Twin Cities Location Suggestions (Minneapolis, St. Paul: apartment, renting, day care)

[sam423]

Hi -

My bf and I are planning to move to the twin cities. I'll be working in St Paul, and he will be just west of Mpls (St Louis Park area).

Any suggestions for places to live that are family friendly & would minimize our two different commute times?

[golfgal]

I would start looking in Eagan. It is a fairly easy commute for both of you. Otherwise, look someplace close to one job so only one of you has to commute.

[uptown_urbanist]

Can you give some more details? Budget, preference for type of neighborhood, type of housing (renting? buying? Want a house, apartment, older home, new place, etc.) Age of kids? Do you want to walk to things, and, if so, what kind of things? Otherwise we can throw suggestions your way, but they'll be too broad to do much good. You'll find lots of family friendly neighborhoods to choose from, so anything you can do to narrow down your wish list will help.

[sam423]

We are looking to buy. Our budget is 250-350K for a 4 bdrm.

We don't have a lot of previous preference in terms of type of surroundings, but most likely we're thinking suburbs. The key for me is to understand what options we have as far as commute, give that we'll be working in 2 separate & far apart locations.

In particular, my questions are:

1. Is there a good place in between (or roughly equidistant from) St Paul and St Louis Park that would make both of our commutes not too terrible?

2. If we do decide to live near 1 person's work, and only have to deal with 1 commute, which is the better option?

[golfgal]

Do you have kids yet or are they in the plans for the near future? If so, you will want one person to be closeish to home if you plan on doing day care. Given your recent information I would still stick with the Eagan area. It is very family friendly, great schools, and fairly easy commutes to both St. Paul and St. Louis Park.

[Camden Northsider]

To answer #1, a good place equidistant from both areas is the city of Minneapolis- there are plenty of great neighborhoods in Minneapolis itself- I'm not sure where you're coming from, but there are a lot of leafy quiet residential neighborhoods within the bounds of the city that might be close to the feel you are looking for- there's not much for newer housing stock within the city, however, if that's a concern.

If commute is one of your #1 concerns, I'm not sure Eagan is a place to look- I have coworkers that live in Eagan and commute to DT area of Minneapolis- they complain quite frequently about their commute times, and actually I don't think I've ever heard anyone I know personally say positive things about commute times from south of the river if they're working in one of the cities.

[sam423]

If the commute from Eagan is not good, what is a better alternative? How is the commute from St Louis Park/nearby suburbs to St Paul, or vice versa?

I'd prefer to stay away from the city of Minneapolis itself, primarily due to cost & schools.

[Ben Around]

Take a look at Roseville or St. Anthony Village. Both suburbs, roughly equidistant from DT St Paul and St Louis Pk.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by sam423

If the commute from Eagan is not good, what is a better alternative? How is the commute from St Louis Park/nearby suburbs to St Paul, or vice versa?

I'd prefer to stay away from the city of Minneapolis itself, primarily due to cost & schools.

I will disagree with those that say the commute from Eagan is not good. Take it from someone that actually drives on those roads, it is NOT a bad commute to St. Paul or to St. Louis Park. Since you are not commuting to downtown Minneapolis the point they bring up is not relevant, plus, they hate the suburbs and will try to steer you away from anything suburban. There is nothing wrong with Eagan. Also, you have several commuting routes to take to both places so if traffic is bad on one road you have several other options.

[lalife]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I would start looking in Eagan. It is a fairly easy commute for both of you. Otherwise, look someplace close to one job so only one of you has to commute.

Maybe they should just commute from South Dakota then? Eagan.......jeesh!!!