Another where to live question (Eagan, Apple Valley: spring break, sale, neighborhood)

[youngurbanprofessional]

Originally Posted by golfgal

You need to move to ROSEMOUNT!!! Our schools are excellent, smaller town feel, not quite as historic as Stillwater but still a nice area. We are 15 minutes from Burnsville, an hour to Owatonna and 20 minutes from Northfield.

My DH grew up in Northfield. The schools are good, very similar town to Stillwater. It has the advantage of having St. Olaf and Carleton colleges there for the convenience of the high school/college dual credit programs in MN.

Rosemount is in the 196 School district-top rated district in the state and one of the top in the nation. We have an incredible system, excellent administrators, teachers, students, etc. We have lived here for almost 2 years and just love it here. It is only about 15 minutes to the airport too so that is a plus for you. It is a pretty laid back community, the kids aren't into having the best of everything for the most part. It is really a jeans/t-shirt kind of community. They have pretty much anything you want for kids activities, excellent music programs, especially the band program.


Keep in mind that when you are comparing schools in the metro area, when it really comes down to it, there isn't much difference. There are very few districts in MN that are what I would call 'bad'. Some are just a better fit for you then others. Most people pick a district based on what their kids are involved in because academically you aren't going to find any real difference.

Rosemount would be a good option as well. Housing is just as good as Eagan, in the same school district as Eagan, you just wont pay as much for your house. The east side of Rosemount has a historical small town feel, but the rest of it has caught up to the times and very suburban.

[Sunshinne]

<sigh> what to do, what to do. I had checked out the district 196 area as an option, and there seems to be several homes in our price range. Do you think the class sizes would be bigger then Stillwater or more importantly the student/teacher ratio? I need to fly up and take a couple of days to get a feel for the areas, but I think with all of the wonderful feedback and info about the areas, I have narrowed it down to the Stillwater area or the Rosemount area. I told my sil that I would be coming up to drive around. Of course dh thinks Rosemount may still be too close to family. Is it my imagination or is buying in Woodbury less expensive? Just wondering why. And wondering what Lake Elmo is like?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Sunshinne

<sigh> what to do, what to do. I had checked out the district 196 area as an option, and there seems to be several homes in our price range. Do you think the class sizes would be bigger then Stillwater or more importantly the student/teacher ratio? I need to fly up and take a couple of days to get a feel for the areas, but I think with all of the wonderful feedback and info about the areas, I have narrowed it down to the Stillwater area or the Rosemount area. I told my sil that I would be coming up to drive around. Of course dh thinks Rosemount may still be too close to family. Is it my imagination or is buying in Woodbury less expensive? Just wondering why. And wondering what Lake Elmo is like?

The class sizes in Rosemount would probably be smaller then Stillwater. We only graduate about 450/year right now. Stillwater graduates about 800/year. I can ask around about elementary class sizes but I know the middle school class sizes for 6th grade are about 25 kids/class, very manageable. The high school class sizes vary but they are all VERY manageable as well. It is a very financially healthy district and it makes a BIG difference when you can hire teachers based on need vs budget. I have lived or taught in several districts around MN and the 196 schools are by far the best overall schools. This isn't just academics, which are excellent, but the administration is superb, the programing is fantastic, the choices are unbelievable. Next year my oldest, who will be a junior, is taking classes at 3 different high schools, there are 5 in the district. This is a HUGE advantage for the district because it keeps their costs low while being able to provide pretty much everything the student needs.

Lake Elmo is a 'suburb' of Stillwater. It is in the Stillwater district. Was pretty much a farming community up until about 10 years ago. Most of the developments around there are built on large lots, a couple acres or more. They have a downtown area, their own elementary school and the Lake Elmo Inn, excellent restaurant. It is a pretty convenient location but the housing tends to be on the expensive side.

I understand not wanting to live too close to family, that is one reason we aren't in Stillwater now .

Stillwater has better golf courses but there are several around her to choose from.

Personally I am not a fan of Woodbury and the South Washington County schools. That is one suburban district I really don't recommend. Woodbury itself is just a strange town. I used to shop over there quite a bit and just got that creepy feeling. I don't know what it is but there are so many better choices over there.

[Sunshinne]

Good info Golfgal, thanks!! Rosemount is definitely an area we will check out. Jeans and t-shirts is what we are all about.

Is there an elementary school you would recommend or not recommend over another? Why did you send your kids to Catholic school? I went to Catholic school growing up because the public schools were not so great (san francisco bay area). I am all for private school education, but dh does not see the need if we can live in an area where the public schools allow our kids to thrive educationally. Does Rosemount have the program where you can get college credit for high school classes? It is never too late to be thinking about that stuff, you know?

Do the golf courses offer lessons for kids? Are there any tennis facilities? What about lakes and the river? I think dh has this fantacy about living on a lake or river, but that is a little lower on my priority list. I think he can easily be talked out of that fantasy as long as the house we buy has room for all of his toys and the snow mobiles he thinks he needs to buy right away.

[golfgal]

Our kids when to Catholic school in our old town. There is a Catholic school here but the public schools are better. Our kids are in public schools now.

