Living in WI? (Bloomington, Burnsville, Shakopee: houses, construction, schools)

[rvmitchell]

How bad would traffic be from Hudson, WI to Bloomington? We're still trying to figure out where we should live...

Right now I'm in Ham Lake - commuting to Bloomington - and my husband, 11 month old baby, and 2 dogs are in Indiana. This commute is killing me and being away from my family is killing me even more!

Thanks!

[wildfan]

I would imagine that the commute would be the same give or take 10 min.

[politikally]

I gotta back wildfan on this...

Depending on where you work in Bloomington I think it would be about the same if not longer to commute from Hudson.

The problem with the Hudson to Bloomington route is 94 is always packed, and 494 is HORRIBLE, especially with the bridge construction between hudson and bloomington.

Why not live in Bloomington or some of the Southern Burbs. My wife works in Bloomington and we live in Burnsville. She has about a 10 minute commute.

[rvmitchell]

Originally Posted by politikally

Why not live in Bloomington or some of the Southern Burbs. My wife works in Bloomington and we live in Burnsville. She has about a 10 minute commute.

Because we just aren't fans of the city. We want to live in a small town. Besides that, the cost of living close to Bloomington is more than we wanted to spend. I don't mind the commute - I just can't stand commuting in traffic. We've looked (and liked) Hastings. I'm going tonight to look at a couple of houses in Randolph (near Cannon Falls). Hopefully the "perfect" house will find us soon!

[brrgrl]

I live in Hastings - the commute is around 30 minutes to Bloomington. The commute from Randolph would be less than 1 hour, on Highway 52. Randolph is a small farming town - I'm guessing that the housing costs would be less than Hastings. The closest area for decent shopping would be Northfield (about 11 miles away). The commute from Hudson would be 45 minutes to an hour - the traffic on I-494 (across the Mississippi River) is bad - especially during the winter.

[rvmitchell]

Actually, surprisingly the houses in Randolph were comparable in price to those we looked at in Hastings!

Would the commute across any bridge to WI be bad - like say to Prescott, WI? How about commuting to Oak Park Heights (still out 94, but not across the bridge to WI)?

Thanks!

[brrgrl]

Prescott is about 6 miles from Hastings & there isn't much traffic. Prescott is a small river town (approx. 3,000 people). Add about 20 minutes to get from Prescott through Hastings (there are a number of stoplights/stopsigns). Oak Park Heights is near Stillwater, which is about 25 miles from Hastings. Best guess is about a 1 hour commute - either via I-494 (similar route as Hudson) or via Hwy 36/I-35E.

[rvmitchell]

I just noticed that property tax in WI is about 50% (if not more) greater than in MN. Why? Are public systems better in WI (schools, road, etc)? This doesn't make sense to me...

[MidniteBreeze]

Yes, Wisconsin property taxes are notoriously high. They do have pretty good roads though....they actually have one of the best county road systems in the country. Schools are also good, but so are Minnesota's (generally speaking, there's good and bad schools/districts in every state, of course.) It's cheaper to insure and license a vehicle in WI though. Doesn't make up for the property taxes, but it's something. If you're a "sinner", booze and smokes are also cheaper in WI (lol).

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by rvmitchell

I just noticed that property tax in WI is about 50% (if not more) greater than in MN. Why? Are public systems better in WI (schools, road, etc)? This doesn't make sense to me...

I can tell you that the Hudson schools do not have a good reputation. Overall the schools in MN usually score higher then WI schools in various tests, etc. The property taxes in WI are higher but I think the income taxes in MN are higher. We looked into living in Hudson several years ago and it was going to be about $50/year less expensive in taxes, car tabs, etc. to live in WI but the commute to Bloomington (MOA area) would have been a lot longer. Hudson isn't really a small town anymore, although it does have a small town feel.

Prescott to Bloomington wouldn't be too bad of a commute, the only problem would be the boat season and getting across the lift bridge there. Cute town, nice beach on the west end of town.

How small of a town are you looking for? Rosemount is smaller (20,000) then Hastings (25,000) and about 15 minutes closer to Bloomington. Northfield would be another option if you are on the south side of Bloomington or near Cedar Ave.

Randolph schools aren't the best in the area, neither are Cannon Falls schools. Stillwater would be another small town to look into but the commute to Bloomington is 45 minutes or so.

If you are on the west side of Bloomington, what about Chaska, Shakopee, Prior Lake, Jordan--those would be a bit longer commute though?