Family of 4 - Moving to MN - Help Plse (Minneapolis: apartment, rentals)

[meinster]

After tons of research and forum posting and internet searching, I think I have finally made a decision on MN/ST Paul area.

I like the frigid cold and snow, seems like decent area. No real negative forum postings that I could find. Plymouth, MN Top#1 place to live, however out of our price range.

We are looking to move to MN in about 45 days, need 2+ bedroom rental - house or apt whatever we can find that is around $800.00 or $900.00 per month.

From what I have researched, the following counties are cool place to live:

Maple Grove - ?
Rochester - too far from MN though
Plymouth - too $$
Eden Prarie - ?
Lakeview - ?
Apple Valley - ?
Burnsville - ?
Eagan - ?
Blaine - ?

Seems most of these areas that won good reviews are in Hennepin, Anoka Ramsey, Dakota counties.

My wife will work in MN/ST Paul area so we will need to consider commute times. Dont really want to commute more then 30 min or 15 miles from home.

We prefer a suburb area, tired of Big city life. We are from Los Angeles 30yrs worth, no more.

We are looking for less diverse area, which probably be best for suburb areas.

Looking for good suburb for our 2 lil girls, NO gang junk or too many junkies. We are looking for a suburb with very little trailer park areas!

Looking for County that has Cable Internet... a must

Im assuming most of these counties I have mentioned above receive all about the same snowfall ? roughly?

BTW: MN/ St Paul relatively safe area? or at least = to national average?

thanks for any input -

Looking for ppl to give input who actually live or have lived in these areas in recent past.


Does MN get major Thunderstorms? my favorite

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by meinster

We are looking to move to MN in about 45 days, need 2+ bedroom rental - house or apt whatever we can find that is around $800.00 or $900.00 per month.

A house for that price will probably be hard to find, but perhaps an apartment. That would be something to use an internet search engine for, methinks.

Seems most of these areas that won good reviews are in Hennepin, Anoka Ramsey, Dakota counties.

Just FWIW, Hennepin County is the main county for Minneapolis and two or three layers of Minneapolis suburbs.

My wife will work in MN/ST Paul area so we will need to consider commute times. Dont really want to commute more then 30 min or 15 miles from home.

Should be doable.

We prefer a suburb area, tired of Big city life. We are from Los Angeles 30yrs worth, no more.

We are looking for less diverse area, which probably be best for suburb areas.

That would be correct. Although some suburbs (like Bloomington) have become more diverse over the years.

Looking for good suburb for our 2 lil girls, NO gang junk or too many junkies. We are looking for a suburb with very little trailer park areas!

I don't think you'll find too many trailer parks in the Twin Cities. I do know of some down around Shakopee and other outer-ring suburbs (really exurbs), but I'm not sure you'll find many or any in the main suburbs. I could be wrong, tho...? I think there used to be one in Hopkins near Shady Oak Road?

Looking for County that has Cable Internet... a must

Time Warner is the dominant cable company for most of the Twin Cities, I think.

Im assuming most of these counties I have mentioned above receive all about the same snowfall ? roughly?

Yes. You aren't going to see much difference in averages over such a short distance (40-50 miles).

BTW: MN/ St Paul relatively safe area? or at least = to national average?

Yes.

Looking for ppl to give input who actually live or have lived in these areas in recent past.

I grew up in and then lived in the SW Minneapolis suburbs for almost 41 years, and just moved from there in late 2004.

Does MN get major Thunderstorms? my favorite

Yes, it does, though they do tend to get stronger once they cross the Wisconsin border. But you can usually see them coming for a few hundred miles. :-)

[meinster]

thx steiner

Any recommendations on a certain county I mentioned or ? an area that may attract to me more then the other? I love Big ole trees and old landscape. The beauty of Nature

There got to be some counties in the list I mentioned that have this descrption? any ideas?

[golfgal]

Where specifically will your wife be working? The metro area is pretty big and if she is working on one end you don't want to live on the other. We can then pinpoint areas for you to look into specifically.

[JenLee]

I just want to make a few small corrections here: MN is the state, MPLS is Minneapolis. We refer to them as the "Twin Cities," "the Cities," or "Mpls/St.Paul." Rochester is in MN, but it is about 80 miles from MPLS. The places you first listed as counties (Blaine, Eagan, etc) are cities. The Metro area here encompasses a 7 county area; but Hennepin and Ramsey are the most populated areas (MPLS is in Hennepin and St. Paul is in Ramsey Co.).

Comcast has become the dominant cable company in St.Paul for years and is taking over on the MPLS side of the river.

I live in a north (eastern) suburb and it took me 45 minutes to an hour to get to a job I just quit in a southwestern suburb during rush hour. However, that was a 27 mile trip one way and was lengthened due to the 35W bridge being out and the road construction on the 35W/Crosstown (H 62) interchange. If you know where your wife will be working we can help narrow down an area that should meet your budget and other requirements on your wish list.

[meinster]

My wife will be working at the Whole Foods Market in Minneapolis, hope this help narrow it down.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by meinster

After tons of research and forum posting and internet searching, I think I have finally made a decision on MN/ST Paul area.

