Moving to Twin cities need help with neighborhoods (Roseville, Falcon Heights: rental, low crime)

[tpourciau]

Hi everyone. My fiancee and I will be moving to the twin cities area sometime in the next few months. We will be renting and are looking to rent a house. I have done a little searching, but i have no idea what neighborhoods are good or which ones are high crime areas. We have no children nor plan on any, so school districts are not a concern for us. My fiancee will be working in the Dept of Revenue in St Paul, so commute may be an issue. Any help on what neighborhoods are low crime and safe and which ones to avoid would be very apreciated and help us out a lot.

Thanks,
Tim

[sugarbeet]

Depends on your budget, but Highland Park, Mac-Groveland, Merriam Park and especially Summit Hill are great areas close/easily accessible to downtown.

[Lillietta]

If you are from a heavily traffic area like DC or New York, you won't find a problem here with traffic. If you live in Saint Paul, it's a breeze to downtown.

[Minnehahapolitan]

I would just move to Saint Paul, since you don't have to worry about schools (about the only reason not to live in the city). The HIghland Park, Macalester and Summit areas are gourgeous, but expensive. The West Side (opposite the river from downtown) is a cheap, diverse and generally safe area which would leave about a 3 minute commute. If you want a suburb, I would look into Roseville first, as traffic is easier from there. A very nice suburb with a nice, mid-century housing stock and great shopping. Saint Paul isn't terribly dangerous. The Univeristy corridor is rough, but not dangerous. Frogtown is bad, but OK to drive through. The East Side is generally frowned upon, but it has its pockets. Someone more familiar with the city could fill you in better, I am a Mpls. guy. Good luck.
---Minnehahapolitan

[Julie Herman]

Tim - Do you mind if I ask why you would be renting and not buying? Julie

[tpourciau]

we are moving from New Orleans so it'll be quite a change. Can't possibly be as dangerous as new orleans. The reason we are looking at renting is that we will only be there for about 3-4 years and didn't want to deal with closing and then having to sell. As for budget, i guess we are looking for under $1,500 or so , but we can work with whatever comes around.

[BillyB]

Como Park, Falcon Heights, Saint Anthony Park are also nice St Paul places

[EA1114]

I would definitely recommend the Summit Hill neighborhood. It is just up a large hill from downtown so basically it would be a two-minute commute. I have lived in this neighborhood for the last three years and I absolutely love it! You can walk pretty much everywhere if you choose to. There are restaurants, bars, shopping, and coffee shops all right in the neighborhood. If you do a search on minneapolis craigslist.com (st. paul housing is on it too) type in crocus hill or Grand Avenue and you will find a lot of rental properties in the neighborhood. Single-family homes are pretty expensive to rent in the area but you can find a lot of large duplexes and fourplexes. If you go to Grand Avenue Business Association - Home you can see a lot of the businesses in the area.

I think it is smart to rent for at least a little while until you get to know the areas and where you want to be on a permanent basis.

Good Luck!

[tpourciau]

is st paul cheaper or safer than minneapolis? I am okay with a commute if the neighborhoods are safe. I see a lot of places in the neighborhoods you guys are suggesting. What are good places in minneapolis so that i can look there too? Thanks so much by the way, this is helping me greatly.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Saint Paul is somewhat safer than Mpls., but not by enough to choose it only on that factor. If you like Mpls. more, don't not move there because the crime is slightly higher. I don't think it is statistically cheaper as a whole. That really depends on the individual neighborhood, rather it be in Mpls. or Saint Paul.
Since I am somewhat familiar with New Orleans I will make some comparisons based on physical appearance.
Highland Park - A larger, busier Old Metairie. A 1920s Streetcar suburb which is within city limits. Como Park is a less prestigious, less commercial Highland Park.
Summit Hill - Saint Charles Avenue, The Avenue to be on.
Falcon Heights - Lakeview (large ranch houses, but FH is not as prestigious) The demographics are eerily similar also.
Grand Avenue - A quasi-Magazine Street, but with a better mixture of houses.
The West Side - This is harder, imagine Old Metairie transplanted to the physical area of Algiers with alot more Hispanics and cut the income cut by 1/3.
There are tons of great areas of Mpls., in fact there are 2 great areas for every bad one. I would basically be typing out most of South, Central and East Bank neighborhoods. They are elsewhere on the Mpls. forum for your curiousity. Good luck again.
---Minnehahapolitan