Wayzata schools vs EP vs Minnetonka vs Chaska-Chanhassen (Minneapolis, Plymouth: renting, hotel)

[rzzz]

We used to see that place on the way to Paisley Park parties back in the day. I think it's a 1980s new age thing that has passed its prime.

[ocsid]

Well, Paisley Park is an 80's thing that has passed its prime too…

I live on the Minnetonka/Wayzata border, in the Wayzata district. You will see that kind of rich kid syndrome though at any of the districts out here. There are some seriously affluent families in the area, but the Wayzata district is geographically huge - much larger than Edina, or even Minnetonka. There are plenty of middle class families in the district. Plus, the richest of the rich are much more likely to go to Blake or Breck. I'd be interested in which house in Wayzata you are looking at - keep in mind, just because it has a Wayzata mailing address and zip code, does not mean it is in the city limits of Wayzata. The Wayzata zip code encompassed a number of small cities, as well as a good portion of the city of Minnetonka. I don't live in Wayzata - I live in Minnetonka, but our mailing address (and my drivers license) are Wayzata.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by ellysbelly

^Exactly what I was hoping to hear-- thank you! I think we're going to aim to find a home as close as possible to the EP rink to minimize his commute. Thank you!

Eden Prairie sounds like it'd be a great fit for you. The area is very nice, their sports programs are simply fantastic & the education is top notch. People like to bad mouth Eden Prairie because they are Goliath (in terms of sports dominance) & no one roots for Goliath. The one sport they don't seem to dominate in is Hockey & that's largely because they play in the same conference as Edina, which for all intents & purposes is a hockey trade school. They're still no slouches at hockey mind you & I see they had 2 of the 10 finalists for Mr Hockey Mn last year, (including one who I'm guessing is the son of Dave Snuggerud, a former Mn Gopher Captain, Olympian & NHL vet). They have pretty much unlimited resources, are eager to get over the hump & win a state championship, so this might be a great opportunity for your husband/family.

Chanhassen is a little further out, in a different (read: less competitive) sports conference, has more of a small town feel & in my mind is a little more wealthy in a conservative way. That is to say that in my mind, Wayzata (definitely) & Eden Prairie (to a lesser degree) have lot's of upper-middle class strivers, where showing what you have & keeping up with the Jones' is a very big part of the culture. Lot's of brand new Lexus SUV's & soccer Mom's who put on make-up to bring the kids to school in the morning. That kind of thing. To me Chanhassen is more subtle & buttoned down because they're already upper-middle class, not striving & have enough money that they don't need to impress the neighbors.

[rzzz]

I wonder how many people in Wayzata are actually ballin' vs. just over extended.
My friends in Wayzata are a dual BMW couple, and a house with a pool, $10K worth of road bicycles, but I would guess they only make about $130K as a household. (maybe that's enough?)

[ellysbelly]

Originally Posted by Mason3000

Eden Prairie sounds like it'd be a great fit for you. The area is very nice, their sports programs are simply fantastic & the education is top notch. People like to bad mouth Eden Prairie because they are Goliath (in terms of sports dominance) & no one roots for Goliath. The one sport they don't seem to dominate in is Hockey & that's largely because they play in the same conference as Edina, which for all intents & purposes is a hockey trade school. They're still no slouches at hockey mind you & I see they had 2 of the 10 finalists for Mr Hockey Mn last year, (including one who I'm guessing is the son of Dave Snuggerud, a former Mn Gopher Captain, Olympian & NHL vet). They have pretty much unlimited resources, are eager to get over the hump & win a state championship, so this might be a great opportunity for your husband/family.

Chanhassen is a little further out, in a different (read: less competitive) sports conference, has more of a small town feel & in my mind is a little more wealthy in a conservative way. That is to say that in my mind, Wayzata (definitely) & Eden Prairie (to a lesser degree) have lot's of upper-middle class strivers, where showing what you have & keeping up with the Jones' is a very big part of the culture. Lot's of brand new Lexus SUV's & soccer Mom's who put on make-up to bring the kids to school in the morning. That kind of thing. To me Chanhassen is more subtle & buttoned down because they're already upper-middle class, not striving & have enough money that they don't need to impress the neighbors.