I like the frigid cold and snow, seems like decent area. No real negative forum postings that I could find. Plymouth, MN Top#1 place to live, however out of our price range.

We are looking to move to MN in about 45 days, need 2+ bedroom rental - house or apt whatever we can find that is around $800.00 or $900.00 per month.

From what I have researched, the following counties are cool place to live:

Maple Grove - ?
Rochester - too far from MN though
Plymouth - too $$
Eden Prarie - ?
Lakeview - ?
Apple Valley - ?
Burnsville - ?
Eagan - ?
Blaine - ?

Seems most of these areas that won good reviews are in Hennepin, Anoka Ramsey, Dakota counties.

My wife will work in MN/ST Paul area so we will need to consider commute times. Dont really want to commute more then 30 min or 15 miles from home.

We prefer a suburb area, tired of Big city life. We are from Los Angeles 30yrs worth, no more.

We are looking for less diverse area, which probably be best for suburb areas.

Looking for good suburb for our 2 lil girls, NO gang junk or too many junkies. We are looking for a suburb with very little trailer park areas!

Looking for County that has Cable Internet... a must

Im assuming most of these counties I have mentioned above receive all about the same snowfall ? roughly?

BTW: MN/ St Paul relatively safe area? or at least = to national average?

thanks for any input -

Looking for ppl to give input who actually live or have lived in these areas in recent past.


Does MN get major Thunderstorms? my favorite

I take it your are using MN in place of Minneapolis. Most can figure that out, but you may want to use MPL, minnie or something besides MN which is generally the whole state.

Sounds like you care about commute times, cost, and schools. Good list if you ask me. There are 7 counties in metro area. Hennepin (Minneapolis and most western suburbs), Ramsey (St. Paul), Dakota (south of the river burbs such as Eagan, Burnsville, Apple Valey) Anoka ( North West burbs such as Anoka, Coon Rapids, Andover. Washington (east edge of metro including Oakdale, Stillwater, and many smaller towns) Scott ( SW Metro including Shokopee), Carver (west south west including Chaska and Victoria). Minnesota and Mississippi River have a lot to do with boundries and as a rule crossing rivers will add traffic delay mostly due to limited numbers of bridges forcing traffic to converge to a single spot.

Weather is largely similar for all areas and we do get some good storms from time to time including tornados.

Commuting - this really comes down to where you will be working. The best way to talk about commuting is in mintues instead of miles. Shorter distance does not always mean faster commute. If your work is close to the metro core, you should have many options that allow you to keep time and distance down.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by meinster

My wife will be working at the Whole Foods Market in Minneapolis, hope this help narrow it down.

I believe this is located at:
3060 Excelsior Blvd
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416

Very nice area in South West Minneapolis near Lake Calhoun. That part of Minneapolis and further to the south has what you requested in terms of diversity or lack thereof. The bummer is that rentals are not all that plentiful and tend to be higher than the range you specified for 2+ bedroom. Getting in and out of this area will require using city streets a fair amount. Closest highway for North and South is Highway 100. Closest Highway for east west is I-394. This is one of those spots that getting in and out of is a bit challenging, but not horrible if you chose a favorable location to live.


Based on your previous posts, I would suggest three solid choices to start looking into further: west part of Bloomington, Golden Valley, and Hopkins.

If you want to upgrade from there, look at Edina, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie. There are rentals, but might be harder to find the price range you a looking at. All cities mentioned are in Hennepin County.

[JenLee]

Originally Posted by meinster

My wife will be working at the Whole Foods Market in Minneapolis, hope this help narrow it down.

I would stay west of the river then and concentrate on looking in one of the west or southern suburbs then.

It used to be (before the 35W bridge collapse) that on a good day -but not during any rush hour traffic- I could get there in 20 minutes; it's about 15 miles from my house in Shoreview (we have elderly relatives that live in that area and I've had some emergency calls through the years). Things will improve once the bridge is completed, but even so you either drive through the Uptown area or circle around by way of I-394 and highway 100 from this (north) side of town.

[golfgal]

Based on that information, western suburbs are probably the easiest right now considering various construction projects.

Eagan would be an option, especially once the Crosstown (Hwy 62) is completed. Even now it isn't a bad drive except and the very height of rush hour. If she is working off hours then Eagan to Whole Foods would be 20 minutes, rush hour is pushing your 30 minute limit. I can get to that general area, actually further west on 169 from Rosemount in 35 minutes leaving around 8:00 am and Rosemount is about 5-7 minutes south of Eagan and where I go is about another 5 miles west of where she would be going. If I go at 7:30 it is about 40-45 minutes.

Your biggest obstacle is going to be finding a nice 2 bedroom for your price.

You might have to look further out in places like Jordan which adds commute time/gas costs.

If you stick to the suburbs like Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Eagan and find something in your price range you won't have to worry about neighborhoods. Some of the neighborhoods in Bloomington can by iffy, especially with little kids. West St. Paul MIGHT be an option, again with the Crosstown construction--there are some iffy neighborhoods there too but if you stay in West St. Paul and not the west SIDE of St. Paul you will be fine.

Inver Grove Heights would be a possibility as well, again, no bad neighborhoods.