All the elementary schools are good so it really isn't an issue. Rosemount Elementary is the oldest building but that doesn't really matter.

The high school coaches have GREAT programs for kids. They start lessons young and work all the way up to high school. The more experienced kids have a golf league too.

There are a couple smaller lakes nearby but in MN you aren't far from a body of water no matter where you live. If you want a real lake that you can swim in to live on, plan on spending at least $700,000 on a home. If you want a pond and don't want to swim in it, there are many of them around and many in your price range. I think there are 3 or 4 in my development alone. We chose not to buy a house on a pond because of mosquitoes.

The entire state of MN has the dual high school/college courses. There is a technical college in town otherwise we are within driving distance to 10+ colleges/universities so that isn't really a concern. They also have ample AP opportunities and you can earn college credits for those classes too.

There are plenty of indoor and outdoor tennis facilities available in the area. Rosemount itself doesn't have an indoor facility but there are several nearby. They just redid the middle school/high school courts last summer.

[Sunshinne]

I checked out the website this morning at the Lake Elmo Inn. Yum!! Looks like a great place. Question...Is the Stillwater Country Club nice? Some of the houses around it that seem very inexpensive. I guess when I hear the word "country club" I think of high end homes. Also, what is Bayport like? I did a search using the 196 district as my area, and a ton of homes in Apple Valley came up. What do you think of Apple Valley?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Sunshinne

I checked out the website this morning at the Lake Elmo Inn. Yum!! Looks like a great place. Question...Is the Stillwater Country Club nice? Some of the houses around it that seem very inexpensive. I guess when I hear the word "country club" I think of high end homes. Also, what is Bayport like? I did a search using the 196 district as my area, and a ton of homes in Apple Valley came up. What do you think of Apple Valley?

The Stillwater Country Club is not a very elite club. You have to be a member to play there but it really isn't high brow by any means. It was built toward the end of town a long time ago and the houses that surround it now are mostly 1960's era homes--nothing too fancy there.

Bayport is a small 'suburb' of Stillwater. It is home to Anderson Windows. It is an ok area. If you are going to live in that area, stick to Stillwater, more convenient and a little nicer.

Apple Valley is fine, depending on where you live. You could either be in the Apple Valley high school boundaries or the Eastview boundaries. Both are good schools. Eastview is a little more, um, snobby, I guess. Apple Valley is a busier area but there are a lot of nice neighborhoods. Most of the shopping in the area is in Apple Valley, but we are 3 miles from everything so nothing all that major in terms of extra convenience. Apple Valley is more then double the size of Rosemount. The high schools are larger too. I looked at DS15's registration information and there are 550 kids in the 10th grade at Rosemount. I am going to guess that there are closer to 700 kids/grade at Eastview/Apple Valley since Rosemount is the smallest of the schools in the district.

[Sunshinne]

I was browsing homes again last night and came across the master planned community in Rosemount called Gloendalough of Evermoor. Is that brand new? It looked very nice with the community pool and play grounds. Have you been by there Golfgal? Is it as nice as it seems online? The part of the description that I found interesting was that it said there was no HOA, so I am wondering who pays to keep up the common areas. Are the Apple Valley jr high and high school considered part of district 196? SIL and BIL who live in Northfield personally know the man who used to be the Mayor of Rosemount? They said something about him being a developer or contractor or something? And that he had lots for sale. I would have to ask his name again. Does your dh still have family in Northfield?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Sunshinne

I was browsing homes again last night and came across the master planned community in Rosemount called Gloendalough of Evermoor. Is that brand new? It looked very nice with the community pool and play grounds. Have you been by there Golfgal? Is it as nice as it seems online? The part of the description that I found interesting was that it said there was no HOA, so I am wondering who pays to keep up the common areas. Are the Apple Valley jr high and high school considered part of district 196? SIL and BIL who live in Northfield personally know the man who used to be the Mayor of Rosemount? They said something about him being a developer or contractor or something? And that he had lots for sale. I would have to ask his name again. Does your dh still have family in Northfield?

I would HIGHLY recommend Evermoor as a place to live. I wish we would have bought there but when we moved here I didn't know this site existed and didn't have anyone to ask. Most of Evermoor was built in about 2004 but they are still adding to it and there are several models to go through. The city developed Evermoor so I am guessing that they do all the common maintenance. I didn't know that they didn't have an HOA--I can check with some friends that live there an get back to you on that though. Country Hills is another nice area, mostly developed in the '90's so there are more mature trees, etc. there. It borders Evermore.

My In-laws live outside of Northfield now but we still are there plenty.

Yes, Apple Valley schools are in 196.

[Sunshinne]

I will have to check out those models (wondering if there are lot premiums and how many lots they have left to build on, etc, as well as drive around the Country Hills area. I am trying to plan a quick trip up to look around in Feb, but it depends on the weather there. Holy cow is it miserable there today or what? I talked to my mil today and she said they shut down parts of I-35? Chilly! Golfgal, if you golf in Northfield often, then you probably know my sil and bil, they are avid golfers. Thanks again for all of the very valuable information!