Family friendly neighborhood for VANJ transplant working near St. Paul/St.Louis (Eagan: sales)

[VANJgirl]

Hi!
Family of 5 moving to MN. We have lived in very suburban areas of Northern Virginia and central NJ. Will be moving to MN for a 3 year medical residency. I went to zillow and got a little nervous because the houses I would usually like all had tons of saves. Would like 4 bedrooms as my spouse will work from home and family will visit often from out of state. I will be working in St. Louis Park, Burnsville, and St. Paul depending on the rotation schedule. Educated, minority family if that matters at all. Probably more important is the fact that I have 3 elementary age kids. I'd prefer a K-8 school so my kids can stay together but if this is unrealistic we would consider homeschooling. We have 1 puppy. We like bike riding and parks. My kids are involved in the typical weekend sports activities. Seems like there is more inventory for home sales vs rentals. How bad is the snow? I'm a good driver but it would be good to have a short commute just in case.
Thanks for any and all suggestions!

[wamer27]

Look at Edina or Southwest Mpls, nice area which costs more, but you get what you pay for via location. I’d use Edina Realty or Realtor for searching. Padmapper has been mentioned for rentals. Roads get cleared right away from snow and salted. I plow snow for career and we rarely get large amounts of 6 plus inches or more. This season has been many 1-2 inch light fluffy snows I’ve used my air blower on sidewalks. Been a perfect season with a storm or two of 8 plus inches. We typically get about 15 storms a year of an inch more, been this way via my business the last 20 plus years.

[Unsure070]

Hi there. We moved from Woodbridge NJ 6 months ago. I would say since two out of your three job locations will be on the east side of the city I would look at Eagan. There are trails everywhere, and Lebanon Hills park. Look it up. There are lakes for boating and canoeing as well, and i believe they have a new huge community pool with water slides and a lazy river. You'd also close to the Mall of America, which is great in the winter to take kids on rides or to the aquarium. Saint paul is also close and has a great children's museam, and Science museam. The schools are also great in Eagan! The only downfall would be the drive to saint louis Park, which would be 20-30 min. Good luck!!