Your opinions of Woodbury, Eagan & Mendota Heights (Minneapolis, St. Paul: real estate market, houses)

[HKB]

My wife and I are looking to buy a home in the next 6 to 12 months. She works in north Maplewood, and I work in Cottage Grove, so we need to stay on the east side to have reasonably short commutes. The problem with the east side of town is that we're having a hard time finding suburbs that appeal to us. Most seem run-down (Oakdale, West/South St. Paul), near stinky refineries (Newport, St. Paul Park, Inver Grove Heights), or in weaker school districts (Cottage Grove).

We want to stay south of I-94, so we're thinking about Woodbury, Eagan, or Mendota Heights. I'm looking for opinions about these areas.

What are the pros and cons of each city (schools, property taxes, affordability, location, etc...). We'd like to find a house in a good neighborhood in the $220-250k range (is this possible, or wishful thinking?). We don't want to live more than 20 minutes from work. Any opinions or advice would be welcome. Thanks!

[golfgal]

I am not a fan of Woodbury--I don't think the schools match up with others in the area. I know plenty of people like it there however.

Mendota Heights is a very nice area but you are going to have a hard time finding a house in that price range there. If you stay south of Butler Ave in West St. Paul you will find some very nice neighborhoods so don't discount that part of West St. Paul, but again, it is on the expensive side.

Eagan is in 3 different school districts. If you can find a house in your price range in either the West St. Paul/Mendota Heights district or the Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eagan district it is a very good choice-on of the top rated districts in the state.

I know you said you want to stay south of 94 but you might want to look in the Mahtomedi area too. It is a very nice area, great schools and easy commutes for both of you.

Hastings and Rosemount might be options as well but they are on the outside of your commute time depending on where your wife works in Maplewood.

[gatorinmn]

Good advice from golfgal, although I highly doubt you can find something in your price range in Mahtomedi. Eagan is very nice, but I am dubious of a 20-minute commute from there to the northern part of Maplewood.

There are parts of Woodbury that feed to the Stillwater schools, have you checked those areas out? I think those would be a good bet, although I don't know how feasible it is to find something in your price range in that area . . . .

[hbrat]

[quote=golfgal;7560416]I am not a fan of Woodbury--I don't think the schools match up with others in the area. I know plenty of people like it there however.[quote]

My family will be transferring to the area soon, so I've done a significant amount of research on schools in the area. The following websites yield a ton of concrete info. regarding the schools you mentioned: Greatschools.net, Schooldigger.com or the website for the state of minnesota department of education. Woodbury schools are absolutely comparable to both Stillwater or Rosemount. There is virtually no difference on test scores, student population, or student to teacher ratio. The main difference is in class size. Stillwater graduates between 100-200 more students/year than the other two schools. Mounds View and Mahtomedi do seem to perform a bit better than the other three, but the differences between any of these schools is not huge.

[golfgal]

[quote=hbrat;7689776][quote=golfgal;7560416]I am not a fan of Woodbury--I don't think the schools match up with others in the area. I know plenty of people like it there however.

My family will be transferring to the area soon, so I've done a significant amount of research on schools in the area. The following websites yield a ton of concrete info. regarding the schools you mentioned: Greatschools.net, Schooldigger.com or the website for the state of minnesota department of education. Woodbury schools are absolutely comparable to both Stillwater or Rosemount. There is virtually no difference on test scores, student population, or student to teacher ratio. The main difference is in class size. Stillwater graduates between 100-200 more students/year than the other two schools. Mounds View and Mahtomedi do seem to perform a bit better than the other three, but the differences between any of these schools is not huge.

Test scores and class size aren't everything when it comes to picking a place to live. I just don't like the Woodbury area. I can also tell you from personal experience that Stillwater and Rosemount schools just have a better feel to the schools, better staff and administration, better support from the community and better financial handling. There is nothing blatantly wrong with Woodbury, I just don't like the area.

[buzz_cii]

I live in Woodbury and have a pre-schooler & Kindergartener. I also used to have my Real Estate license, but no longer do.

