Moving to Minnesota... (St. Paul, Rochester, Lakeville: for sale, condos, houses)

[SurfsUp]

We are currently in the process of finalizing plans to build a home in Lakeville/Prior Lake. It has been difficult analyzing the cost of living differntial between California and Minnesota, porperty taxes, income taxes etc. Also, any insight as to cost effectiveness of building a home in this market vs resale? Are home values expected to keep sliding or do you think the market will begin to turn with spring/summer approaching?

Thanks for any ideas and input....we are VERY stressed!!!!

[golfgal]

I don't know that the values are sliding as much as they are leveling out. For the past few years the housing market has been really hot and people were paying 20K-50K or even 100K over asking and now some of those people are trying to sell and not getting anywhere close to what they paid for the house so it SEEMS like the values are going down. I know our house in the past 10 years has doubled in value and I expect it to continue to do so barring any unforeseen major catastrophe happening.

As for the cost of living differential, it really depends on where in California you are and where you end up in MN. Lakeville and Prior Lake are good areas, but both are pretty expensive areas for Minnesota. Also, with the taxes we pay in MN you actually get some pretty good 'perks' like the top rated schools in the nation, good support programs/facilities, etc. Having lived in states with low taxes I will GLADLY pay taxes to get the quality schools and services we have in MN.

[Ben Around]

I agree with golfgal. Yes, our home values have increased drastically in the past few years (my home in St. Paul is appraised at 3.5 times what we paid for it in 1992), but I've seen no evidence that values are falling. The market here has slowed quite a bit in the past several months and people are reducing their asking prices, but I have yet to hear a horror story from anyone who has owned more than 2-3 years. The flippers aren't happy, but most of us buy a house to live in.

[warmweather!]

Compared to California, you could probably buy a mansion here! I'm not kidding! Our schools are top notch, our winters are harsh, our lakes are great, most people here are nice-and much more conservative than Californians, it's mostly Germans and Scandinavians, Lutherans and Catholics, the suburbs west of the Twin Cities are the best and most expensive, the suburbs to the north are the cheapest, outdoor sports are popular-both summer and winter, hmm... What more can I say?

[jennyontheice]

What about Golden Valley, MN? I have a job offer there and was wondering what the area is like. I am from California and have never been to Minnesota.

[PowderSpringsDad]

Originally Posted by jennyontheice

What about Golden Valley, MN? I have a job offer there and was wondering what the area is like. I am from California and have never been to Minnesota.

I lived in Rochester, MN for two years. It was snowing when I arrived and snowing when I left. I can appreciate the differences in cost of living but MN is not cheap.

Also, I hope you like long, very cold, windy and bitter winters.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by jennyontheice

What about Golden Valley, MN? I have a job offer there and was wondering what the area is like. I am from California and have never been to Minnesota.

I'm not sure anyone really lives in Golden Valley . It is more of a place where there are a lot of businesses and people drive there to work. Ok, I am sure there are houses there but I am not even what school district Golden Valley is in.--ok looked it up, Hopkins and Robinsdale.

I am going to guess you have an offer from General Mills and people that work there live all over the twin cities. Are you looking for a good family type place to live, a good, hot singles area, some farm land?????

[rhondabarfknecht]

Due to global warming, Minnesota isn't that cold anymore. And there's not much snow here either. The benefit of living in Minnesota instead of California, is that when the glaciers start melting at a faster pace, Minnesota will still be above ground while California will be underwater.

[TTeVogt]

Minnesota is a great place to live if you do not mind the winter months. as far as the home prices slipping, the main reason we have seen a reduction in prices is because there was a long period of home value increases. It was hard for people not to jump on the bandwagon, and put their home on the market to turn a nice profit. The market was saturated last year, and home sellers were lowering their prices to draw attention (and sell) their home with all the other homes on the market. It appears that the market may have leveled off, and many people think that we will have a good 2007. Some feel that it will be a modest year with home price appreciation of low single digit percentages.

Like Ben Around said, the only people who do not like this are the flippers.

[jennyontheice]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I'm not sure anyone really lives in Golden Valley . It is more of a place where there are a lot of businesses and people drive there to work. Ok, I am sure there are houses there but I am not even what school district Golden Valley is in.--ok looked it up, Hopkins and Robinsdale.

I am going to guess you have an offer from General Mills and people that work there live all over the twin cities. Are you looking for a good family type place to live, a good, hot singles area, some farm land?????

I searched for homes in Golden Valley online and found a lot of condos for sale. Still much much cheaper than here in CA. A 1-bed 1-bath here in our area is $350,000-385,000 (that's a really small 1+1). Homes are still more affordable in MN. In CA, for $200,000 that would buy you a small 1-car garage or not even, maybe a shack.

Actually my offer was from UnitedHealth, but I am going to have to think about this one (the weather and all).