Are the Twin Cities right for us? (Minneapolis, Edina: apartments, rental)

[Cjjhnson]

Hello! My fiance and I trying to decide where to move when we get married. We kind of want to move away and start our new lives together.

We are curious if the Twin Cities would be a good fit! And if so, Minneapolis or St Paul and what neighborhoods?

Background: We currently live in the Des Moines metro, and our family is here. We are looking for a bigger metro, primarily bc a metro of 600,000 doesn't always provide the most things to do.

What we are looking for:

A place with culture. We DO NOT want anything cookie cutter, McMansions, beige houses, mini-vans, and so on. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just isn't us. We want something unique.

We are in our twenties, so an area with younger people would be more appealing.

We would like an active downtown with lots of foot traffic, coffee shops, maybe some book stores, little cafes, so on.

I am a massage therapist and am looking to open a business in the area we would be moving, so an area that is a bit more...hippie...may be better

Cost of living isn't a huge deal for us, as my salary is directly associated with the COL. However, this only goes up to a certain extent. If the average cost of a house is 500k, that's too high.

We have 2 dogs, so a pet friendly area with dogs parks and lots of people walking around with them would be nice.

We have no kids and aren't really planning on having any, so family friendliness isn't high up on our priority list.

Finally, we would want to live near downtown where ever we move, so an area with an accessible downtown would be nice.

Thanks in advance!

BTW: ANY locations would be helpful. Even if they aren't the Twin Cities. We just like them, have been there a lot, and it is pretty close to home.

[uptown_urbanist]

It sounds like the Twin Cities could be a good fit. There are more than enough cookie cutter subdivisions around, but there are also lots of interesting neighborhoods in the city that might be a good match.

Seward, Whittier, Uptown, Lyn-Lake or Marcy-Holmes (all in Minneapolis) are all names of places (neighborhoods) to consider. Uptown has a couple of bookstores, including the biggest independent bookstore in the Twin Cities. All of these areas are easily accessible to downtown, although based on your description I think some of these areas are closer to what you say you want in a downtown than is the actual downtown.

I'm not very familiar with downtown Hopkins (an older suburb), but it might be a cheaper option in a close-in suburb.

[TropicalAussie]

Stillwater! It's only 20 minutes to St Paul, and it's its own city on the St Croix River. Tourists go there on the weekends.

[Cjjhnson]

Thanks for the responses! I guess I didn't phrase it well, but I more meant a walkable area of shops, cafes, coffee shops, and so on rather than actual downtown. Downtown Minneapolis may be a bit too urban for us. But Uptown looks great. And I had never heard of Stillwater, but it looks adorable. Thanks again and keep em' comin!

[Kebinminn]

Uptown does sound like a decent fit, it's an arty neighborhood with a lot of younger people. It has a lot of independent places.

Downtown Mpls is busy 9-5 but there's better places for a busy neighborhood. From what you said I'd stick with Minneapolis proper, maybe a near suburb like St Louis Park but no further away than that.

[golfgal]

Will the only income coming into the house be your massage therapy income? I can tell you, I have several friends that are massage therapists and they are struggling. You would be hard pressed to be able to buy any house in the metro area on what most massage therapists make here.

[Thegonagle]

It sounds like Minneapolis would be great for you. It's a nice city to live in, and it won't be impossibly far from family for frequent weekend visits.

I agree with those who point you toward the uptown area (centered around Lake St and Hennepin Ave). You'll want to be able to draw older clients with disposable income/assets who live in the SW and Calhoun/Isles neighborhoods, not just "hippies." The ones with the money are the ones who become regulars.

I suggest that (if you're planning to rent for a little while after you arrive) you start by renting somewhere near there. Whittier, Lowry Hill East ("the wedge"), and Lyndale are the most affordable neighborhoods around there, and CARAG is nicer and has apartments aplenty.

When it's time to buy, you'll find that many other neighborhoods in south Minneapolis, and the suburbs of St. Louis Park, Edina, and possibly Richfield, may be suitable places to buy a home within a reasonable distance of your burgeoning new practice.

And of course, here's the link to the Minneapolis street/neighborhood map: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/abou...ghborhoods.pdf

(BTW, if you get here and find yourself looking at a rental owned by "U.P.I.," be very wary. There are more than enough documented news stories and apartment reviews out there on this "company" to scare most reasonable people off.)

[Cjjhnson]

Thanks everyone!

BTW, massage therapists starting make 45k a year on average. I will own my own and then after a few years start hiring out other therapists, at which point my income level will just about double. What kind of work do your friends do? If they work for others or don't have a good marketing strategy then I understand why they would be struggling. I don't struggle and I currently make hardly any money at a bank. And, my fiance works for a financial firm, so we have 2 incomes. We are DINKs.

[yuppa12]

Originally Posted by Cjjhnson

Thanks everyone!

BTW, massage therapists starting make 45k a year on average. I will own my own and then after a few years start hiring out other therapists, at which point my income level will just about double. What kind of work do your friends do? If they work for others or don't have a good marketing strategy then I understand why they would be struggling. I don't struggle and I currently make hardly any money at a bank. And, my fiance works for a financial firm, so we have 2 incomes. We are DINKs.

Some massage therapists may make that much, but I highly doubt that a job that only needs a year or so of training will start out at 45 a year. If you can find a job like that it would be great, but not likely. And don't automatically assume that if you start a business you will automatically make 90k a year. If it was that easy everyone would do it.

[Cjjhnson]

It's not "that easy". It's marketing, planning, and training, and many people couldn't do it.

But I don't personally find my career to be a necessary matter of discussion...