Eagan or Minnetonka? (Minneapolis, Chaska, Wayzata: house, neighborhoods, buy)

[remotecontrol]

Hi,

We're moving to Minneapolis and we have narrowed our search down to either Eagan or Minnetonka.

We have a budget of $480,000 and love the outdoors.

We have two kids, so need good elementary schools, parks and trails, decent local shops, community feel and an easy enough commute to downtown, for work by bus.

I know that we can get more house for our money in Eagan, but is Minnetonka a safer investment and better area?

Because we are new to Minneapolis we also want to get involved and be apart of all that the city has to offer. Which of the two has more going on?

We have also looked at St Louis Park but it's too expensive.

What are your thoughts?

[golfgal]

Eagan probably has more going on as far as shopping, restaurants, etc. Biggest advantage with Eagan is the schools are a lot smaller. Just be aware that Eagan is in 3 school districts and you will want to be in the 196 district if you live there. Neither town is safer than the other, especially in the price range you are considering. The commute into Minneapolis will be slightly better from Eagan, just less traffic/more lanes to carry the traffic, but it's probably 5 minutes difference. Lebanon Hills was recently named the best county park in the metro if that means anything. It's a great year round park with swimming, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, camping in the summer and skiing, snowshoeing, skating, etc. in the winter.

[Beenhere4ever]

That's a nice choice to have. Frankly, you will probably win either way.

[knke0204]

Keep in mind that both Eagan and Minnetonka are very large cities, land wise -

I wouldn't agree that Eagan neccessarily has more to offer,-- I think Minnetonka is a great community and IMO has more to offer than Eagan. Minnetonka has a great landscape -- Rolling hills, lakes, ponds, marsh land, mature trees -- Older neighborhoods mixed with newer developments. I live in Minnetonka, and there is plenty to do and we're so close to many places like Lake Minnetonka communities (Wayzata, Excelsior) as well as MPLS (takes me about 15 minutes to get to uptown/downtown.

Eagan has plenty of the same -- Lakes, nice rolling hills, woods, etc but it's a much newer community -- newer schools, developments -- Eagan is close to MSP International and not too far from DT Mpls, not as close as MTKA.

I can't speak for the schools in either community so maybe someone can help us out

[Beenhere4ever]

My sister has lived in Minnetonka doing back decades. She's been very satisfied. I think its position gives you easy access to everything. 494 north to south, 394 east to west.

[remotecontrol]

Thanks guys, I think we are swaying more towards Minnetonka as it seems to have everything that we are after, except for the kind of house our budget will allow. Wow! $480,000 max, does not buy you much there. If we bought in Eagan we could be living in a beautiful home - Minnetonka on the other hand, a 1960's fixer-upper............gulp!
Looking at the bigger picture though, it's location, neighbourhoods, parks, trails, schools etc, more than make up for the size and look of the house we'll eventually find ourselves in, and hopefully a better long term investment.
I can't wait to get there, google maps are starting to bore the hell out of me and I'm sure don't do Minnetonka any justice

[Beenhere4ever]

My older sister has a home in Minnetonka that she and her husband bought way back. I wonder what it would sell for today.

[StilltheSame]

I agree with other posters that believe you win either way - I think I would go with Minnetonka - though the commute on 394 would likely be worse for working downtown. I would not count out SLP - depending on the amount of bedrooms and condition of home - there are homes in your price range even in the nicer SLP areas.

[chilaili]

Minnetonka is definitely the more expensive area but I would pick there, mostly because I worked in Eagan for 10 years and saw quite enough of it.

Silly question perhaps but what about Wayzata or Chaska?

[Beenhere4ever]

"The commute to downtown" could be just a commute to Louisiana Avenue where there's a park and ride lot. Then you get on a bus to downtown, and the buses get favoritism in rush hour traffic. And the express buses, among the normal ones, are the cushiest in the system. If I lived in Minnetonka, that'd be all the farther I would ever drive.

Oops, spoke too soon. Minnetonka itself has a bunch of lots. No need to drive as far as Louisiana.
http://www.metrotransit.org/park-ride-lots