Relocating and lost (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Plymouth: for sale, real estate, homeowners association)

[Relofam]

Hi, I have started working for Medtronic in Fridley and am in the process of relocating my family from out of state. We are excited to move and have read many good things about the quality of life in the twin cities. We are looking for a home/neighborhood/city that meets the following criteria:

- family friendly: we have a soon to be 1-year old daughter. Good schools are/will be essential
- commute less than 30 min (including rush hours)
- we do not like the cookie cutter developments with houses on cornfields, but prefer a more natural setting, with grown up trees and streets you can walk on. Do not mind eclectic mix of houses as long as they are maintained.
- my wife and I did not grow up in the US and find the typical developments with association fees a strange phenomenon
- price range around 400 k

We have been looking for more than a month now and have been all over the map, east and west. We have stayed north of the cities and have looked more in the second and third ring suburbs, due to the traffic concern. Also, many of the first ring suburbs we find too old.

I have read the threads on this site regarding the northern suburbs opinions/prejudices and the Minneapolis-St Paul debate... which makes it more difficult to zero in on a good location.

Can any of you give us your opinion on Plymouth? What are the neighborhoods like in general? Too much development? How bad is the commute to Fridley if you go into the Wayzata school district (west of 494, north of 394).

How about the area of Moundsview, Arden Hills, North Oaks? Do you have to be in a development to find what we are looking for?

How are the schools in Roseville and Maplewood, compared to some of the "preffered" ones? (whatever they are)

Thanks a lot, any tips on nice places to live are welcome

[golfgal]

Plymouth and Mounds View are both excellent areas, especially the school systems. For ease of commute, Mounds View would be better because it is closer. Shoreview and White Bear Lake would be options too. White Bear Lake might be a bit more to your liking with the mix of housing, the lake, the more natural setting. The Mounds View Schools are better, not much but some. Most housing developments don't really have association fees here like you see in other areas. If they do they aren't expensive, mainly maintenance for any common areas. If you are in a townhome or a planned community you will probably see them but they aren't common.

I would not recommend the Maplewood schools and Roseville schools, while ok now, are heading down a not so good path so unless things change there by the time your child is in middle school or so, you might regret that.

If it were me I would start in the Mounds View Schools first (make sure it is Mounds View and not Anoka-Hennepin) then move out to Shoreview and then White Bear Lake. If you can't find anything over there, Plymouth--but you are going to probably have a longer commute then you want doing that.

North Oaks is pretty expensive so I wouldn't spend a lot of time looking there.

[Relofam]

Dear Golfgal:

Thanks, I have also noticed that the school districts span across several communities, parts of cities and the boundaries are not always logical. For example, parts of Arden hills are in the 621 Moundsview school district. I have also read that if you are in Ramsey county, you can send your child to any school in the area, is that true?

[sfw1979]

Originally Posted by Relofam

Hi, I have started working for Medtronic in Fridley and am in the process of relocating my family from out of state. We are excited to move and have read many good things about the quality of life in the twin cities. We are looking for a home/neighborhood/city that meets the following criteria:

- family friendly: we have a soon to be 1-year old daughter. Good schools are/will be essential
- commute less than 30 min (including rush hours)
- we do not like the cookie cutter developments with houses on cornfields, but prefer a more natural setting, with grown up trees and streets you can walk on. Do not mind eclectic mix of houses as long as they are maintained.
- my wife and I did not grow up in the US and find the typical developments with association fees a strange phenomenon
- price range around 400 k

We have been looking for more than a month now and have been all over the map, east and west. We have stayed north of the cities and have looked more in the second and third ring suburbs, due to the traffic concern. Also, many of the first ring suburbs we find too old.

I have read the threads on this site regarding the northern suburbs opinions/prejudices and the Minneapolis-St Paul debate... which makes it more difficult to zero in on a good location.

Can any of you give us your opinion on Plymouth? What are the neighborhoods like in general? Too much development? How bad is the commute to Fridley if you go into the Wayzata school district (west of 494, north of 394).

How about the area of Moundsview, Arden Hills, North Oaks? Do you have to be in a development to find what we are looking for?

How are the schools in Roseville and Maplewood, compared to some of the "preffered" ones? (whatever they are)

Thanks a lot, any tips on nice places to live are welcome

Here is an awesome site to get you started ZipRealty Real Estate -- Homes for sale and local real estate agents
You can search by school district on it. Good luck!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Relofam

Dear Golfgal:

Thanks, I have also noticed that the school districts span across several communities, parts of cities and the boundaries are not always logical. For example, parts of Arden hills are in the 621 Moundsview school district. I have also read that if you are in Ramsey county, you can send your child to any school in the area, is that true?

Actually, in MN you can send any child to any district providing they have openings. You have to apply by January each year and get approved but the option is there. Some districts have internal cooperation like this. I don't know specifically about Ramsey County but under the state-wide open enrollment, yes that would be true. I know that the Stillwater Schools have been doing that for 40+ years.

