Help with neighborhoods for older couple (Apple Valley, Roseville: to rent, townhomes, new construction)

[funlife1]

My husband is looking at a job with U-M (East River campus) and we are just starting to look at housing possibilities. We would be moving from Wisconsin.

I would appreciate help with neighborhood selection.

We are hoping to spend 275-330K but could go as high as 350K. Items important to us are:
1) Safe, relatively quiet area (we are in our 50s)
2) Short commute to campus (say 30 min or less)
3) Prefer relatively new (at least < 15 years)
4) Ranch home (ideal) or Cape Cod, if not at option at least a master on main floor
5) Reasonable distance (at least within 10 miles) to shopping, restaurants, etc.
6) House size flexible, but at least 2700 sf
7) Future resale issues should we move
8) Would like to be within about 30 min of MSP airport
9) Smaller lot would be better (say, 1/3 acre or less), although we would deal with larger if needed

Not important:
1) School district (kids are grown), except for possible resale problem
2) Night life

If our home does not sell, we may (or may not) elect to rent, and if so, would like to spend $1800 a month or less.

Thanks in advance for help with neighborhoods!

[funlife1]

Just realized I should have posted this to the Twin Cities board. I am not sure how to move it. So, I posted a copy there.

[golfgal]

Apple Valley would be great, 10 minutes to the airport, 25 to the U of MN, newer housing, all the shopping you would need within 2 miles, Mall of America right across from the airport. Lots of wooded lots, great walking paths everywhere, general population of AV is getting "older" so neighbors would be of similar age. Schools should be important to you because of resale like you said, it's especially true in MN.

Another option you may want to consider is in the Evermore Development in Rosemount, there are detached townhomes that are around the square footage you are considering--most larger even. They were built in about 2002-2004, great floor plans, rambler with finished basements mostly. Yards are on the small size but bonus is that the association pays for the upkeep on the yard, snow removal, etc. without having to share walls with neighbors. We are putting serious thought into those for when our kids are out of the house in a few years.

[funlife1]

Thanks for your input.

BTW, I noticed you deleted the post on the twin cities board as a duplicate. Would have been better to have left that one and deleted this one. If I had known how to do that, I would have. It was not my intent to duplicate post.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by funlife1

Thanks for your input.

BTW, I noticed you deleted the post on the twin cities board as a duplicate. Would have been better to have left that one and deleted this one. If I had known how to do that, I would have. It was not my intent to duplicate post.

You can't move them yourself. I will move it over but you will get the same traffic either way here.

[funlife1]

Thanks for the explanation and for your help moving it. I assumed that the subboards were frequented by different people than the overall MN board.

[Ben Around]

You might like Roseville or Falcon Heights, they meet your criteria.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

You might like Roseville or Falcon Heights, they meet your criteria.

Except the lack of new construction....

[chilaili]

I was going to suggest Nokomis but then realised you might not find the style of housing you want. You could look at St Louis Park altho the commute is probably a bit far. Cleveland and St Paul Avenues in St Paul have quite a few ranch-styles too.