Relocating from Salt Lake City, UT (Minneapolis, Bloomington: house hunting, work, housing)

[datwunguy]

Hello everyone,
I realize you get people practically daily asking the same questions, but I currently work for Qwest and soon i will be moving to the office in Minneapolis. I am from Salt Lake City (no I'm not mormon ), and I have a young family and am looking for a quiet nice area to live in. Our price range is about 190k-230k for a house, we'd like a decent sized lot (1/4-1/3 acre) and at least 2000sq ft (preferably more). Location is more important to me than anything, so on that note what are some nice cities/areas to live in and to raise a family in? I appreciate your help, I am completely lost when trying to search for houses online because I just don't know any decent areas to look in. Also any good house hunting websites would be great too! Thank you everyone!

[golfgal]

Unfortunatly in your price range you won't find anything in close proximity to Minneapolis. Housing is pretty expensive here. Where exactly are you going to be working--many places say they are in Minneapolis and are actually in Maple Grove, for example, and that could make a big difference for where you want to look.

[Robert P Stewart]

I've actually seen some decent stuff in that price range -

You'll be set if you have some fixer-upper skills too. Tell me where you'll be working and I'll crank out a listing sheet for ya.

Robert

[Slackajawea]

You might take a look at St. Louis Park, Hopkins or Golden Valley if you don't mind a house that will need updating and bit of work. You're selection will be pretty limited though. Fridley and Coon Rapids are pretty close to Minneapolis and you'd have a much bigger selection of houses that match your criteria in your price range. You might also be able to find what you're looking for in Bloomington, which is just south of Minneapolis. Depending on what you're used to, you might also want to consider Brooklyn Park or Brooklyn Center, both of which border Minneapolis to the north, as you'll be able to find some real bargains there. The parts of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center that border North Minneapolis are rough around the edges and have given both suburbs a bit of an undeserved bad reputation, but if you can look beyond that, you might just find what you're looking for.

Good luck and welcome to the Twin Cities!