Yes, school boundaries can be strange-I am sure there is a reason why. I would caution you however, living near the boundary of a school could mean that by the time your child is in school, those boundaries could be redrawn and you could end up elsewhere. It isn't common but it does happen. Just make sure when you look at a property that you pay attention to the school district. The real estate sheets will have that information and most realtor websites will allow you to search by school district.

[BillyB]

For 400k you'll get a lot of house.

For the NE metro...check out White Bear Lake, Roseville, New Brighton, Shoreview

NW metro...check out Plymouth, Maple Grove

They're all nice towns.

[arvid1985]

i might have a biased opinion. But i do work for wayzata public schools and there is non better. Plymouth is the place to live. It may cost a little more, but well worth it for the neighborhoods. if it was me i would look south of hwy 55, west of vicksburg lane, and north of 394. you can't beat those neighborhoods. Maple Grove is nice, but the schools are having money problems and can't get class sizes down. Forget anything east of 494. and south of 694. Robbinsdale is having the same problem but worse. Just my opinion

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by Relofam

Hi, I have started working for Medtronic in Fridley and am in the process of relocating my family from out of state. We are excited to move and have read many good things about the quality of life in the twin cities. We are looking for a home/neighborhood/city that meets the following criteria:

- family friendly: we have a soon to be 1-year old daughter. Good schools are/will be essential
- commute less than 30 min (including rush hours)
- we do not like the cookie cutter developments with houses on cornfields, but prefer a more natural setting, with grown up trees and streets you can walk on. Do not mind eclectic mix of houses as long as they are maintained.
- my wife and I did not grow up in the US and find the typical developments with association fees a strange phenomenon
- price range around 400 k

We have been looking for more than a month now and have been all over the map, east and west. We have stayed north of the cities and have looked more in the second and third ring suburbs, due to the traffic concern. Also, many of the first ring suburbs we find too old.

I have read the threads on this site regarding the northern suburbs opinions/prejudices and the Minneapolis-St Paul debate... which makes it more difficult to zero in on a good location.

Can any of you give us your opinion on Plymouth? What are the neighborhoods like in general? Too much development? How bad is the commute to Fridley if you go into the Wayzata school district (west of 494, north of 394).

How about the area of Moundsview, Arden Hills, North Oaks? Do you have to be in a development to find what we are looking for?

How are the schools in Roseville and Maplewood, compared to some of the "preffered" ones? (whatever they are)

Thanks a lot, any tips on nice places to live are welcome

Welcome to MN first.

You had a few questions.

Originally Posted by Relofam

How bad is the commute to Fridley if you go into the Wayzata school district (west of 494, north of 394). How are the schools in Roseville and Maplewood, compared to some of the "preffered" ones? (whatever they are)

Not great, but cerianly not horrible either.

Originally Posted by Relofam

How about the area of Moundsview, Arden Hills, North Oaks? Do you have to be in a development to find what we are looking for?

Considering where you work, these are good areas to commute from. I would also suggest shoreview. You mentioned you like the more rural feel, and these areas have some of that too. Smaller places you don't hear much about - Gem Lake, White Bear Lake Township. They all have some areas with bigger lots. There is plenty of single family housing without "association dues". The term development is generally used in a way where it denotes that a defined chunk of land is zoned as residential by a municipality and divided into lots. Sometimes a single builder will have all the lots, sometimes multiple builders bus specific lots and sometimes a defined list of builders can purchase any of lots in a development giving the customer more flexibility. It really depends on the devloper, which is often a seperate company than the builders. On top of all that, there may or may not be a homeowners association with fees charged and services rendered such as lawn care, snow removal ... These are generally setup before any construction occurs. You will learn that certian buzzwords indicate that a property has an association. Often you will hear stuff like Townhouse, Villa, Cottage, detached townhouse ... General rule of thumb is you want "single family housing".

Originally Posted by Relofam

Can any of you give us your opinion on Plymouth? What are the neighborhoods like in general? Too much development? How bad is the commute to Fridley if you go into the Wayzata school district (west of 494, north of 394).

Commute across 694 from west to east is not the worst, but it is not all that great. 45 minutes or so depending on when you travel. Plymouth has a lot of newer homes, and an older area too. Generally, it is a nice area. Wayzata would be furhter commute than Plymouth. I believe part of Plymouth is in Wayzata school district. You can check on that.

Metronic is located in a place where you can go St. Paul or Minneapolis, but it sounds like you really want suburbs. I would not worry much about the overall debate on Minneapolis vs. St. Paul. It will never end, and yes both cities have their good and bad parts.

If you have not done this, it might help - Get on 35W North and exit on Highway 96 which is just north of 694. You can drive east on that road all the way to White Bear Lake. I am sure you will see some areas of interest.

[Esma0007]

I think in general you are going to find cookie cutter homes in the 1st circle of subs~just my thought though...from certain parts of Oakdale,most of Woodbury(both are NE subs) to Maple Grove and Plymouth(both are NW subs) are pretty much high in developments,except the older parts of the city of course when they 1st became cities originally.

[santos]

Yup, what he/she said: arvid1985

OP given the criteria you have listed my choice would be White Bear Lake, hands down.