How much do you have to spend in the city? (Minneapolis: for sale, real estate)

[Prple]

I am interested in moving to the Twin Cities. I am going to take a trip over to check it out, but first was wondering if I could get some advise on where to look, or some estimates for how much I might be looking to spend on a house. What sort of price range would I be looking at for a nice part of Minneapolis or St.Paul: 3 bd 1.5+ ba house that is not on a busy street that is about 1800 square ft, plus basement with good schools? So far, I think I'm interested in St. Anthony Park and Lake Harriet, what do you think? Any suggestions?

[sugarbeet]

I just went through this process in Southwest Minneapolis looking for almost the same things you're looking for. If you are looking in the $400k+ range or for a true fixer-upper, you're in luck. Under that amount...brace yourself for a lot of looking!

We looked at 70+ houses and the hardest part was finding three bedrooms on one level. Many houses in Southwest are bungalows with two bedrooms on the main floor and a third, huge bedroom upstairs (some were full owner's suite with large closets and full bath). Someone with no kids in the future or older kids might find this layout perfect, but it's tough for those with young kids.

We saw a lot of great renovation jobs - including very nice finished basements. It seemed like a nicely renovated 1800+ (not including basement), reasonably close to the lakes and in the quieter residential areas was more like $450k+ with $600k really being the low end of the lovely, updated homes on the prettiest streets.

For what it's worth, we gave up looking for three bedrooms on one level and ended up with 1400 sq ft 3 bed, 1.5 bath (1 bed, .5 bath in basement) built in 1960 (i.e., not much character) functional but in need of LOTS of updating across from M'haha Creek for $287k. After all that looking, we decided we could spend $120k and make it nicer than the $400k houses we saw.

Hope that helps. There are lots of great houses to choose from in Southwest. I kind of wish we were still looking...and had a bigger budget...

[nick is rulz]

Trulia - Real Estate, Homes For Sale, Sold Properties, Real Estate Maps is an excellent resource for tracking sales trends, average prices and the like.

Most of Southwest Minneapolis is very desirable but with that comes a higher cost, Cedar-Isles-Dean, Linden Hills, and Lynnhurst are all wonderful neighborhoods but they are also pretty pricey. If you head further south to the Armitage neighborhood you can find something more affordable. It borders Richfield, and its pretty quiet. I have friends who live there that love it.

[Slig]

It totally depends what neighborhood you're looking in. You can find a decent home that meets your criteria in Powderhorn and Longfellow for 200-250k.

[Prple]

Can you get a 3 bd house in a good neighborhood with good schools in the city of Minneapolis or St.Paul for $350-$400k?

[nick is rulz]

yes, easily.

[Camden Northsider]

I'll admit that I'm a very biased opinion, but here's my last post on my own neighborhood, has some homes for sale at the bottom that should meet your criteria:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/minne...-day-life.html

And for good measure, here's another one:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/minne...eck-woods.html

[sugarbeet]

Originally Posted by Prple

Can you get a 3 bd house in a good neighborhood with good schools in the city of Minneapolis or St.Paul for $350-$400k?

Yes, although homes with three bedrooms on one level seem harder to find. At least in Southwest Mpls, which is considered to have the best public schools in the city (though not the Metro and I don't have much knowledge of the St. Paul schools and neighborhoods).

[Prple]

Thanks for the information everyone!