transaction in years.

It's worth that and more, according to the seller.

"Obviously, I’ve got my heart and my soul into that thing," said Roy Schwalbach, a businessman based in New York City. "I’ve put details into it that would be beyond a lot of people’s wildest dreams, and it shows.”

Ready to buy your beach luxury vacation get away? Here is your chance. 12933 Old Bridge Rd, in Ocean City is up for auction. Consisting of 5 bedrooms and 5 baths. A total of 5,003 sqft an Absolute Auction/No Reserve to be held on-site, September 10th, 2016, at 11:00AM. Elite Auctions will be hosting the open houses and auction.

When he calculates all he has invested into the property — the five and a half building lots, the 2003 main structure, the 2007 addition, all of the high-end touches —  the final tab comes to about $5 million, he said.

READ MORE: The DelmarvaNow real estate guide lists what's for sale across the region.

The auction is set to take place Sept. 10 on the property's grounds. Only registered bidders will be allowed to participate.

Schwalbach initially didn't want to part with his dream house. But a divorce set his life on a different trajectory than he had expected, and a new business project — the details of which he is disinclined to disclose — steered his time and attention away from the Eastern Shore.

He tried auctioning the house in 2013, asking for $4.9 million. But the market wasn't biting.

“I guess it was a little aggressive for the times," Schwalbach said.

This time, you could call him a motivated seller. He has hired a new auction company, one that specializes in the luxury market. And he has set no minimum for the bidding.

"Wherever it starts, it starts, and wherever it ends, it ends," said Randy Haddaway, president and founder of Elite Auctions, which is handling the sale. "The property will be sold on Sept. 10."

That is, unless someone brings in an offer before the auction that Schwalbach can't refuse.

But if the auction goes forward, the list price of $3.9 million goes out the window as soon as the bidding starts. If the final bid approaches that figure, though, it will be the biggest residential sale in the county dating to at least the dawn of 2013 (when state online property records started tracking transactions).

The current record is $3.2 million. Reached twice. By the same house.

The house at 319 South Heron Gull Court on the bayside on Ocean City sold for that amount in January 2013 and again in September 2015, records show.

The highest amount to change hands so far this year for a house in Worcester: $1.8 million for 10454 Golf Course Road, which lies at the northern tip of West Ocean City.

Schwalbach's abode is the kind of place that design publications write about — and have.

He bought the house half-finished from the Berlin architect David Quillin, whose parents had financed its initial construction.

Ready to buy your beach luxury vacation get away? Here is your chance. 12933 Old Bridge Rd, in Ocean City is up for auction. Consisting of 5 bedrooms and 5 baths. A total of 5,003 sqft an Absolute Auction/No Reserve to be held on-site, September 10th, 2016, at 11:00AM. Elite Auctions will be hosting the open houses and auction.

"He had a very low budget to build it because he was being financed by his dad," Schwalbach said. "He had my hope and dreams in terms of finishes and fixtures. When we met we were a perfect match because I had the ammunition to build the perfect house.”

Schwalbach prefers to be called an entrepreneur, but "Renaissance man" would do the trick as well. He built a modeling career into owning a studio of his own in New York's Chelsea area. Then he got into designing eyewear. And in his spare time, he likes to compete in fishing tournaments.

That hobby was what drew him to Ocean City, specifically its annual White Marlin Open. Schwalbach started hunting for real estate in the area to be near his favorite fishing grounds, not to mention his new bride at the time.

The 6,000-square-foot house is planted along a finger of land that juts into the Isle of Wight Bay. A large window in the living room offers an expansive view of salt marsh slowly giving way to open water and the Ocean City skyline beyond.

What started life as a bare-bones spec house quickly transformed into a spare-no-expenses affair.

Ready to buy your beach luxury vacation get away? Here is your chance. 12933 Old Bridge Rd, in Ocean City is up for auction. Consisting of 5 bedrooms and 5 baths. A total of 5,003 sqft an Absolute Auction/No Reserve to be held on-site, September 10th, 2016, at 11:00AM. Elite Auctions will be hosting the open houses and auction.

Just a quick list of some of the add-ons: pressure-sensor floors that turn on lights when a person's weight is detected, bamboo flooring, blue LED lights that light up the garage floor like an airport runway, kitchen fixtures crafted in Italy, custom-made handrails, decking constructed out of ultra-hard South American wood.

One of the house's amenities got Schwalbach into hot water.

He would need to get an exception from the county's 100-foot length limit on docks so that his could reach navigable water. The Assateague Coastal Trust challenged the approval he received to extend his dock 180 feet over the marsh. The case eventually wended its way up to Maryland's highest court, which sided with Schwalbach in 2015.

If the sale ends up setting a record, it might not last for long. A six-bedroom house at 12325 St. Martins Neck Road is on the market, and its owner also is seeking $3.9 million, according to the property listing.

More information about the Schwalbach sale and house can be found at OldBridgeRoad.com.

410-845-4630 

On Twitter @Jeremy_Cox

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