Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

My company has an office in Minneapolis that I may transfer to, but I need to know some info for negotiations. I've been working with a client up there for about 2 years off and on, a refinery there in Pine Bend, and I may be able to take a position that would put me in the plant for more hands-on engineering work (I've designed a ton of control systems for them without having ever placed a single foot in the refinery - it sucks). My company may also pay for me to go back to school (I've been doing that here in Houston out of my own pocket ), so I was looking at UofM in Minneapolis.

So I need to know:
-Cost of living
-Tax info (I know it has State and Federal Income tax)
-Areas to look at that are affordable and somewhat close to UofM and Pine Bend (I guess near Eagan? Our corporate office is in Bloomington, by the Mall Of America)
-What is there to do up there (I like mountain biking, offroading, hiking/camping)?
-Anything else anyone has to offer.

I really hate Houston (heat, people, traffic, flatness, etc.), have for 10 years now, and the last tie I have here is moving away this week (my parents are moving back to DFW), so I really want to get away at almost any cost. I like my company and would love to get this job, but I need something to hit them with to make it worth it for me as well so I don't go to the poor house on the deal.

Thanks for any help .

Tom

Professor_speed

iTrader: (8)

-Cost of living=High not quite NY high but Not Texas cheap either. heavy taxes, more wellfair than any state, we just passed a $.06 per gallon gas tax yeah (but hopefully no more bridges fall cause that money is for road construction) on the plus side housing prices are on the way down. Also we consistently rank high for quality of life, health, education etc.
-Tax info (I know it has State and Federal Income tax)

-Areas to look at that are affordable and somewhat close to UofM and Pine Bend (I guess near Eagan? Our corporate office is in Bloomington, by the Mall Of America)= Richfield would probably work for you. Its south of Minneapolis, north of Bloomington and north of Pine Bend. But long term Bloomington is a good option too. its only 15min away from mpls. I35 bridge that collapsed runs right through UofM campus so traffic sucks around there If you moved to Egan you would avoid most traffic going to work and when going to the UofM you could take highway 55 and avoid the whole I35 mess. You will hear airplanes cause all these cities are near the airport.

-What is there to do up there (I like mountain biking, offroading, hiking/camping)? = Like lakes? more hiking and camping than you will ever have time for. Fishing is great, Mountain biking is good. The off roading, is more trails, and mudding than crawling, but plenty of it.

For the most part the people here are great. The best advice I could give is to make sure they take care of you salary wise and they compensate you on housing. Housing is not cheap here. I'm not sure what are looking for in the way of housing but make sure you do you homework. (I work with a guy the relocated from Chicago and was surprised how little his house sold compaired to how much he paid here for less house. He went from 5 bedrooms down to 4 and paid 70k more I hope this helps any other questions just ask

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Thanks. Yeah, I noticed the cost of living is quite a bit higher, and housing way higher. I'm currently renting here in Houston just to try and avoid the housing fiasco that hitting this place right now (my parents just moved back to DFW and handed their house away - 3400sqft for $155K, should have sold for $220K+ ). If I do move up there it will probably be for many years, so I might buy. I've already noticed that you don't get much for your dollar the closer to Minneapolis you get, but the further out you go the more reasonable it gets. I've also found some awesome places in Wisconsin, but I don't know what ramifications might happen from living in Wisconsin while working in Minnesota. I spent some time in Vancouver, WA across the river from Portland, and it was mostly wealthy people who lived in Vancouver and worked in Portland because they got you on both ends in taxes. Unfortunately I'm not that well off, so I would like to avoid something like that if it's the case here too .

Tom

Grr

iTrader: (2)

I agree with all this. If you can make it a little farther out of town youll be better off. But you have to look at travel time and cost, etc. if youll be travelling to campus. Also have you looked for any other schools you could attend other than UoM? Theres a couple smaller and cheaper ones around depending on what your going for, might be alot easier. Especially if you can get into a tech school or business college that is out of town aways, i would avoid going into downtown at all costs if it was me. Also i would rent for now, if you might get moved again i would not want to be stuck in a house, plus rent isnt that bad in that area.
Gary

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, this will actually be my sixth school and third third degree, so there isn't a whole lot I can take at any smaller schools (I wish, it would be nice). The school is actually the least of my worries though, as it will be temporary (and I commuted over 1000 miles a week for my first degree). The job itself will probably be at least 10 years since it's in-plant (only in Houston do people jump plants - once you're in, you're in; they groom you to know the refinery, and you pretty much stay from there on), so I want to find a nice place that I can enjoy for years (and not grown into a crap-hole like it did on me here in Houston). Thanks for the help, I'll take any I can .

Tom

00MaroonZ28

iTrader: (3)

Roseville has pretty cheap housing and it's not too far from the U of M campus. It's also a pretty nice neighborhood. Traffic is a little hectic but from there you can take backroads almost all the way to the main campus and it will only take 15 minutes. The St. Paul campus is right outside Roseville city limits and only be a 5 minute drive. It's north of St. Paul, so it might be a little longer drive for you to Pine Bend but not too bad. I drive 32 miles to work in downtown St. Paul and it takes me only 35 minutes to get there. Traffic's not as bad as Houston. Taxes up here suck so get ready. It's a huge welfare state so they'll nickle and dime you to death, but the pay is a lot better than it would be in Houston. Get ready for the cold though. Today was 20 degrees and it felt like a heat wave compared to what it has been the last 2 months and we haven't seen grass since early December because of the snow. Check out MNFbody.com and talk to some of our members. Great way to meet Minnesota F-Body owners and ask them questions. Got people from all over the Twin Cities.
http://www.mnfbody.com/

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Thanks. I'm kind of looking forward to getting back to the cold. I grew up in northern Wyoming, and Christmas hasn't felt like Christmas in over a decade, what with the year-round Texas heat.

