Investing in North Minneapolis.... (St. Paul, Glenwood: for sale, real estate, rentals)

[wil45]

I've heard alot of varying viewpoints about this area of the city. I'm currently selling my home in Denver to move back to the great city of Minneapolis. I've been gone for 10 years and miss it a great deal! The weather here in Denver is great. But, the city lacks the culture and political views that Mpls has to offer. I'm a 40 something white male that currently lives in a mainly latino area of the city. My neighborhood borders that which would be considered "ghetto" by most standards. I'm talking poorly built "shack" home with no character. Based on what I've seen online some of the homes in the 55411 zipcode have character and are in my price range. How's the area around 25th and Fremont N?.. Where's the Camden boundaries? I'd like to hear from other homeowners that have a stake in the neighborhood. What's your experience like?...I thank you for taking time to respond to my threat.

[Minnehahapolitan]

North Mpls. is a pretty perplexing place. First off, areas change by the blocks. Some are simply better than others. Then generally, some areas are better. For a more stable area, look further south in the Harrison neighborhood. People confuse it w. Bryn Mawr and it is actually a pretty safe area with increasing values. Camden is newer than most of the city, but it is stable and there are more homeowners (and less crime because of it). Also, the area within a few blocks of Victory Memorial Pkwy. are nicer, and have the closest thing the Northside has to a gold coast. There used to be a pretty wealthy contigient of Jews in the whole area. Some rougher neighborhoods have some great houses, but investing in them is riskier, IMO. I would also peruse the Phillips area, it never got as bad as the Northside, there is alot of activity in the area, mostly among Hispanics. The area is more diverse, and is on a better trend. The area specifically around Lake and Chicago has seem tremendous change in literally the last 3 years, it is unrecognizeable. Thats my spew, hopefully others will add. Its a pretty big subject. Good Luck.
---Minneahahpolitan

[nick is rulz]

I live in Harrison and of all the areas of the city Ive lived in its been my favorite. Id buy a house here if I were looking to invest in real estate. The blocks from Penn to Cedar Lake Rd south of Glenwood may as well be Bryn Mawr.

Pretty much anything adjacent to Theo Wirth or Victory Memorial Parkways is a safe bet (Washburn and Vincent blocks). All of Victory is good. Camdens got a bit patchier than it used to be but its still not bad.

[wil45]

In the Harrison neighborhood?

[Minnehahapolitan]

Generally, north of the Creek, and south of Olsen Memorial. Heres a neighborhood map from the city
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/abou...ghborhoods.pdf

[Stephani48]

I'm at the 4300 block and Knox (couple blocks West of Fremont) and I'm in what it sounds like you are. It's mostly owner occupied with a little bit of rental. Rental causes the issues. Twentyfifth and Fremont (no offense to anyone living there) is a bit too ghetto for most people.

I wouldn't go any further south than Dowling unless you're going to go all the way to South Minneapolis in which case that's a whole new story.

[sushigirlie]

Uptown is sort of fun. It can be patchy. But another thing to consider is climate...

Also, Minneapolis is predominantly white (except for down-town). So, if you are a minority (like myself), you may find yourself isolated.

[Slig]

I'd say the city is very diverse on the northside as well as South. Check out the demographics numbers of Phillips, Powderhorn, Near-north and Camden.

[Camden Northsider]

hi wil45, I can understand your qualms about Denver - I recently went there to visit family that just relocated there and was very happy to come home to Mpls.

I've lived and worked in n. mpls for a couple of years now, i used to live in weber-camden, now live in the victory neighborhood, and actually recently had an office on 25th and fremont for some time.

N Mpls is a very diverse place in all aspects of the word (ethnically, socioeconomically, etc.). Specifically on 25th and Fremont, it is generally low-income/ working-class w/ a lot of renters, but there are 'professional' folks and families buying/ rehabbing houses in the area - I met a husband/ wife architect team that live in (and are rehabbing) a turn of the century home on this very block and there is a lot of this going on in near-north (forget the neighborhod name - south of broadway) as well. You probably will hear more police sirens in this area than some other north areas, but don't believe all the hype you hear about it.

The Camden area comprises any block north of Lowry Ave (32nd) in Mpls. Here you will find more single-family homeowners and the positive aspects that come with that. Most of Camden is diverse as well and it is in general pretty liberal.

I have similarly lived in Harrison, Whittier, and Elliot Park neighborhoods in So. Mpls as well and I can say that I have definitely liked living in the Camden area much more than any other in Minneapolis. When moving from Harrison to my current home in the Victory neighborhood, I couldn't believe how quiet and neighborly it was here. No buses driving by at all hours of the day, no traffic to deal with, and the people are great - it feels like its own small town (but still has great offerings of the city- shopping, convenient to everything, and a few great neighborhood restaurants/ shops) - if you want more of a club/ nightlife scene, by all means shoot for those uptown neighborhoods but I would guess that the real estate will be pricey there.

You can find a lot of affordable home prices in the Camden neighborhood, prices go up as you move into the Victory neighborhood and around Victory Memorial Parkway but you can still find great values to be had here (and in today's market, it's probably fairly easy). The same goes for other neighborhoods south of Victory around Theo Wirth Parkway (mentioned by the other posters in this thread). When we were househunting, we checked out houses in Northeast but the neighborhoods there seemed pretty dumpy compared to what you find around here (Victory Neighborhood/ Camden), same goes for comparable homes in St. Paul.

We've really liked being here, if we ever "move up" to a bigger home, odds are it will be in the same neighborhood.

Hope this helps, good luck-

[wil45]

The boundaries are for the Victory neighborhood? It's been 10 years sinced I've lived in Mpls and I'm sure that alot has changed since then. For instance,I noticed in the City's neighborhood website for Camden that from 1990-2000 that it's become alot more racially mixed which in itselve is not so much of an issue as the % of rentals would be. My experience has told me that a higher % of owner-occupied dwellings make for a safer/concerned neighborhood. My house is scheduled to close on the 16th of Nov in Denver. I'll start house hunting soon after that. Just from what I've seen on Realtor.com there seems to be ALOT of homes for sale in Camden.