young couple moving to Minneapolis area (Eagan, Burnsville: rentals, homes, to live in)

[audadvnc]

When my daughter was 4 years old I was walking her down to one of the 4 playgrounds within a half mile of our NE Mpls home. They are very nice, and Charlotte met a few nice friends there. City playgrounds are great.

[ceeb4]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

Forget the suburbs and move to south or southwest Minneapolis. The great thing about Minneapolis is you don't have to stay outside the city limits in order to have nice schools and a great neighborhood.

Note: Glenfield, I totally agree with you as we researched that area when we were moving. Just want to share the rest of our story re: where we ended up living since SW Minneapolis didn't work out for us because of housing issues:

We just moved here 2 weeks ago, so please take this into consideration reading my post. We moved to the Burnsville/Apple Valley area. We are so in love with this area so far. We live in a small cul-de-sac and we have 1 middle school child. There is a wonderful park very close by that we have gone to nightly so our son can hit baseballs. Our yard is .25 acre and it takes my husband about 45 min to mow the lawn & trim.(he is very particular). I have lived in the city on a very small lot & I have lived in a home with 15 acres.(in other states) Both scenarios had their strong points and both had cons. In fact when we were researching the Twin Cities area, our first choice was to live closer to Minneapolis in one of the older homes in SW Minneapolis or Richfield. As it turned out, every time we found a home it was rented out before we could even see it. So this house was available & we changed our criteria. Fortunately, it was a great lesson in fate. This area is such a fit for us and there is a boy next door the exact same age as our son & loves baseball! They will be starting the same middle school this year.

Still I am glad that we decided to rent for the first year to make sure this is where we want to be for the long haul. We have the opportunity to buy this home should we choose.

As far as being close to the airport, I dropped my husband off at the airport this week in the middle of the day, it was a piece of cake. Took me 40 minutes ROUND trip. I picked him up the next day @ 5:00 and was dreading it due to rush hour but that trip only added about 30 more minutes round trip. If you had to spend a few hours on the Long Island Expressway every day like I have for the past 3 years, you would see why the traffic here is no big deal to me.

My purpose is just to point out that sometimes what we think we want & want we end up getting is very different, but in our case we are very fortunate.

Like I said, it has only been 2 weeks but I have never felt so relieved (intially) in moving to a new area as I have the Twin Cities.

p.s. also one more thing...maybe folks shouldn't judge or give opinions on living in the city vs. suburbs unless they have truly done both for an extended amount of time. There is so much hearsay on this forum, it kills me! We have had so many people make derogatory comments to us re: our move here and the terrible winters. Yet when I say "Oh, when did you live there?", their answer is "well I haven't but I've just heard". So annoying.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Slig

I'm basing this on comparing how much yard work that had to be done on my family's suburban homes in Blaine, Coon Rapids and Ramsey and the lot where I was living in Eagan with how much yard work and maintenance I do with my smaller South Minneapolis yard, and it's substantial. Just as one small example, it took 1 1/2 - 2 hours to completely mow each of those suburban yards front and back with a push mower and bagging the grass. I can get my entire Minneapolis yard mowed and trimmed in less than 30 minutes.

Sounds like a large yard isn't for you, but I don't quite understand why you would disparage those who would choose otherwise. We don't all like living on postage stamp lots.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Sounds like a large yard isn't for you, but I don't quite understand why you would disparage those who would choose otherwise. We don't all like living on postage stamp lots.

Dude, that conversation started because people were complaining about how South Minneapolis yards were tiny and I replied by saying I love my small South Minneapolis yard...where am I disparaging you? I looked back at all my posts and all I was doing was sharing my opinion based on past experience of living in both the suburbs and the city.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Slig

Dude, that conversation started because people were complaining about how South Minneapolis yards were tiny and I replied by saying I love my small South Minneapolis yard...where am I disparaging you? I looked back at all my posts and all I was doing was sharing my opinion based on past experience of living in both the suburbs and the city.

Sorry, but your response to me earlier:

I guess my point in all of this is that for most of my life I have never really understood the fascination and desire for owning a large sized lot. I would even go as far as saying that I find it to be a huge waste of space and effort.

struck me as being a rather general statement. If it wasn't intended that way, my apologies, but I'm sure you can see how it could be taken that way.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Sorry, but your response to me earlier:

struck me as being a rather general statement. If it wasn't intended that way, my apologies, but I'm sure you can see how it could be taken that way.

That was just me stating my opinion. I'm not going to go any further into it though because it's clear we don't see eye to eye on this.

[Mason3000]

Mendota (Not Mendota Heights) is absolutely small town Minnesota & just 5-10 minutes from the airport, with very little airport noise it's the perfect solution for you IF you could find something available. Mendota Heights, Eagan, Rosemount & Apple Valley are where I'd be looking, in that order.

[eastside38]

Originally Posted by MSMCGirl

I highly recommend Bloomington. If you avoid the area close to the airport and Mall of America and stick to either West Bloomington OR the southern section of Bloomington (near the Minnesota River) you will feel VERY removed from "big city" Bloomington. And you can get a nice sized lot with mature trees (up to 1/2 acre) for much more reasonable prices than other suburban areas. PLUS...you won't have to get on 35 or 494...you can take side streets all the way to the airport. AVOID the western suburbs....unless you want to be sitting in a parking lot. (I personally think Edina and Eden Prairie are over priced and over rated...IMHO).

I can agree with most of this here. I don't think that Edina and Eden Prairie are overpriced. You get what you pay for in those towns, but Eden Prairie is a bit overrated. I would really recommend the southeastern section of Bloomington if you're going to budget this one out. There are plenty of large yards in quiet, inexpensive neighborhoods to go around. I'll admit that there isn't much true "countryside" around there, but lets face it, if you settle in Lakeville or a similar third ring suburb to be near countryside, it will be built over eventually.

Move to Washington County if you want to be near countryside that is actually being preserved in land trusts and parks.

[andrewhick52]

Hello everyone, we are officially moving from Vancouver to Minneapolis in 3 weeks! We still havent decided officially on a place, but there is one really nice townhome we're looking at in Woodbury. Thoughts? Seems nice and quiet and a short ride to my native Wisconsin and the country. Any advice?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by andrewhick52

Hello everyone, we are officially moving from Vancouver to Minneapolis in 3 weeks! We still havent decided officially on a place, but there is one really nice townhome we're looking at in Woodbury. Thoughts? Seems nice and quiet and a short ride to my native Wisconsin and the country. Any advice?

Woodbury is pretty suburban but on the edges of town it is all farm land so it meets your needs that way. The only drawback is that your trip to the airport is going to be somewhat of a pain crossing the Wacota bridge in South St. Paul but if you can time it right you won't really have too much of an issue. They have improved that crossing significantly. Woodbury is busier than other places but once you get into the neighborhoods it isn't too bad.