Apartment Searching in the Twin Cities....EEK! (Minneapolis, St. Paul: real estate, apartment complex)

[MNnewb]

I don't know much about this whole forum thing so forgive me if I seem new or don't quite know my way around yet...

My boyfriend, myself and a friend of ours currently live in Michigan and have our whole lives. We took a road trip to the area for a week in march and fell in love with it so when we decided we needed a change of scenery, naturally, this was the place we thought of. We are looking for an apartment in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. I've looked and looked on the apartment search/review websites and haven't really been satisfied with the information I've found. (I've used rent.com, apartments.com, forrent.com, padmapper.com, hotpads.com, apartmentratings.com) None of them seem all that in-depth so i thought 'who would know better than the locals?' So here are the basic specs we'd like to stick to:

-2 bedroom
-Within a 10-15 minute driving radius of either Minneapolis or St. Paul
-lesser than or equal to $800/month
-In a safe neighborhood
-close to a busline

We were leaning more toward an apartment just because of the lack of utilities needed to be paid compared to most houses or duplexes but if you think i'd be interested, please feel free to give me some input.
If anyone knows of any decent apartment complexes that match what we're looking for, any information would be great! thanks

Oh, and I've basically lived on craigslist for the past 2 weeks. I would just like to find anyone who's had direct contact or personal experience with a nice apartment complex so i could feel like i was getting concrete information, not just your run-of-the-mill real estate spiel.

[Radical_Car]

Is there another reason you're moving besides you want a change of scenery? Will you have a job at all or are you transferring? There aren't really all that many neighborhoods that you should avoid, some are worse then others though. My cousin lived at an apartment by this management company before in Bloomington and he didn't have any problems or anything and he seemed to like them Bigos - Home

Craigslist is probably the best besides a local newspaper even though you said you have been using it for the past 2 weeks. The big apartment sites like forrent and rent and apartmentfinder really only list properties managed by big management companies and don't usually include smaller places or privately owned places. You will probably want to come out here and look at properties in person. Is there a specific neighborhood you're interested in or just anywhere within 10-15 minutes to M/SP? It sounds like based on the tone of your post you're moving because you hate Michigan, are you sure you know what you want?

Find some places on those sites and call them and ask them any questions you have and go visit them in person, and tons of people live in smaller privately owned buildings and brownstones and those type of buildings can be more affordable. If you don't like the landlord or they won't answer you're questions or something then avoid them, you don't immediately want a bad relationship.

This website has tons of smaller buildings and such and they tell you exactly what they have available and when its available, though I have NO experience with them, I am sure they are just fine, just make sure to visit where ever you're interested in because I wouldn't sign a lease without seeing the apartment. A lot of people also tell you to run from places that just show you a model apartment, which, well if they won't show you the actual apartment available then I wouldn't rent from them, though thats really only big apartment complexes owned by a big company.
http://www.kleinmanrealty.com/availa....cfm?ALLPROP=1

There are some companies to avoid that others have discussed here before and hopefully others can help you more.

Also, are you interested in any other amenities like a pool?

[MNnewb]

We've been discussing moving out of state for a year or so now. It's not that I hate Michigan...I just want to get out and experience more than one place in my lifetime and there's no better time than now when I don't have anything tying me down. Both my boyfriend and I work at Target and we're currently in the process of figuring transfer paperwork out with Targets in the M/SP area. Any neighborhood would be fine, as long as it's not notorious for violence or anything like that. lol

We're planning on taking a weekend trip to the area sometime soon and cramming all the apartment viewing in that we can, but i just wanted a base to start from.

And a pool would be neat, as well as an excercise room, but we don't see them as necessities. Thanks so much for the website referrals & your advice

[northstar22]

Hey! I also moved here from Michigan (Kalamazoo). I just got back from MI, and I can tell you that Minnesota is so much better.

Apartments are really expensive here. You won't find a decent two bedroom for less than $800/month. You could try looking a little further away from the Cities, in places like Big Lake, Monticello, Northfield or Annandale, but none of those places are on the bus line.

As far as areas to avoid: generally, the north side and Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis; University Ave, Frogtown and the near north side of St. Paul and the city of Brooklyn Center are pretty sketchy and have higher crime rates. There are exceptions to these rules, of course, but generally, I would avoid those areas.

[golfgal]

I would wait until you get your transfer papers before you settle on an apartment because you have no idea where you will be working and you don't want to sign a lease only to find you are working an hour away.

[MNnewb]

Flyingwriter, thanks for the suggestions! I'll keep them in mind

Golfgal, All of the Targets we're in contact with are within the range that I'd like to be (around 15 minutes driving radius from either city) so anyone I end up at would be pretty convenient. It would be nice to know exactly which Target I'll be transferring to, but it's not crucial to the apartment search but thanks for the suggestion

[Cleaver]

A 2 bedroom for $800 is hard to come by around here if you want some place nice. I have a relatively basic 2BR apartment and rent alone is 1075.. not including utilities. That's up there a little ways but I would say the average 2BR in the burbs is right at $900. Try Salem Green in Inver Grove Heights.. soundproof concrete walls and decent pricing in a nice area and start at $795 but the majority of their layouts are $1000. My place is in Eagan, which is partly why it's so expensive.. very upscale burb but I have friends all over the metro and yeah it gets expensive.. but you get what you pay for. Inver Grove Heights is mere minutes from St. Paul and probaby 15 mins from downtown Minneapolis.

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by flyingwriter

Apartments are really expensive here. You won't find a decent two bedroom for less than $800/month. You could try looking a little further away from the Cities, in places like Big Lake, Monticello, Northfield or Annandale, but none of those places are on the bus line.

I wouldn't say apartments are expensive here, definitely no where near as expensive as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Seattle, but they're not exactly cheap, definitely more then St. Cloud and Mankato. If you go out of the metro area to small towns like Monticello or Buffalo you can get something cheaper. My sister pays around 600 for a 700-800 square foot 1 bedroom in Buffalo, though if you want to be in Minneapolis and be close to downtown then I would avoid being outside the metro area. There isn't much in places like Big Lake and Monticello and Buffalo.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

A 2br apt for $800 or under can be done. I ran a quick craigslist search and found hundreds of results:

minneapolis apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Slig

A 2br apt for $800 or under can be done. I ran a quick craigslist search and found hundreds of results:

minneapolis apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

Sure you can find 100's of results, doesn't mean they are nice or someone would want to live there.