Posh Nisswa house with access to Grand View Lodge amenities lists for $1.545 million

Whoever buys Mike and Nancy Gohman’s house in Nisswa, Minn., will get five bedrooms, three fireplaces, a large patio and a three-season porch. Oh, and also access to some golf, a spa, swimming pools, restaurants, the beach, a playground, boat rentals, tennis and golf lessons, pickleball and a lot of other amenities.

The house is in North Pines, a gated community of 27 homes that is part of Grand View Lodge Spa & Golf Resort, a century-old resort on Gull Lake.

About half the homeowners in North Pines live in their houses full time. The others, including the Gohmans, have chosen to turn their houses into something resembling luxury Airbnbs, staying in them a limited number of days each year and allowing Grand View visitors to rent them the rest of the time.

Whichever choice the owners make, they can access the same amenities available to resort visitors, at a fee for full-time residents and free for those in the rental program.

When the Gohmans are there, they ”use the fitness center, the pools, sit at the beach bar and have a cocktail," Mike Gohman said.

A St. Cloud-based contractor, Gohman has worked on houses in North Pines and owned this one since 2022. Now he and his wife are ready to sell the house and have listed it at $1.545 million.

The arrangement with North Pines homeowners is called “branded residences.” The concept, though still relatively new in Minnesota, has been around for decades in vacation destinations such as Florida, Colorado and in other countries. The term refers to a private home that’s affiliated with a well-known brand, such as a hotel, resort or even a luxury make of car, suggesting a high level of service and amenities. Branded residences are sold on the open market and then often rented out by their owners.

As the number of mom-and-pop resorts in Minnesota dwindles (down from 3,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 700), fondly remembered resort activities — lake swimming, campfires with s’mores — are giving way to spa services, fancy restaurants and other upscale amenities.

Branded residences are a next step. The 500-acre Grand View has roughly 150 homes, with about 110 in the rental program, said Mark Ronnei, a founding partner of Evolution Real Estate Team, which represents home sales at resorts including Grand View and the Quarterdeck Resort, also on Gull Lake, which has a similar program.

North Pines homes have sold at prices ranging from about $500,000 to $1.6 million, he said, essentially serving as owners’ lakeside family cabins.

“It’s a way for someone to own a nicer vacation home than they’d be able to afford without the rental,” said Ronnei, who worked for Grand View for 43 years, starting right after college as a night auditor and retiring four years ago, at 65, as managing director.

Under his leadership, Grand View grew from a relatively small resort with 70 employees and room for 175 guests to more than 800 employees and 2,000 guests.

Visitors renting the homes in season pay roughly $600 to $1,500 a night, Ronnei said. Half goes to the homeowner and half to the resort, which handles the bookings as well as the home’s maintenance, cleaning and other upkeep.

Homeowners who enter the rental program can stay in their homes 42 nights in the summer and at least 42 more in the winter, with free use of the resort amenities. Owners who live there full time pay annually for access to amenities — $7,000, or $3,000 without golf.

A homeowners' association fee is $400 a month for services such as yardwork and snowplowing.

The ideal North Pines homebuyer, Ronnei said, is someone whose children and grandchildren are scattered around the country.

“They want a place up north where they can get together, and they’re deathly afraid of their children and grandchildren being bored,” he said. “The goal is for the grandchildren to want to come up north.”

Mike Gohman’s family had a cabin when he was growing up. “We’d go up Friday afternoon, do maintenance and lawn care all day Saturday until about 2, have fun for couple hours, on Sunday do a little more work, then pack up and go home.”

None of that work is necessary at Grand View, where “you live like you’re at a resort, because you are,” he said.

So what’s this house like? It’s about 4,330 square feet and stands on a lot of just under an acre. The main floor has an open plan, with a kitchen featuring high-end appliances. A primary bedroom on that floor has a large walk-in closet and two other bedrooms. All have their own bathrooms. Two more bedrooms are in the basement.

The living room has a gas fireplace. A three-season porch on the main floor also has a gas fireplace, as well as clear vinyl covers for the screen windows, allowing use in anything but the bitterest midwinter cold.

“It’s my favorite room in the house by far,” Mike Gohman said. “I spent a couple weeks over Christmas in 2023. There was weird weather, 45 or 50 degrees. I turned the fireplace on and spent almost two weeks in that room.”

A 14-by-16-foot deck extends off the porch. The basement has two more bedrooms and two bathrooms, a wet bar, a golf simulator and other gaming space. It opens to a large patio with a wood fireplace and a gas firepit.

The house’s walls are built with a construction method called insulated concrete forms — Styrofoam on either side of a concrete center, Gohman said, making the house quiet, energy efficient and sturdy.

“The joke when we were building it was, ‘If there’s ever a tornado, we’re going over to Gohmans' house,‘” he said.

Evolution Resorts Real Estate Team (team@evolutionresorts.com 218-496-3800) has the $1,545,000 listing.