Anyone living in Minnesota who have lived in different states?

[sparksals]

Originally Posted by vskye

Thanks for all the replies! We ended up moving here in January (that was fun) and are looking to buy a house in Dakota County. So, we've looked in AV, Rosemount, Lakeville and Farmington. I've noticed that homes are more expensive in Eagan and AV and they are older and in need of remodeling, so you are paying for location. Our budget is around the 275k mark and I think if we had more to spend we would find what we wanted in Eagan or AV. Rosemount was OK for what was in our budget but most of the houses were East of 3 and sandwiched between railroad tracks.
Lakeville is nice but most of the homes are short sales and I don't have the patience for those and everything else is either undesirable, expensive or gets scooped up quick! Also I saw they cut the school budget quite a bit. Farmington seems OK as far as housing (Parkview Ponds, Charleswood n'hoods) but I'm unsure of the community itself. So, if anyone can weigh in about it, aside from school test scores and proximity to everything. My kids play outside alot and we participate in community recreation programs, go bowling, ice skating, music lessons, etc. Oh and what's up with taxes in Farmington??? $5000 for taxes on a 260k house seems crazy.

Have you looked in Burnsville?

There are some newer areas of AV - did you look in Cobblestone Creek? I think the prices there have fallen quite a bit.

Rosemount is iffy in your price range b/c of the tracks. However, we live off Diamond Path and Cty 42 and they are not a problem for us. We hardly hear them and it is never a disturbing loudness like it is in the homes around Hwy 3.

Did you look at any homes between Shannon Pkway and Diamond Path? There's some nice homes in there that are not as old as what you would find in AV and Eagan.

It is good you're taking time to find the right house. We were in a rush and I wish we could have taken more time. We are happy with our house as one of short term, but it is not our forever house.

[vskye]

Sparksals,

I just said to my husband that I want to find my forever home, so glad to here you are thinking the same thing also. Do you enjoy living in Rosemount? What is it that makes your current home not your forever home? Sometimes hearing a third person's opinion gives me better insight to what we should be looking for.
We did look in Cobblestone Creek as someone just said to us that they are dropping prices. But, its still pretty pricey. We thought about Burnsiville and then were told that the High School there has serious issues.

[sparksals]

Originally Posted by vskye

Sparksals,

I just said to my husband that I want to find my forever home, so glad to here you are thinking the same thing also. Do you enjoy living in Rosemount? What is it that makes your current home not your forever home? Sometimes hearing a third person's opinion gives me better insight to what we should be looking for.
We did look in Cobblestone Creek as someone just said to us that they are dropping prices. But, its still pretty pricey. We thought about Burnsiville and then were told that the High School there has serious issues.

We like living in Rosemount as it is a great location to my husband's job. His office is in DT Minneapolis and sometimes Bloomington. Quick access to the airport and ammenities, although AV and other nearby areas lack a variety of non-chain style restaurants. We really like trying new restaurants and have almost exhausted the local / mom pop styles in Eagan, AV, Rosemount - even Burnsville doesn't have a lot. We have recently taken to having our date nights in uptown area because there are so many restaurants to try.

As for why this isn't our forever home, we moved here in the dead of winter, right in the heart of the RE market downfall. We took a major hit on our Tucson house so our pickin's were kind of slim because we didn't want to pay PMI so we were also on a fixed budget. We didn't have time to look like you are doing- and I really wish we had that time, but our stuff was in storage and I didn't want to move twice.

My husband's job is such that we will eventually move from here in the next couple years, so our forever home isn't here. The next place we move probably won't be the forever home either - our long term desire is for our Forever home to be in either Phoenix area or Tucson.

But, Rosemount is a great area to find a forever home and since you have kids, it is a great family area. We don't fit in very well b/c we don't have kids, so meeting people besides our neighbours doesn't happen all that much. We have met people through other avenues such as meetup.

I do know the schools in Rosemount are very good and school sports teams get a lot of support from the community.