Thank you, that's very helpful insight to each of the different programs.. we're waiting to hear back from the owner, but I *think* we might rent the home we've seen in Chanhassen and we will then have the option of open enrolling in EP or even Minnetonka; where we enroll the kids will likely depend on the hockey connections that my husband (hopefully) makes this summer and once we assess the competition for our son (he's a goalie, as is my husband-- so, generally, you either start or you ride wood, nothing in between). Normally I wouldn't let hockey dictate educational decisions but as it seems that all of the school systems are universally excellent, I'm fine with hockey being the deciding factor, if need be.

[ocsid]

Originally Posted by rzzz

I wonder how many people in Wayzata are actually ballin' vs. just over extended.
My friends in Wayzata are a dual BMW couple, and a house with a pool, $10K worth of road bicycles, but I would guess they only make about $130K as a household. (maybe that's enough?)

As someone who lives in the area, I get the impression that that there are fewer of the over-extended types than in some other cities. The really extremely wealthy around here tend to either be old money types, or doctors, lawyers and executives (Cargill, General Mills and Carlson are all nearby, as well as a number of mid-sized companies like Mosaic, Wagner, Covidien, and Polaris, and a lot of those executives are in the area). The population also tends to skew older it seems. People who were upper middle class and bought their houses back in the 70's and 80's and have stayed through retirement. In our neighborhood, built in the late 70's, we have multiple original owners, so I expect some turnover in the next few years. I think Edina is the same way.

I think there are a lot more of the living on credit types in Eden Prairie, Plymouth and Medina, where you have the newer (I hate this term) McMansions, built in the 90's. I'm not some suburb-hater, but I think you're really going to see a lot of those developments deteriorate in the next 20 years in large part due to the lesser quality of the housing stock. Look no further than the Edinburgh USA area in Brooklyn Park. Now BP has a lot of serious problems and a bad reputation, but in the 80's when that went in, it was a top 50 public course nationally, and the neighborhood around it was really exclusive. Not so anymore - housing prices are not what they should be for what those houses were built for, and a lot of the workmanship is pretty shabby today. I see the same thing happening in EP, Plymouth, Medina and parts of Chaska/Chan.

[golfgal]

A while back someone posted a figure and in the Wayzata area, something like 70% of homeowners owned their home outright...the average income is also very high, just about $100,000--compared to Woodbury, for example, at $90,000.

[ocsid]

Originally Posted by golfgal

A while back someone posted a figure and in the Wayzata area, something like 70% of homeowners owned their home outright...the average income is also very high, just about $100,000--compared to Woodbury, for example, at $90,000.

I suspect a lot of that has to do with, as I mentioned, an aging population, as well as generally wealthy people. People who are upper middle class, not wealthy so much, but paid off their mortgages years ago.

[ellysbelly]

I think we may have found a house-- yay! A different one than I mentioned earlier (not near the Temple of ECK), but also in Chanhassen. The owner is TOTALLY cool with the dogs (as she has a bunch herself!) and we could move directly from here into the home without having to stay in a hotel, store our belongings or requiring me to fly back and forth to finalize our move. It's pretty close to the EP rink, in a great school district, near a pond (for pond hockey-- yay!), with a fully fenced yard and it's even under budget-- fingers and toes (and paws!) crossed that this works out!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by ellysbelly

I think we may have found a house-- yay! A different one than I mentioned earlier (not near the Temple of ECK), but also in Chanhassen. The owner is TOTALLY cool with the dogs (as she has a bunch herself!) and we could move directly from here into the home without having to stay in a hotel, store our belongings or requiring me to fly back and forth to finalize our move. It's pretty close to the EP rink, in a great school district, near a pond (for pond hockey-- yay!), with a fully fenced yard and it's even under budget-- fingers and toes (and paws!) crossed that this works out!

Great news!!!!