Affordable but not run down neighborhoods? (St. Paul, Bloomington: for sale, real estate, crime)

[blackpointyboots]

I have lived in Mpls a number of times in my life. I have lived in Edina, Plymouth, New Hope and out in Monticello. We may be able to eventually do a move back to MN via work but need to make sure we can afford to live somewhere we actually would want to. We could probably afford some of the moderate housing stock in Plymouth or Bloomington but would love to get our housing costs down so we have more to spend on other things. We did 20 years of being house poor so our kids could go to good schools. I am totally ok with buying a fixxer upper if the neighborhood is right.

I would like to end up somewhere that will eventually be on a light rail line.
We are not making school districts a priority, the last kid at home is doing self paced school at home.
Somewhere architecturally interesting or with interesting landscape or neighborhood features would be great.
Having a few regular stores even if they are a short drive that are well maintained. Is there a decent grocery store within 5 miles? I have noticed the quality of even chain stores seems to vary greatly by neighborhood.

Somewhere fairly low drama and an with educated demographic would be desirable. Not looking for a neighborhood full of free range screaming small children either but needs to be safe enough the teenager could go somewhere without an adult escort. FYI, I grew up as a teenager in Mpls so understand what that is like. We need to be able to have enough room for a garage and two big dogs so we need at least a house with a city lot.

[blackpointyboots]

Anything under around $150k would be a bargain. When it starts hitting 200k or more that is putting us into house poor category again. We only have one main income.

[StPaulGal]

2058 Carroll Ave, St. Paul, MN 55104 - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - realtor.com®

Bam. Done. 6 blocks from the light rail which begins operation soon, pretty nice neighborhood, 2-car garage, city lot, architectural interest of a 115-year-old house, 2 blocks from a park, close to everything.

In all seriousness, what other factors are important to you? Location, number of bedrooms, etc?

[blackpointyboots]

Originally Posted by StPaulGal

2058 Carroll Ave, St. Paul, MN 55104 - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - realtor.com®

Bam. Done. 6 blocks from the light rail which begins operation soon, pretty nice neighborhood, 2-car garage, city lot, architectural interest of a 115-year-old house, 2 blocks from a park, close to everything.

In all seriousness, what other factors are important to you? Location, number of bedrooms, etc?

Nice. :-) Any idea what neighborhood that falls under? Crime stats play some but not a huge role, ie: if the crime stats are really high it would be a turn off. The street view at that address looked pretty well maintained. We need a minimum of 2-3 br. and at least 1500 sq ft.

What is the nearest shopping areas to this? Mall, grocery stores etc.? I remembered a grocery store at Snelling and University but it was pretty run down back in 2003 the last time I lived in Mpls. The hubby would most likely be working over by Ft. Snelling so most parts of St. Paul have a fairly straightforward set of routes to get there or could take lightrail. I keep an office at home so my commute is 20 feet.

[ellysbelly]

Don't have specific advice about neighborhoods as I don't yet live in MPLS (in fact, I've never even set foot in MN!)-- but I highly recommend looking on Trulia (you can use the website and/or the app)-- it shows the listings on a map, prices are clearly marked, most have multiple photos, and you can enter in many filters so you only see houses that meet your criteria and will send you new listings that meet your criteria as they become available. Of all the real estate sites I've used, I've found it the most user friendly, by far.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by StPaulGal

2058 Carroll Ave, St. Paul, MN 55104 - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - realtor.com®

Bam. Done. 6 blocks from the light rail which begins operation soon, pretty nice neighborhood, 2-car garage, city lot, architectural interest of a 115-year-old house, 2 blocks from a park, close to everything.

In all seriousness, what other factors are important to you? Location, number of bedrooms, etc?

Funny, my friend went to look at this house last week & really fell in love with it. He showed me 4-5 houses he looked at and I told him this house is a no-brainer. The neighborhood for the other poster who asked is called Merriam Park.

[StanleyVegas]

Originally Posted by Mason3000

Funny, my friend went to look at this house last week & really fell in love with it. He showed me 4-5 houses he looked at and I told him this house is a no-brainer. The neighborhood for the other poster who asked is called Merriam Park.

The price seems kind of low for Merriam Park. Did you or your friend look at a TISH report for it? It might have some issues.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by ellysbelly

Don't have specific advice about neighborhoods as I don't yet live in MPLS (in fact, I've never even set foot in MN!)-- but I highly recommend looking on Trulia (you can use the website and/or the app)-- it shows the listings on a map, prices are clearly marked, most have multiple photos, and you can enter in many filters so you only see houses that meet your criteria and will send you new listings that meet your criteria as they become available. Of all the real estate sites I've used, I've found it the most user friendly, by far.

I like Trulia.com, but also use TheMLSOnline.com & Zillow.com. All have their strengths & weaknesses.

[Minntoaz]

Edina realty is the best for looking for houses as we've been finding trulia and zillow are not up to date on what properties are under contract or pending or even sold.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by StanleyVegas

The price seems kind of low for Merriam Park. Did you or your friend look at a TISH report for it? It might have some issues.

His agent, who's his Mother's best friend showed him the house so I presume he's in good hands? It's on the North of Marshall closer the 94, which is less valuable than South of Marshall (although not a real big deal West of Snelling), but what was apparent from looking at the pics on the MLS is that it hasn't been updated in a long time. There's old brown carpet throughout, the kitchen badly needs a remodel & there was no pic of the bathroom (which always scares me). FANTASTIC location at this price though, good bones & he felt he could get it up to speed with paint & doing the floors, then get to a complete kitchen remodel when he got some money. No idea if he'll take action, but it was just funny that he showed me this very house last weekend.