What about St. Michael? (Bloomington, Plymouth: foreclosures, to rent, co-ops)

[Moncriefjj]

I think you might have to give up the idea of "living in a small town" if you want to be in a reasonable commuting distance to your husband's office. As someone else said, these outlying suburbs may look small on paper, but they're really just smaller suburbs on the cutting edge of development. In five years or less, there won't be anything at all "small town" about them. I think you'd find more stability and peace in a suburb like Golden Valley than a fake "small town" like St. Michael. Just my two cents.

[austere]

Plymouth is also a great suburb, and housing can vary in cost, depending if you are ok with an older home that may need some updating.

Hopkins is better than Golden Valley, you need to be careful and have a knowledgeable realtor. Some areas are very nice, others may depreciate in value. St. Louis park feels more city than Hopkins, and Crystal is just plain a bad choice. Crime and housing market is dropping there.

I love hopkins/minnetonka but to find a home within your market you may have to look a little while and also be ok with an older home (1970's) and do a little updating.

We really don't have quaint suburbs like in Greater Chicago or small towns like Iowa (within commute distance to MPLS....just sprawling suburbs. However, there are pluses to living in such places, and in the end it is what you make of it

[moma24]

Thanks so much for all of the information! For the time being we are going to rent a house until we can get a feel for each of the neighborhoods. We were able to get a nine month lease, bringing us to the middle of summer. That should be plenty of time to check things out before we buy. Then we will also be able to look into houses over 250K, hopefully up to 300k.

I do realize that I am not going to replace what I have in rural Iowa. I am looking forward to the opportunities that my family will gain. It is just a matter of getting used to it I guess. We will just look at it as our newest adventure!

You have all been very nice, I hope this is just an indication of the nice people we will meet in Minnesota!

[moma24]

We have been living in Eden Praire for about 6 weeks now. We are fairly sure we will not buy here unless an incredible deal materializes. It is very busy here and you do not get much house for the money. My husband's commute is anywhere from 20-45 minutes and we live next to 169. He is getting lots of input from his co-workers on what they like about where they live. So far the closest is Edina, and some commute as much as an hour. I do not want to get any closer to the city than I am now. I have been in St. Louis Park and Hopkins and they just seem too crazy busy. Eden Prairie seems like that tool I can't believe the traffic! I have learned to stay home at certain times of the day . I think it is very hard to get to know people here. In fact, the only people I know are from my husband's work who happen to be a native Iowans.

School is not an issue, as we homeschool. But that causes an issue in itself. I want to live in neighborhood where there are kids who actually come outside to play and maybe ride their bikes up and down the street. I don't think that is going to happen here. Do you let your kids out to play in the city????

So we are still thinking of going farther out. We looked at Delano and did not like it at all. We are thinking Chanhassen, but unsure of that as it really seems to just be joined to Eden Prairie, it is just one big area. Possibly Chaska. St. Michael is still on the list, heading up there this weekend to check it out. Wondering about Rogers and Corcoran. I believe someone mentioned Buffalo?

What about Andover?

Hopkins is so close to the city. It all seems like one big city to me. Maybe I will get used to that.

[golfgal]

What about Chaska or Jordan? Those are south on 169, smaller communities with an actual downtown. Chaska has good schools and Jordan's are ok but since you homeschool that isn't an issue but it would be for resale on a home.

New Prague is an option but it would be a long commute, about an hour or so.

[jillianbee]

Albertville/St. Michael is a place where there are tons of kids out riding their bikes and playing in their yards.

I just moved to Albertville in June. I currently work in Edina--off of 169 and 494. The commute is bad, but my husband and I were both looking for a smaller-town feel (we are from Wisconsin), a newer house, and more house for our money. We got just that!

Anyway, back to the commute. I am not sure where the Target HQs are in comparison to where I work, but I leave my house at 6:10 and I get to work right around 7. It's about 34 miles. In the morning I go down 169 because 494 Southbound is horrid until you get past Hwy 55. At night I go up 494 because 169 is awful. 494 is bad too, but I find it's the lesser of the two evils. I leave work around 4:30 and get home between 5:10 and 5:30 usually. During the summer, ESPECIALLY ON FRIDAYS, I took the backroute (hwy 55 to 116) and it took me about an hour to get home. 94 is awful during the summer...all the campers, boaters, cabiners, etc. Fridays are not the best right now either, but I can usually make it home in about an hour.

The usual problems at night are at 55 and then in Rogers at 101 as it goes from 3 lanes to 2 at both of those spots. However, USUALLY, if one is backed up the other isn't so I get stopped at 55 but then can cruise through Rogers.

Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

[moma24]

I am glad to hear that kids do go outside in Minnesota! I just got an update from the realtor that has a house in Albertville for sale. You really do get tons more for the money. My husbands work is west of downtown a little, so his commute wouldn't be quite as far as Edina. I think I am going to ask him to drive it after work and see what he thinks. Nice thing about renting, we can really check out the commutes before we buy. The town we came from is about 2,500, so Albertville looks to be very similiar, hopefully a similiar feel too. Thanks for the info!

[sugarbeet]

Check out some of the other small towns west on Highway 12 (394 turns into Highway 12). Orono, Maple Plain, Delano. Once you get past Delano, you will find small towns like you're used to in Iowa. I don't live that way, but have family out there and have driven west on 12 at peak commuting times and it's not as bad as I would've expected.

[Camden Northsider]

I agree sugar beet - keep going on highway 12 past delano and you will come into the really nice small towns of winsted, waverly, howard lake, etc. -I know some people from here and that live here, they're great and they love it here and there is always a ton of community small town events going on. These really are small towns with homes (some new developments have popped up) in your price range and the commute won't be too bad - right now 12's a two lane highway until you get around wayzata but the new expanded highway 12 (will turn to at least a 4 lane I know and go beyond delano, maybe to dassel-cokato - not sure) is currently being built - I also don't know projected end date but shouldn't be too long and it will DRASTICALLY reduce commute times - commute times currently are probably between 35 - 45 min to downtown minneapolis now.

[moma24]

Thanks for the ideas!