I like that Cub is nearby and I can run there anytime to pick up something without having to go to AV. I like the AV Cub better because it is bigger and has more inventory, but for the most part, I shop at Rosemount Cub except when I am having a party or something or need to stock up on things. Then I do the big one at AV Cub. CVS and Walgreen's close as well and all fast food chains for those lazy sunday afternoons in the winter for picking up McD's when having movie marathons.

We live in the area of the "D" Streets in between Shannon Parkway and Diamond Path just south of Cty 42. These homes were built in the mid 90's. There are some along small man made lakes and there's lots of parks. We really like the look of the neighbourhood. Everyone keeps their yards up nicely. I do suggest, if you look on this side, that you only seriously consider homes that are fenced. We had a HUGE problem with our yard being the neighbourhood walk thru and it caused a major incident when we fenced it b/c there was a great deal of entitlement to cutting through our yard.

I'm sure there are some homes in here that need updating because of the time they were built. When we moved into our house three years ago, all the walls were white, 9o's brass light fixtures, lino flooring in the kitchen, white formica countertops, builder's grade carpet.

We added ceiling fan lights in the kitchen, an inexpensive chandelier above the kitchen table and in the entry, new carpet throughout when we had a toilet overflow that insurance paid for most of, new bathroom flooring and vanities in two of our 4 bathrooms, upgraded the old flooring in the baths with tile paying the difference what insurance paid for the old lino floors in there, ceiling fans in the master bedroom and family room and new paint throughout the entire house. We also just ordered a custom sliding door from our kitchen to patio. It is original and it is time to replace.

Everything we did was cosmetic and we saved quite a bit of money b/c a majority of it was because of the insurance claim. But I shopped for the ceiling fans, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures and got great deals for some nice things that updated without paying a lot of money.

So, even though some of the houses here need a bit of updating, it can be done inexpensively. And I do have to say, the homes in our area have good bones.

For my forever home, I want to be able to move in and not have to do much. I want the granite counters and nice tile floors. I want the gourmet kitchen and the open floor plan. I want to be able to entertain and have a good flow of rooms. Our house is a split level, so parties inevitably are in the kitchen or in the family room.

But we have a HUGE yard. Great for BBQs in the summer and room for volley ball and other games.

Whew! Sorry - got a bit long-winded there. I think if you hang tight and take your time, do your research, the right house will come up. Home selling season is around the corner. Once the snow melts, the house sales and listings increase exponentially - so you may be best to wait another couple months b/c there will be new 'blood' on the market very soon.

[vskye]

Sparksals,

Thanks for the info, it is very helpful.
I hope you are right about the inventory coming on the market soon. We have a short term lease so we need to close on something by the end of July. We have found the home with the granite and nice floors and such but alas it is in Farmington!
Definitely having the non chain restaurants is a great amenity that I wish we could find as well.
Here's to finding the forever house!

[sparksals]

Originally Posted by vskye

Sparksals,

Thanks for the info, it is very helpful.
I hope you are right about the inventory coming on the market soon. We have a short term lease so we need to close on something by the end of July. We have found the home with the granite and nice floors and such but alas it is in Farmington!
Definitely having the non chain restaurants is a great amenity that I wish we could find as well.
Here's to finding the forever house!

A friend of mine lives on the border of Farmington/Lakeville. Her address is Farmington, but it's really Lakeville - or vice versa - so make sure it is in Farmington and not Lakeville b/c I know you mentioned you're not interested in Lakeville schools.

I think you have plenty of time if your lease is up in July. People are all on that same time-frame b/c they want to move after school ends and before it begins again.

We have grown accustomed to traveling a bit to get to the non-chain restaurants. Since you will be new to the area, you will have lots of time to try what is local and then move on to other areas as you get comfortable living here.

This is our 4th year and this is the first year we have really ventured as a quest to try new places. We found a few we like locally, but grow tired of the same thing.

[knke0204]

What are some nice private developments in the south metro?

[sparksals]

What do you mean by private developments? Do you mean gated communities? Condo complexes?