Eagan or Minnetonka? (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington: rent, hotel, buying)

[Beenhere4ever]

Eagan is an easy commute to St Paul. No quick straight option to downtown Minneapolis. Minnetonka is about the same. Straight shot to downtown Minneapolis, then continue on quite a ways to get to downtown St Paul. Which ever way you go, there will be one downtown you are very far away from. Eagan is more proximate to St Paul than Minnetonka is to Minneapolis. Really, as many have said here, there's no wrong answer. You need to look at other issues like home price, shopping, transit (if you care about that), recreation, schools, etc.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Eagan is an easy commute to St Paul. No quick straight option to downtown Minneapolis. Minnetonka is about the same. Straight shot to downtown Minneapolis, then continue on quite a ways to get to downtown St Paul. Which ever way you go, there will be one downtown you are very far away from. Eagan is more proximate to St Paul than Minnetonka is to Minneapolis. Really, as many have said here, there's no wrong answer. You need to look at other issues like home price, shopping, transit (if you care about that), recreation, schools, etc.

Actually-Eagan is very easy into Minneapolis either via 35 to 94, 35 to Ayd Mill, etc. to 94, Hwy 55, Hwy 62, 62 up Cedar, 62 to 35W, etc. That is one really nice thing about the Eagan location, so many roads converge there or are easily accessible from Eagan. You can pretty much be anywhere in the metro in 30 minutes or less from Eagan.

[Beenhere4ever]

Yeh, you can always commute into one downtown, then from there to the other. But that doesn't make the Eagan commute to downtown Minneapolis equivalent to the Minnetonka commute. For one thing, there is a huge jamup going west to Minneapolis from downtown St Paul. Total asymmetry between east and west on I94. I guess all that east metro development was for people employed in Minneapolis.

[remotecontrol]

My husband is hell- bent on Minnetonka, I think it's because of the parks and all of the older more established neighbourhoods with the wooded areas.
My dilemma with Minnetonka is this; there are four good school, Deephaven, Scenic Heights, Groveland and Clear Spring Elementary schools. Scenic Heights and Clear Springs are a little too far south (longer commute to downtown) but have a lot of apartments for us to stay in for the first 6 months. With Deephaven Elementary zoning, the houses are on the more expensive side of our budget, even a little out of our budget, but the school is my favourite. Groveland is the shortest commute being the furthest north but has no apartments for us to stay in, (don't want to rent a house being our first winter -not sure what to expect) but when buying I think we might have more choices.
I'm finding it hard to decide were to go because we have to get it right the first time, as we don't want to move the girls once we get them settled into a new school in a new country.
Ahhhh!!!!! I have been driving my husband and myself mad with all the research..... too many questions, not enough answers!
I wish I could drive around, visit the schools and the areas to get a feel of the place but that's not going to happen from the other side of the world.
We basically have to start signing up for apartments now so we'll be guaranteed one when we get there.
We'll arrive a few weeks after school starts, so the sooner we move into an apartment, and enrol the kids in school, the better....................sigh, getting a little overwhelmed...........any ideas or thoughts?!?!?!?!

[golfgal]

Eagan is very wooded and has a LOT of parks too...

[Beenhere4ever]

If you only plan to rent, you can throw a dart because if one doesn't work out, you can just move to the other.

[Grizzly Addams]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Eagan is an easy commute to St Paul. No quick straight option to downtown Minneapolis. Minnetonka is about the same. Straight shot to downtown Minneapolis, then continue on quite a ways to get to downtown St Paul. Which ever way you go, there will be one downtown you are very far away from. Eagan is more proximate to St Paul than Minnetonka is to Minneapolis. Really, as many have said here, there's no wrong answer. You need to look at other issues like home price, shopping, transit (if you care about that), recreation, schools, etc.

Eagan to Minneapolis is a very easy commute. 35E to 110/62 to 35W (or hiawatha). Another perk with Eagan is the proximity to the Mall of a America, and the fact it is a half hour closer to Wisconsin (for those sundays when you can't stomach watching the Vikings sober....)

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by grizzly addams

eagan to minneapolis is a very easy commute. 35e to 110/62 to 35w (or hiawatha). Another perk with eagan is the proximity to the mall of a america, and the fact it is a half hour closer to wisconsin (for those sundays when you can't stomach watching the vikings sober....)

funny!!! :d

[gtc08]

minnetonka is where you go if you only want to be around whites. eagan is more diverse, more things to do.

[Beenhere4ever]

Drove from Eagan to south Minneapolis this morning. Occurred to me that if I lived out there, I would just drive to the Ft. Snelling park and ride and catch the Blue Line to downtown. Much faster than driving 35E to downtown St Paul. And hundreds of dollars saved on parking when I get there. People in Minnetonka don't yet have that option.