What's the personality of some of the suburbs?? (Bloomington, Eagan: houses, established neighborhood)

[robind]

I love this forum and appreciate all the help and discussions we get going. Here's my latest question/discussion idea.

We want a suburb with a good commute (30 to 45 minutes in rush hour) to Eden Prairie, Bloominton or downtown.

Family centered with restuarants, movie theaters, shopping close by. Bike trails and parks too.

Not a hip trendy area but not frumpy either. Professional folks would the neighbors not a blue collar area.

2500 sq ft (or more), not over $400,000, an updated house, not a fixer-upper.

I'm finding a lot of great choices but don't really know the personalities of the areas.

Tell me about your town or a town that fits this and why.

[golfgal]

You will find what you are looking for in most of the suburbs. Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Wayzata are going to be the more expensive suburbs and you tend to run into a lot more of the keeping up with the Jones' mentality and finding a house under $400,000 that is updated is going to be difficult.

Rosemount, as everyone knows here, is a GREAT choice based on what you are looking for. It is about 15 minutes to MOA, 35 minutes to EP in traffic (although when the crosstown is under construction expect that to change). There is a good mix of people here, schools are great, bike trails EVERYWHERE, very active people--many people walking/biking all the time. Restaurants are lacking here but there are plenty in Apple Valley just a couple minutes away. We have a great theater that isn't all that busy so that is nice. There is one house not far from our house that I would buy in a second if we hadn't just moved-rambler on a pond, updated for $350,000 or so in a GREAT neighborhood where kids are out playing all the time.

[robind]

I looked online and don't see that rambler. What's address? That sounds awesome.

[robind]

Rosemount sounds great - any other ideas?

[Slig]

If you're going to Rosemount you might as well get a little closer and live in Eagan.

[marycsam]

West Bloomington. Fabulous family community, great schools, recreation with parks (Hyland Park, Bush Lake, Lake Normandale, etc..) multitudes of trails, lots of established neighborhoods with trees, convenient to highways.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by robind

I looked online and don't see that rambler. What's address? That sounds awesome.

I just looked too and I don't see it any longer, sorry. Here is an MLS listing for a new construction in a great neighborhood in Rosemount that is under $400,000, #3341258. There are quite a few houses in the $350,000-400,000 range right now.

[HKB]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I just looked too and I don't see it any longer, sorry. Here is an MLS listing for a new construction in a great neighborhood in Rosemount that is under $400,000, #3341258.

$380k for a house less than 2000 square feet, with a $65/month association fee to boot? Yeah... no thanks.

[robind]

$380k for a house less than 2000 square feet, with a $65/month association fee to boot? Yeah... no thanks.

Try Seattle - $600,000 for rambler that needs work (not cosmetics but work). Minnesota sounds great to me.

Thanks to the othe rperson for the MLS in Rosemount. I'll check it out next.

[HKB]

Originally Posted by robind

$380k for a house less than 2000 square feet, with a $65/month association fee to boot? Yeah... no thanks.

Try Seattle - $600,000 for rambler that needs work (not cosmetics but work). Minnesota sounds great to me.

Thanks to the othe rperson for the MLS in Rosemount. I'll check it out next.

It's your money... do whatever you want. I'm just saying that this house is way overpriced for this market. The Twin Cities is not comparable to Seattle. You can get a lot more square footage in an area a lot closer to the west metro than Rosemount for the same amount of money or less.