Might be moving to the Twin Cities (St. Paul, Mankato: house, neighborhoods)

[Tifosi24]

I have recently been looking into a job with the State of Minnesota and for that reason I have been looking around for housing options in St Paul and the east and southern suburbs. Strangely enough I went to Minnesota State, Mankato but know very little about the neighborhoods on the east side of the Cities. For what my future wife and I can afford, we will logically only be able to go as high as 170k for a house. That is really tight for this market, but there are several homes that I have found that fit this description and don't look half bad. I am certainly not averse to living in St Paul proper, but I need more guidance on where the quality neighborhoods are. South Saint Paul, Newport, and St Paul Park have the most potential in terms of affordable housing, but like I said I am not familiar with these communities.

[golfgal]

For a young couple those areas are great, easy commute, easy to get pretty much everywhere in the twin cities. A lot of younger families live in these communities. Drawbacks are the schools aren't the best. They aren't horrible but there are better options but it also sounds like you have time to buy a house, build up some equity and move elsewhere before you have kids. I would lean toward South St. Paul just for the commute factor and not having to worry about crossing the river right now because they are rebuilding the bridge. It is a great time to buy a house in MN.