Country home search in Millbrook -- please help!! (Poughkeepsie, Bedford: real estate, house)

[yvne526]

Hi everyone,

My family and I are in the process of purchasing a weekend home, possibly in Duchess County. We (two sisters in early 20s) currently divide our time between Manhattan and London. We would be extremely grateful for any suggestions!

We plan to use the house occasionally on weekends, so this is a part investment property for our parents and part country home for us.

Our priorities in order of importance are:
1) Investment value. (Land appears to be cheaper in Duchess County than Greenwich and Westport, for example. How about the growth potential?)
2) Safety. (We want to be in the "best" town in Duchess County, as much as we can afford)
3) Convenience to NYC by train. (Not too far from the village)

In our real estate research, we have previously focused on towns in CT (Greenwich and Westport). In our opinion, these towns are more suburban than country. For a country retreat, something is lacking in these towns. Last week, we began to look at Raveis' listing in Duchess County, NY -- that was when we realized that we had been looking at the wrong places!Some of the homes in Millbrook, at least from the pictures, appeared to be exactly what we would imagine as beautiful country homes with stunning landscapes. Millbrook also does not have the woodsy landscapes (something we dislike very much) that we have seen throughout Connecticut.

We therefore have come to this board to seek your help! So far, we are considering properties in Millbrook, since it is the most valauble town in Duchess county in terms of real estate prices (?). We would like to buy in the best area possible for both safety and investment reasons, as much as we can afford. Since we have previously not heard of the town, we welcome any information possible! (Is it an up and coming area? What is the real estate growth potential? Is it a good area for property investment? Why are there so few properties on the market? How about Amenia?) If we do choose Millbrook, we will consider properties that are not too far from the village. Both us sisters are terrible terrible drivers and are willing to drive only locally (from the trains station to the house)...

We welcome any suggestions. If there are other areas that we should consider, please let us know! Also, do you think we will like Bedford? Or is it just an expensive version of Millbrook? Please help!!

[Viralmd]

If you want convenience, with a close train, then Millbrook is NOT for you. You can get Amtrak in Rhinebeck or MetroNorth in Poughkeepsie, but it's a real trek to the train.

Bedford is only an hour or so from the city, the MetroNorth Bedford Hills station is nearby and is only a little over an hour from NYC on the train.

[Rich Lee]

From Millbrook, one could take Route 343 into Dover Plains to catch MTA/Metro North - Harlem Line.

[Viralmd]

Originally Posted by Rich Lee

From Millbrook, one could take Route 343 into Dover Plains to catch MTA/Metro North - Harlem Line.

Still not exactly what I would call convenient to NYC. And Poughkeepsie IS on the MetroNorth line. We had a country home in Millbrook and it was A ROYAL PAIN with respect to schlepping to the city. It's history and we're now in Bedford - PERFECT!