What About Cannon Falls (Rochester, Bloomington: real estate, houses, new construction)

[odem03]

We currently live in Saint Paul, but my family has been looking for homes in Northfield (approximately 37 miles to my job in Bloomington).

Expanding my internet search, I stumbled across a home in Cannon Falls that could be perfect, but there a few problems:

1. My wife was fine with Northfield because of its size (17,000), and the fact that the town is historic and has a lot of great things to do.

2. Cannon Falls is much smaller (3,200), and we are not sure of what there is to do in town.

We are looking for all the usual cliches: family friendly, good schools, great parks, etc.

Does anyone have any information on Cannon Falls? Or does anyone live in Cannon Falls and have any information to share?

Thanks in advance.

[golfgal]

We just got back from golfing in Cannon Falls, there isn't much there. We looked there when we first started looking for houses in the metro area and found that the town itself is pretty dumpy. There is quite a bit of new construction but it is out there. It is probably about 15 minutes further from Bloomington then Northfield. Hastings and Rosemount would be options for smaller towns other then Northfield that are pretty easy commutes to Bloomington. My Dh works in Bloomington and it takes him under 20 mintues to get to work from our house in Rosemount, Hastings would be about 30 minutes, Northfield would be about 45 minutes or more to Bloomington.

[Robert P Stewart]

Cannon Falls has a fantastic gas station.

That, and the homes are priced lower than Northfield. In fact, I'm planning on building 8-10 houses there this year. We're targeting Mayo professionals who want easy access to the Cities too.

Cannon Falls is going to come a long way in the next 5 years. And yes, I have my own crystal ball, thank you very much.

Robert

[odem03]

Seriously...

I don't care about gas stations and crystal balls...

What about Cannon Falls?

[TimtheGuy]

FYI-Robert is a very well informed real estate agent. If he says Cannon Falls is going to "come along way in the next 5 years" I gotta beleive him.

I think he is letting you know that there is not a lot there at this time, but that is/will be changing. I think the gas station was a bit of humor.

[odem03]

I got the humor part. I guess my attempt at a bit of fun sarcasm fell flat...

[golfgal]

Robert probably sees more in his crystal ball then I do but Cannon Falls has been an up and coming place since some friends of ours moved there 10 years ago--it hasn't changed much since then. I think it is just too far out there for most people UNLESS you want some acreage and space and don't mind driving 15+ minutes to get groceries, etc.

[odem03]

When you say the town is dumpy what do you mean exactly?

Exploreminnesota.com describes Cannon Falls as an historic charming place.

Are they pushing it?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by odem03

When you say the town is dumpy what do you mean exactly?

Exploreminnesota.com describes Cannon Falls as an historic charming place.

Are they pushing it?

I mean that when we drove through 'town' it was a dump, buildings not taken care of, houses near downtown with garbage, old cars, etc. all over. We were really hoping to move to Cannon Falls when we first started looking because we liked the idea of the small town, the lake there and the scenery but the town itself is just YUCK. The new developments on the edge of town were your typical suburban developments, etc. and were clean, well kept but the town itself was not.

The schools also don't rank very high but they have 3 golf courses there .

[Vagus]

Originally Posted by Robert P Stewart

We're targeting Mayo professionals who want easy access to the Cities too.

Hmmm, good luck with that. Sure, it's about midway between Rochester and the Cities, but an every-day commute to work of 40+ minutes is awful long by Rochester/Mayo standards -- and without any Rochester-level amenities in Cannon Falls . . . I just can't see too many people wanting to do that.