Known as the "Edina of the East", Woodbury will give you the biggest bang for your buck in regards to real estate. It's about reputation - What do you think of when you think of "Woodbury" or "Edina" or "Wayzata" or "Minnetonka" or "North Minneapolis". An image comes to your mind and you have to decide if that is your image.

You will find a descent home 2000sf + if you look hard.

I do not recommend living in the area of Woodbury that is in District 834 (stillwater), because the schools are further to drive for all the after school activity. I went to Stillwater schools all my life, and IMHO, woodbury is nicer, & newer - especially East Ridge High. One note, if you live close enouth to the schools, they make you walk. 1 mile for elementary and 1.5 for Jr & Sr. unless you live accross a major road. I love Woodbury, it's 15 minutes to parking at Xcel Energy Center, 25 minutes to parking at MOA & Airport, and 15 minutes to the river and Skiing Afton Alps. However, I do not tolerate the weather anymore and will move to Miami. Ya, big switch. Sorry, my home is a little out of your price range.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by buzz_cii

I live in Woodbury and have a pre-schooler & Kindergartener. I also used to have my Real Estate license, but no longer do.

Known as the "Edina of the East", Woodbury will give you the biggest bang for your buck in regards to real estate. It's about reputation - What do you think of when you think of "Woodbury" or "Edina" or "Wayzata" or "Minnetonka" or "North Minneapolis". An image comes to your mind and you have to decide if that is your image.

You will find a descent home 2000sf + if you look hard.

I do not recommend living in the area of Woodbury that is in District 834 (stillwater), because the schools are further to drive for all the after school activity. I went to Stillwater schools all my life, and IMHO, woodbury is nicer, & newer - especially East Ridge High. One note, if you live close enouth to the schools, they make you walk. 1 mile for elementary and 1.5 for Jr & Sr. unless you live accross a major road. I love Woodbury, it's 15 minutes to parking at Xcel Energy Center, 25 minutes to parking at MOA & Airport, and 15 minutes to the river and Skiing Afton Alps. However, I do not tolerate the weather anymore and will move to Miami. Ya, big switch. Sorry, my home is a little out of your price range.

Woodbury seems more like Eden Prairie than Edina to me. We considered Woodbury, but it was not quite what we wanted. I guess what steered us away was the look you get from such fast development. Lot of nice houses that look a lot like each other, huge developments that go on forever, road congestion within the city itself, and mostly a bunch of big box stores for shopping laid out of I494 and I94.

The other thing that steered us away was the lot prices. Our builder could have built our house in Woodbury if we wanted to go there, but it was significantly more expensive and it would have had an association.

We ened up going with a larger, cheaper lot in a very small development that left the woods in place. Seemed like the right choice for us because we really like the smaller town semi-rurual feel and Mahtomedi surely has that.

Overall Woodbury is a great place to live for a lot of people. Just matters what you are looking for and find value in.

[casualsurfer]

i want to thank the people who have left feedbacks. any chance to find a nice house in woodbury for ~$320K these days (relatively new, finished basement, 3 car garage)?

[buzz_cii]

Originally Posted by casualsurfer

i want to thank the people who have left feedbacks. any chance to find a nice house in woodbury for ~$320K these days (relatively new, finished basement, 3 car garage)?

Of course,depending on lot size, you could get 3,000+ sf total living space. Homes 5 years old or less.

[HKB]

Thanks to all that replied here. We just rented a single family home in Woodbury near Radio Drive/Bailey (across from the hockey rink & the new high school). The houses do seem a bit cookie cutter (you'd better like beige houses, because that's all you see for blocks!), but we love the location. With the real estate market still plummeting with no bottom in sight, we're going to wait it out for awhile to see how far prices drop. Maybe in a year or two we will be able to afford something that might otherwise have been out of our price range.

GolfGal... I sincerely appreciate your input, but I've always wondered why you consider some school districts to be inferior to ISD 196? Do you have any data to support this?