Place to live for a young couple (Minneapolis, Plymouth: fit in, crime)

[sagsh]

Hello:

We are a young couple working in downtown minneapolis and edina and looking for buying a house in the 350-400k price range. we like diversity of shops/restaurants and good cinema, and are looking for a house with vintage charm and contemporary features and around 2500 sqft of living space and less than 30 mins of commute. one of us prefers the bus to downtown and and the other prefers to drive to edina

we also plan to start a family in another 2 yrs time so a good school district is important. we have been researching the areas around the minneapolis metro and have made a few observations:

Edina- good commute wise but expensive and drab homes. great school district though and good town life

Plymouth (in the wayzata school district part)- awful commute and dull suburb in terms of urban lifestyle, with big box retail stores. great space for the money we have and great school district

Eden Praire- ok commute and ok school district but below edina and eden praire. do not know much about urban lifestyle there but closer to edina and south minneapolis areas. affordable homes. however, there seems to be growing crime and degrading quality of life as compared to plymouth

Minnetonka- good commute but higher taxes. also the school district seems to be not so great, maybe below eden praire.

Golden Valley/St Louise Park- not good school districts so we havent considered them much

the above comments are highly subjective and probably not accurate. please do provide your inputs and correct us. any opinion on this thread will be greatly appreciated

Thanks.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Go for east Edina or Southwest Mpls. (Linden Hills, Fulton, maybe Armatage). regualr bus service to downtown, you would have the easiest commute ever, there are good theaters on 50th and France and in Uptown. The houses are older, but impeccably maintained. The schools are good in either area. The houses are usually around 2000 feet (a tad smaller, but comfortable).

[Big G]

Based on your comments about the various school districts, I don't think you'll be happy anywhere BUT in Edina.

[golfgal]

I guess I am not sure where you are getting your school information but Eden Prairie, Wayzata and Minnetonka all have schools that are as good as Edina. St. Louis Park schools are also good. Keep in mind that all this can change in the next 10-15 years when your child is in school too-unlikely but possible.

Your problem is that you want an older home in a good school district and you aren't going to find much that has both. St. Louis Park is going to be the closest to what you want-Edina would be better but you can't afford that nice, older homes there.

[Slig]

My recommendation is SW Minneapolis. Great area, good older housing stock and right between the two job locations.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I guess I am not sure where you are getting your school information but Eden Prairie, Wayzata and Minnetonka all have schools that are as good as Edina. St. Louis Park schools are also good. Keep in mind that all this can change in the next 10-15 years when your child is in school too-unlikely but possible.

The Hopkins school district is quite good, also, and covers much of the eastern half of Minnetonka. And I also thought St. Louis Park was a good district? It sure used to be...

Your problem is that you want an older home in a good school district and you aren't going to find much that has both. St. Louis Park is going to be the closest to what you want-Edina would be better but you can't afford that nice, older homes there.

Older rambler-style houses are scattered all throughout Minnetonka (my folks live in one), but I don't know how well "riding the bus" will fit in out there...?

[MplsTodd]

I have several friends or colleagues who live in St Louis Park and have kids there. They are very positive on the schools in SLP.

Also, we live in Linden Hills and send our two kids to Minneapolis Public Schools. Although there certainly are problem schools in Minneapolis, the schools serving the SW part of the city are often excellent. You should check out testing scores for Lake Harriet Community School, Barton or Burroughs before you dismiss living in the city. SW Mpls offers lots of amenities, nice older homes, and good bus service to DT Mpls (even bus service to Edina)