Summer home/condo near Minneapolis (Plymouth, Winona: townhouse, buy, living)

[nitram]

Retiree's looking for information on a good location and buy for a summer home/condo/townhouse/duplex near Minneapolis. Possibly the Plymouth area. Other areas or ideas?? Any retirement communities out there? Anything for 150,000 to $200,000.
2 bd 2 bth one story needed for handicapped person, garage, 1000-1500 sq ft.
Any reccomendations is appreciated. Thanks in advance for your consideration.

[golfgal]

There is a very nice 55+ community in the Evermoor development in Rosemount. It has a high rise condo section and townhomes so you could have your pick of what style of living you like. The Townhomes are built along a pond and in a wooded area. There is a park nearby and many, many walking trails.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by nitram

Retiree's looking for information on a good location and buy for a summer home/condo/townhouse/duplex near Minneapolis. Possibly the Plymouth area. Other areas or ideas?? Any retirement communities out there? Anything for 150,000 to $200,000.
2 bd 2 bth one story needed for handicapped person, garage, 1000-1500 sq ft.
Any reccomendations is appreciated. Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Arizona has such a wide array of retirement communities from very basic to exclusive. My mother goes to one in Chandler and I have been there quite a few times. I am very amazed at all the things there are to do, and how the communities work. I am not aware of anything that can come close to comparing to these type of communities.

What I notice from people that are looking to summer in MN, they are looking for a break from the heat, some enjoyment of the the lakes and that type of thing. You did not really mention what you are looking for other than the price, size and access. I do think you would be able to find something, but where is the question.

The metro area in general is going to be much more expensive than the rest of the state as well as more crowded.

I have been trying to figure out what I will do in retirement and it looks like we really want to spend May to October in MN and then sit out the long winter somewhere less harsh.

Ely is top of my list, but it is remote. Lake Vermillion is awesome too, but similar. Other areas on my list are Walker, Pequot Lakes, Bemidji, Alexandria, Grand Rapids and Fergus Falls. Brainerd are is very popular too, but a bit more developed and expensive. The Southeast part of MN has some nice areas too including Winona, Lake City and Wabasha.

One thing to keep in mind is MN terrain is split into 3 regions. Prairie, which is mostly used for farming. Decidous forest, which has a mixture of lakes, woods, some farms and Confierios which has a lot of rough terrian, deep candian shield lakes and less population. Somewhat like leaving Phoenix. In 2-3 hours you can be in the mountians and places like Prescott and Sedona are vastly different than the valley.

The metro is sitting in a transitional region where the southern part is encroaching into areas that were mostly corn farms. The northern metro has more of a mixture of woods, low land, and some former farm land.

One thing for sure is there is no shortage of wonderfull locations to spend the summer in MN.

[ozzie679]

A patio home community would serve you well. One level living with a garage. There are tons of them in the St Cloud area.