Looking for somewhere not more than 30 Mins from Boston, very high budget (Wellesley: real estate, credit)

[Valerie C]

How about 26 rooms, 18,000+ s/f on 11 acres in Boxford. Media room, indoor pool, dog kennel, exercise room with sauna, a regulation racquetball/squash court, pistol range... no history here though, built in 90's

Or a 15 room 5.5 acre waterfront estate, private beach. Built in 1926, English Manor-style w/ 8,800+ s/f in Manchester (by the sea)

These are NOT my listings, just a couple that stood out in a search I just did... anyone can get this same information on public sites such as realtor.com, I'm just impressed with these two properties... Just beautiful!

[ogre]

Originally Posted by Providential Man

How long would it take to get to Boston Financial district not in rush hour ?

Also thank you for taking the time to help me.

Are you asking about the time from Manchester? Mapquest shows it as approx. 45 min. I would always expect some traffic during the daytime, even outside of rush hours, so it could be slightly longer than this. Evenings are likely to be slower.

[ogre]

If you don't mind me asking- why must you be within 35 minutes of the city? Maybe for dining and shopping/entertainment? [quote, NYerlostinMA]

I've been wondering the same thing, especially now that I look back at the original post and see that you want the house to be an older house with history. The challenge you face here is meeting all the other criteria while also finding an old historic house the size you're looking for. Especially tough is the desire to be within 35 minutes of Boston. That's not really very far from the city. In most directions you'll find that the towns within a 35-min. radius will still have either an urban character, or decidedly suburban, as in houses with what most people would consider decent-sized yards--say, anywhere from 1/4 acre to an acre or so--but you generally need to be farther from the city to get into the territory of large country estates.

The first town that came to mind when I read the original post was Weston. Toward the west, you don't have to get as far from Boston to find areas with lower population densities. The trouble is that Weston does not have an old, old history as a wealthy town. For several decades after World War Two it was more a town of well-to-do professionals. The town did not take off as a really wealthy place until the '80's. In Weston, you're much more likely to find houses that are more typical large suburban houses, the larger houses maybe being more like 3,000-6,000 sq. ft., and many are less than this. Many of the older houses are more like quaint, attractive, and picturesque, but also modest-sized, Victorian farm houses. It's really mostly fairly new houses that are the size you're looking for. There are a few large older houses scattered around, but not many. There are plenty of properties with several acres of land, but you'd really have to get extraordinarily lucky to find one for sale that also had a 15k-sq.-ft. house that was old and historic, not built in the last 20 years.

To have a better chance of finding something like this, you'd likely have to look farther out from Boston. Two towns that come to mind as possibilities are Dover and Sherborn. A warning here: I'm not familiar with those towns at all. What I do know is that they're at least pretty close to the distance from the city you're looking for, while still being less purely suburban, a little more woodsy, with larger acreage, and also have old reputations as wealthy towns, so that there's likely to be a better possibility of finding a large older house. Within that 35-minute radius, though, this is a tall order.

[wheelz]

North Andover?

[MovingForward]

You need to find a realtor who specializes in huge homes on large acreages. I have to say, though, it's difficult for me to imagine why someone would need 15,000 square feet. That's a huge use of resources, which are diminishing by the day on this planet. Unless you plan on housing orphans or using the property in some way to contribute to the community, I think you should have to pay a luxury tax for the privilege of using more than your share of resources. I don't mean to be rude, but honestly, such a conspicuous consumption of resources by one person affects the land, as well as future generations. We should all be trying to use fewer, not more, resources.

[NY'er lost in MA]

The thing about being 35 minutes from Boston is that you think that would be a distance, but it isn't because of traffic. During rush hours, 35 minutes from the city is really only a 8-10 miles radius, but during off hours it may be more like 20-25 miles out. Traffic is horrible!

Manchester by the Sea is beautiful, but isolated- getting to the city would be exhausting! You have to travel on 128, then 93- the two worst roads in Massachusetts hands down. I used to live in Salem and it took me 2 hours to get to the city in the mornings (19 miles). Traffic would start up around 2-3 in the afternoon heading north on 93 as well. You really can't win.

The other huge factor is the type of house you want. 7+ acres with 15,000 sq. ft will dictate where you live. There are probably only a handful of properties that meet your expectations in the whole state! Finding an older home with those statistics will also be very hard- thus narrowing the available properties even further.

Maintenance on a home of that size will be an issue. I assume that won't be a problem given your resources, but just keep in mind that we have harsh winters compared to the UK/London. So- not sure if I would personally prefer an older home that could be far less efficient for: heating/cooling etc...

But- it really depends on what is most important to you. I don't think you search will ultimately be that hard- once you narrow down the most important factors, there probably will be only 1-2 properties that fall into the most important categories you seek.

Keep us posted!

[pondhopper]

Pretty much your choice is Dover from your description. You could also settle for Sherborn or Weston, but I would check Dover or Dover or Dover :-)

[findingmesomeday]

I am familiar with Dover and Sherborn. I'd say, given your post, I'd consider these towns:

Dover
Sherborn (both will offer lots of land and the chance to find an historic house)
Medfield (town incorporated in 1651--lots of history there and the oppty to buy a house with lots of land)
Sudbury (don't know much about it but it's supposed to be nice)
Weston
Wellesley

[NY'er lost in MA]

those towns are great, but keep in mind what type of property he is looking for. A property of that size does not exist in those towns currently...

[CityGirl52]

My favorite home in all of New England is up for sale right this minute, it's probably gone by now, it's such a gem. It's the Historic Captain Stephen Abbot House in Andover, MA., I've driven by it so many times, it's probably too small for you though! It's only 5900 square feet with .65 acres. Way too tiny for what you're looking for! It's a shame because it's one of the oldest, most beautiful homes in all of New England. I was born and raised in one of the oldest historical style homes in Boston and this one that you can see for yourself, on realtor dot com tops them all! Just go to the Andover, MA. property on this site. Let's put it this way, this home is over a million, but yet under 2 million. This home without a doubt outshines them all in my book!

Manchester By The Sea is lovely, but as one of the posters here mentioned to you? It's SO out of the way, I-128 is a royal pain and it always was through the years, it never changed and it never will. If you paid me a million and one I wouldn't want to deal with that commute in to Boston all the time. Those area residence can have it as far as I'm concerned with living on Cape Ann! To each his own!

What about southern New Hampshire? It's 1 hour from Boston, is that too far
from Boston for you? At least it would be a straight run down I-95. It's the timing of it all that you just have to think about. You'd learn to deal with Rte 1 and learn the short cuts, like the rest of us. It's being on I-93 where the headaches are, when it comes to Metro-North and living along the seacoast you won't have to deal with that route at all.

Now with Andover or No. Andover, MA. it's actually more rural and as one of the posters stated, Boxford is quite lovely too. I think you might want to check those areas out, for a fact. There's some stunning properties along Metro North! Also, the seacoast of New Hampshire too! For instance, Rye Beach is where the author Dan Brown that wrote the DaVinci Code lives, just gorgeous property! It's magnficient along the Atlantic Ocean and having Ocean Boulevard for an address would be a dream for the rest of us around here. Living there is a lot like Newport, Rhode Island, a lot of people are starting to live through there year round instead of having it be there summer homes. If you want to take a look, go to Tate & Foss's website or Carey & Giampa's another good one to see their lovely property they have listed. I myself would go for the historical Captain's home down in Andover any day! IF I had my way and that's certainly NOT going to happen any time soon, in MY lifetime! Good luck in your search, you'll find what you're looking for, you just have to do your homework on it a little more!