Which of these neighborhoods would you recommend? (Minneapolis, Bloomington: rentals, low crime)

[Sunbrite]

Hello!

We posted here earlier about buying a place and the suggestions we received for neighborhoods that matched what we were looking for were:

-Victory
-South Minneapolis
-Seward
-Hiawatha
-Kingfield
-Longfellow
-Nokomis

Now we must also look for a place near a job in Bloomington near
American Blvd. Also, instead of buying, want to rent for probably a
6 month to 1 year lease, looking to pay $1000 or less. We have a dog and will need some sort of fenced-in backyard. Also have a 5-month old baby. Would prefer to be within short walking or driving distance to a light rail stop.

Would you still recommend any of these neighborhoods, or something else?

Thank you for any recommendations and feedback, we really appreciate it.

[ColdRedRain]

Nokomis seems like your best choice since it's closer to B'ton than most of those neighborhoods you mentioned. It's also safer than the Seward neighborhood.

[golfgal]

It's going to be tough finding a house to rent for under $1000 so you may need to move your budget up some.

[uptown_urbanist]

I agree that Nokomis sounds like the best option; on light rail, relatively affordable (although I agree that your budget is probably tough for a house, although I haven't looked at prices over there these days), close to Bloomington, nice for families.

If you want light rail access I'd cut Victory and Kingfield from the list, as they're not on the line.

[icequeen2008]

I come from Bloomington and its next to impossible to rent anything for less then 1,000.00 and house rentals are ridiculous. Bloomington has a wonderful school system and a very low crime area. All I know is about Bloomington as I live on the rich part of town (I'm not rich) Good lluck!!

[northstar22]

Th west side of Bloomington is nice, but very suburban. From your post it seems like you'd enjoy the city more. Richfield would be a good option - it's right next to Minneapolis and still has an urban feel, but is close to Bloomington.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

There are alot of homes and halfs of duplexes available in Minneapolis at the $1000 or under range. Just run a craigslist search and you'll find something. I just ran a search and it pulled up 86 entries, 12 of which were posted today:

minneapolis apts/housing for rent classifieds "minneapolis house" - craigslist

[uptown_urbanist]

^ One nice thing about Minneapolis is the large number of duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes available. Not all the ones Slig's referring to are within walking distance to the light rail line, but some are. The duplex thing is worth noting, though, as there are a lot of them out there, they're often cheaper than houses, and a lot of them have fenced yards (and at least some are dog-friendly).

[Camden Northsider]

From what I remember of your last post, you were looking for safe, quiet, and walkable areas with coffee shops, restaurants, access to trails, etc. Considering that and your wanting to be close to the light rail, I think Seward, Longfellow, and maybe some neighborhoods adjacent to the light rail in So. Mpls (e.g. Corcoran, etc.) are going to have the most in the way of places where you can walk to neighborhood destinations, stores, services, etc. moreso than Nokomis (however, Nokomis- although very residential- does have some nice neighborhood business nodes as well- I'm not too familiar with that general area so others will have to pipe in). I'm not as big of a fan of some areas of Nokomis' housing stock as well- although there are some beautiful older homes in the area there seems to be a lot of post-war 1 1/2 story housing that I'm not a big fan of.

Like Uptown mentioned- scratch Kingfield and Victory if light rail access is important. Regarding Hiawatha- I'm not too familiar with this area/neighborhood, although if memory serves correctly (I could be off here, not sure) it would be a less desirable area than most of the others named.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

Regarding Hiawatha- I'm not too familiar with this area/neighborhood, although if memory serves correctly (I could be off here, not sure) it would be a less desirable area than most of the others named.

Hiawatha is actually pretty nice, bordered on the south by Minnehaha Pkway and Minnehaha Falls park area and on the east by the Mississippi River. It's fairly residential but there are commercial nooks here and there, off of the west border along Hiawatha Ave, on the stretch of Minnehaha Ave and nearby off of 38th and 38th (where the Riverview Theater is).

My biggest complaint about the Longfellow neighborhoods is that they are on the opposite side of Hiawatha as the light rail so hopping on the light rail involves crossing a busy street where cars are flying down at 50mph+ (of course you can get to the light rail by car but the stop lights at Hiawatha Ave are notoriously slow). If light rail convenience is important to you, you may want to make sure you're comfortable crossing that street on a regular basis because I personally would avoid doing that whenever possible.

I live on the light rail side in the Corcoran neighborhood and love the fact that we can stroll over to a light rail stop and hop on without crossing any busy roads. My neighborhood is also home to the Midtown Farmer's Market and the new YWCA, both of which are very very nice.