I'm really not concerned with the commute to school as much as I am to work. School will only be a few years, whereas work will be much, much longer. I don't really want to live on the northside simply because everything I'd be going to is on the south. Not to mention I'd like to get away from the cities as much as possible. I love little towns (or at least ones that have that feel to them), so if you know any good spots like that, that would be great .

Then again I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself, I still have to find out whether the offer is good, and then negotiate a little if it happens. Thanks again,

Tom

99FBODY

iTrader: (8)

living out there isnt that bad. my buddy just picked up a 4000sq. ft house on 10 acres for just under a million which isnt bad compared to chicago costs.

00MaroonZ28

iTrader: (3)

Try Burnsville. There should be plenty of houses between 2-300K range out there then.

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the help guys, I'll check that out. Right now I just have to wait to hear back from my company.

Tom

transam69230

iTrader: (49)

Are you interested in Rochester? If so my parents are moving in the next couple of months and i know they will have a house forsale.

00MaroonZ28

iTrader: (3)

Rochester is an hour from the Twin Cities.

koolaid_kid

iTrader: (21)

Since I grew up in Houston, I know that talk of a commute is pointless. The traffic there is massive, and only Los Angeles, Chicago and New York can top it. I would concentrate more on the living quarters, and be prepared to pay this damnable state income tax. PITA, but you will return to an area with 4 real seasons. I always laugh when I fly down at Christmas and see people mowing their lawn.

PewterMNZ

iTrader: (4)

I just graduated from the Carlson school of Management at the U of M. It is a great school. Let me know what your looking for up here, my uncle is a real estate agent as well. let me know if i can do anything to help.

DrkPhx

iTrader: (15)

Wow no one mentioned the brutal winters. From one Southerner to another (originally fron NO LA) it is F***ING cold here!! Right now it's 14 degrees without windchill. But you do learn how to adapt to it. For winter fun I hit the local slopes for snowboarding with WaterBug1999 (he's from San Antonio, TX). As mentioned above housing is expensive, but if you don't mind long commutes you can save a ton of $$$ by staying outside of the Twin Cities. I just bought a house in St. Michael at a killer price, but my commute is 60 miles/day roundtrip.

I've lived in NO LA and Southern CA and without a doubt MN offers a better way of life.

transam69230

iTrader: (49)

All these fbodies up and around the cities is kinda getting me excited to move up there this summer. They're not very many fbodies around in rochester except my bother, the few buddies i hang out with, and a 04 turbo cobra. I am looking forward to this summer!

Squirrelmaster

iTrader: (2)

You must have missed the part where I said I was born and raised in Wyoming . I'm by no means a southerner, I've just been in Texas for more than a decade (and I've never much cared for it). A 60 mile commute isn't a long commute when compared to Houston; that's about standard if you live outside the beltway but work inside the beltway (bear in mind Houston is better than 70 miles wide, and that's not including the outer suburbs). I'm definitely thinking of something out of the metropolitan area, but I still have to wait and hear from my work as to what the state of my situation is.

Tom

SpeedWorld

Dude you live in St. Michael!? Small world! My parents live in St. Michael and I graduated from there. I just moved out of there after high school 1.5 yrs ago. Whereabouts did you buy your house?

DrkPhx

iTrader: (15)

Squirrelmaster - Sorry I missed the part about Wyoming.

SpeedWorld - I sent you a PM. CR 36 towards Buffalo is my test road, but I have to be careful because my car is so loud.

greg campbell

iTrader: (2)

Squirrelmaster,

Just wanted to give you an outsider (of the cities), rural MN perspective. I am from very northern MN, and it's cold there. The cities is what I would call temperate, much more comfortable except July and August. If you like the outdoors then "upnorth" is the place to visit/vaction. I prefer Itasca county, it has 1000+ lakes, lots of state and federal land to explore (lots of bike and snowmobile trails). The hunting and fishing is the best in the state. Late September and October has the best weather, cool nights 35-45, warm days 55-70 and there's less slickers around to disrupt your outdoor time.

I currently live on the northeast side of the cities, housing is high hear like the others said. I also finished my graduate degree at Hamline which only took fifteen minutes to get to from White Bear Lake, at peak rush hour. I was going against the grain though. There is a lot of education opportunities available here as well. The "U" is expensive and it's big so you've been warned.

I have to admit there is a lot of car activity here in the cities. Every Friday there's a car show in North St. Paul. It's mostly street rods and muscle cars (I'm into those as well). In June there's Back to the 50's, it's a lot of street rod stuff. I've never been because I'm usually in NC then, but maybe this year. In July there's Show N' Go and Muscle Car shoot-out in Brainerd (2 hours north of the cities). Then there's Car Craft at the fair grounds. I probably missed others like smaller shows but this is just what comes to mind. There's also some car action usually going on around University Avenue on Fridays and Saturdays during the summer too.

Good luck on your move here. The people in the midwest are good people as a whole. There are a few wannabe's that watch too much MTV with their pants hangin' but there usually not that bright and under 21-25, depending on the maturity level. These are everywhere nowdays, some are harmless, some are not. We'll probably never meet because I'm returning home to Itasca county this summer for good because my tour of duty here in the cities is soon over with, thank God. Good luck again and you'll like it here, there's a lot to offer a younger person. One last thing, the taxes do suck. What else would you expect from a Democrat controlled "blue" state.