The most expensive listing in Massachusetts

Pool, jacuzzi flowing into pool (right), and cabana behind James and Raina Ring's home .



By Linda Matchan, Globe Staff



EAST ORLEANS -- When Jim Ring got a call from his realtor saying his home on Cape Cod had the distinction of being the most expensive house currently for sale in Massachusetts, ``it sort of blew me away," he says.



True, the asking price is $25 million, but Ring is from California, land of super size trophy homes where the most expensive house for sale, in Malibu, is $65 million, according to Ultimate Homes magazine, which tracks such data.



``I find it hard to believe," says Ring, a real estate developer, in a telephone interview. ``I come from an area in Los Angeles, in Malibu, where that sort of price is, I don't want to say common, but not unique. Fortunately or unfortunately. Massachusetts is a state that I would think would have expensive and beautiful homes priced accordingly."



Well, at least it has this one, and a few others. Twenty-two Massachusetts homes made the Ultimate Homes list of the 1,000 most expensive homes publicly listed for sale in the United States . They include a $12.5 million Japanese hand-joined, wood-framed residence in the Chilmark community of Seven Gates; and a six-story townhouse in Boston's Louisburg Square priced at $8,950,000 with ``the best roof deck in the entire city," says broker John Forger. (Donald Trump's oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., is the most expensive, listed at $125 million.)



What does $25 million get you in Massachusetts? Nothing quite as exclusive as it would in the Virgin Islands, where for a million dollars less you can buy a private , 230-acre island.


Still, the East Orleans property is nothing to sneer at. It's not just a home, it's a ``retreat,"

according to the literature prepared by Century 21 Beach Road Real Estate/Fine Homes & Estates in Orleans, which is offering the estate jointly with Ring's California realtor, Kay Cole of Ewing & Associates/Sotheby's International Realty. Needless to say, homes of this caliber aren't sold the usual way. No ``For Sale" signs or open houses, says Myra Brink-Dennis of Century 21.


According to Rick Goodwin, publisher of Ultimate Homes, the magazine's research does not represent private listings, but is based on a comprehensive national search by the publication.



Your first impression of the property, located on more than 10 wooded acres on Beach Road, is that you're entering a gated community. Drive up the long, tree-lined road, dotted with blue- and gold-engraved signs (``Caution Children," ``Keep Off Grass," ``No Trespassing") and behold a veritable resort where Ring lives, when he's on the East Coast, with his wife and three daughters. There's a guest house; a barn (``equestrian facilities" in real estatespeak); a tennis and basketball court; a trampoline; heated pool with cabana and a jacuzzi that empties into it like a waterfall; an outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven and dishwasher; and a putting green, featuring a golf ball washer and two hazards -- a sand trap and a pond.Continued...