Your opinions of Woodbury, Eagan & Mendota Heights (St. Paul, Edina: rentals, house)

[HKB]

Originally Posted by BJBoxcars

HKB,

Sounds like you might already be working w/a realtor, but the hyperlink below allows you to look at what's on the market in specific cities or areas, limiting that search any way you wish. Check it out.

http://www.mlsfinder.com/mn_rmls/mnwi/index.cfm

click on county/city to make your search easy

Thanks for the link. As buyers, we actually don't have a realtor yet. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, we just signed a 6-month lease on a single-family home in Woodbury... sort of a temporary solution to give us more time to house hunt and wait to see where the economy, interest rates, and home prices go.

Andrew T.... you're spot on about Eagan. That has been my impression of the city too. Woodbury does have a lot of large homes, but from casual online searching, it also looks like there are some smaller, more affordable homes as well.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by Andrew T.

Personally, I live in Eagan, and granted I am in a very very different place in life than you & your wife, (I'm single and 22, and I also rent. But I'm a good renter - I stay in one place and don't cause trouble). Anyway, I personally know Eagan homes to be very spendy if you're looking for something nicer. I live on the "older", Minneapolis side of Eagan, south of the Mall of America. There are a lot of older homes on this side, but people seem to take very very good care of them. I would suggest the community because its safe (I've never had a single strange or unsafe feeling encounter), close to BOTH cities, and nice. The OTHER side of Eagan, closer to 35E, and east of that, is FILLED with very expensive, large, newer homes. I know little to nothing about this part of town, because I usually do what I do over here, or in Bloomington/Edina/Eden Prairie, because of my close proximity.

My best friend lives in Woodbury, and it reminds me a lot of the other side of Eagan. Large, large homes, and it seems as if you're paying for the quietness, and of course, status of living in the "deep suburbs".

I know little to nothing about Mendota Heights, however from what I have heard, it is a lot of older, large, very nice homes, that do not go up for sale very much, and are very expensive. That one I would have to look more into.

Good Luck!

I know somebody who sold the house they had and are currently waiting for a house to come up in Mendota Heights. They have very specific area, and they have been waiting almost two years now. Seems to be along the lines of what you suggest.

[gatorinmn]

HKB, welcome to the area! I am sure you'll be very happy in Woodbury, which is a very nice suburb. For us, we decided to focus on the ISD 196 schools because of their excellent special-ed services. (My son has autism.) We've been very pleased with our decision, and I am sure you will be, too. Good luck with the house hunt! It's a great time to be a buyer. And if you want a realtor recommendation, please feel free to PM me.

[MNBill]

We've lived in Woodbury with our kids since 2001, and before we had kids, we lived in Woodbury from 1991-94. So we remember when this was a pretty small suburb, instead of the nearly 60,000 population city it is today. Our kids are in S Washington Co School district and we (and they)absolutely love it, esp. compared with ISD 622 (N St Paul/Maplewood/Oakdale) that our son started in before we moved. Woodbury has comparable homes priced lower than Eagan or Mendota Heights, being a little farther out from either St Paul or Mpls. And home values have been dropping the past two years or so.

[ajo]

I'd love to hear more about Eagan as it has moved up our list. I'm working on the East Bank at the U of M. We have 3 kids, so schools are important. Hubby has no job, but will be looking. We were thinking Plymouth or Minnetonka, but wondering if the commute would be better from Eagan. I detest 394/Lowry Tunnel area--commuted from GV to St Paul for 3 years before the "improvements" and it was tough. We'd prefer to spend about 300K--seems like I've seen a fair number of Eagan homes in that price range. Is Mendota Heights going to be undoable at that price range? We've also considered Mounds View school district (likely Shoreview), but that area seems so STERILE to me. Our "ideal" type neighborhood would probably be Mac-Groveland or St Anthony Park, but questions about schools and price are driving us more suburban.

Sorry to expand this question, but thought it might be more useful than starting a new thread.

[gatorinmn]

ajo, Eagan could be a good choice for you. Schools are excellent, assuming you're in the 196 district. Be careful, as parts of Eagan also go to Burnsville-Eagan-Savage schools (191) and West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan (197), which are not as good. Can't vouch for the commute as I work in St. Paul. The times I've had to commute into Minneapolis for work, the traffic on Cedar Avenue/77 hasn't been too bad -- it gets congested, but it moves. I'm not sure how you'd commute to the East Bank of the U, so I can't really add much there.

As for your price range, it's hard to say without knowing what you're looking to buy. Since you've got 3 kids, I imagine you want at least 4 bedrooms. You can probably find a 4-bedroom home in Eagan in your price range, but it will likely either be (1) older or (2) not in ISD 196.

