Menomonie to Eau Claire advice (Chippewa Falls, Tilden: transplants, new house, property taxes)

[transplant-from-Minnesota]

Considering a move back to Wisconsin from Minnesota. Any advice about housing in the Menomonie to Eau Claire area would be appreciated.

[Leinie's]

The area from Menomonie to Eau Claire is great for Minnesota transplants. I would also look at the Chippewa Falls area as well, especially with the completion of the 29 and 53 bypasses.
We moved over here from Minnesota four years ago, and could not be happier. Personal opinion, the biggest bang for your buck, and still be somewhat centrally located is the Elk Mound, and Tilden areas. However, it might be heaven for some, and too much in the "sticks" for others. The areas just north of Chippewa Falls, and west of Chippewa Falls are very reasonable, and have overall lower property taxes, as compared to inside the cities of EC, Menomonie, and Chippewa Falls.
If you want to be somewhere where you can leave your car behind on most days, downtown EC is going through a slow renassaince of sorts, and the Oakwood (south side) area of EC can't be beat for convenience.
Menomonie is known for UW Stout, it's openess to industry and commerce, and that I would not be surprised twenty years from now it will be considered a suburb of the Twin Cities. Property taxes are supposed to be higher, but I do not know that from personal experience.
Any more questions, let me know, and I will try to drop by the forum every now and then and give my two cents worth-it is probably not even worth that

[Diggss]

Be careful about the house you buy. Big houses don't readily sell to fast here. I'm talking 300K plus. Remember that is pretty much a garage in Minneapolis but it is probably a 3000-4000 square foot house in Eau Claire. Many new houses have sat on the market in Eau Claire for a year or so that haven't even been lived in. My wife had an example. A co-worker moved from San Fransisco to Chippewa Falls and bought a house for 500K and then got relocated in a year. She didn't sell the house very fast and actually had to take a bite on selling it. The trend is everyone is building a new house in the country South of Eau Claire. Eau Claire has more stuff to do than Menominee. More resturants, shopping, ect. Around Univeristy at Eau Claire there are houses in the 3rd ward that are very cool if you are into the older homes.

[Cain]

how did your move go? If you go into festival of Foods, say hi to Curt the bakery manager there. he can really throw down.