Good luck!

[Slig]

I work in Eagan and I rented in there in 07-08 before purchasing a home. If I ever decided on purchasing in Eagan I'd buy a home on the west side of 35E if possible, from a convenience standpoint if nothing else. The area I lived in was in the quadrant inside Pilot Knob, Diffley, Cliff and Lexington and I wasn't a huge fan...too many poorly maintained duplexes, steep hills that my car couldn't handle in winter, and not very walkable. The only saving grace was the dying stripmall on the northeast corner of the Diffley/Pilot Knob intersection. Piccolo's Pizzeria, the gas station and liquor store there are solid and the people working at those places were the only people that really made me feel like part of the neighborhood.

In my previous job I worked in Plymouth and honestly I don't know what makes that suburb so special and desired. It's very unremarkable in my opinion. I don't know what school you were planning on sending your kids to but the kids I managed at a pharmacy there who attended Armstrong were some of the brattier kids I've come into contact with. I hope it was just a coincidence and doesn't speak for the general population there.

I have no experience with Minnetonka, although I just ran an MLS search there for homes 300k or less and surprisingly I found like 60 homes. There were about 40 homes in Plymouth in that range.

[Andrew T.]

Slig,
Definitely agree with you as far as living on the "Western" side of Eagan. Yes, it is older, but for someone who wants to live in the suburbs, yet be close to the city, who can complain? I'm right on the Hennepin/Dakota county border, off 77, yet if I do need to go to the Saint Paul side (which I do, for work), it's RIGHT there. Some of the areas that people oh-so-rave about in Eagan, Eden Prairie, West Bloomington, Plymouth, etc. are SO inconvenient to get anywhere except the suburban strip mall it surrounds. I understand many of those people like it that way, but if I were to live on the eastern side of Eagan, there are so many damn stop lights and curves and people trying to get out of their cul-de-sac neighborhoods that its just a mess, and the same applies for all the other suburbs I mentioned. Not worth it at all to me.

Yes, the homes are a little smaller (yet nicely maintained) on my side of town, and it's not as new and glossy, but the quietness of the neighborhood, and convenience of living right off Cedar make it well, well worth whatever sacrifice some of my other friends that rave about their brand new apartment complexes say I'm making. I can be in downtown of either city in 15 minutes or less :-p

[Sheridan1962]

We lived in St. Paul Park for 8 years, and I definitely agree you should not buy a house there. But most of Woodbury is within the South Washington County School District, which is the very same district you would be in in Cottage Grove. And as for RE dollars, you would get far more bang for your buck in Cottage Grove than you would in Woodbury. My children went to school in Cottage Grove (Crestview and Grey Cloud Elementary schools), and as I said, I lived in St. Paul Park for 8 years (which is a "twin city" with Cottage Grove). I have many friends in Cottage Grove, and did all my day-to-day stuff there (shopping, banking, etc). Why not Cottage Grove? There are many nice neighborhoods there, and far more affordable than Woodbury (and not that much of a commute difference).

[HKB]

Originally Posted by Sheridan1962

We lived in St. Paul Park for 8 years, and I definitely agree you should not buy a house there. But most of Woodbury is within the South Washington County School District, which is the very same district you would be in in Cottage Grove. And as for RE dollars, you would get far more bang for your buck in Cottage Grove than you would in Woodbury. My children went to school in Cottage Grove (Crestview and Grey Cloud Elementary schools), and as I said, I lived in St. Paul Park for 8 years (which is a "twin city" with Cottage Grove). I have many friends in Cottage Grove, and did all my day-to-day stuff there (shopping, banking, etc). Why not Cottage Grove? There are many nice neighborhoods there, and far more affordable than Woodbury (and not that much of a commute difference).

Thanks for your input. You bring up some very valid points. There are a few reasons why we're not looking in Cottage Grove. First, I work in Cottage Grove. While a short commute is nice, I need to have somewhat of a buffer between work and home. Also, it would be a longer commute for my wife, and a shorter commute is more important for her than for me.

Second, I lived in Cottage Grove for 4 years (2001-2004). I'm just not a fan of the city. It probably sounds bad, but I just don't care for the low-class feel of the city. There are too many small, old, run-down properties where the owners don't take pride in their homes. There also seems to be a lot of Section 8 rentals. I used to live near one of those areas, and I have no desire to ever live anywhere near there again.

Third, the city council & planning commission did a very poor job with the layout of the city. It's a complete hodgepodge with no master plan. The retail areas in Cottage Grove (what little there is) are not concentrated in a few areas, but are scattered all over the place, making it very inconvienent to do one-stop shopping.