Neighborhood recommendation in SW suburbs (Minneapolis, Bloomington: renting, low crime, houses)

[tonybasu]

I am looking for a single family house (3Br 2 bath min) near Edina (less than 10 miles commute) in a very good school district. Work location MN-100 and I-494 intersection. My budget is around $300K. I have shortlisted some areas based on distance from Edina and my preliminary knowledge about school districts (1) Edina (Cons: Expensive, old houses) (2)Minnetonka (Pros:Good faculty student ratio, Good Test scores; Cons: Distance from Edina) 3) Eden Prairie (Cons: Large School, Low Cost Housing issues in some locations 4) Hopkins- St Louis Park (Cons: Crime little high: specially around MN-7 highway, Excelsior Blvd)
Among all my listed areas which of them have high quality of life and Low Crime (Property crime etc).. Please give some advise.
Thanks a lot for for your time and advise.

[ManBearPig1]

If you consider St. Louis Park as having fairly high crime, you probably want to be as far out in the burbs as possible.

The schools in any of those locations are very good.

But in all seriousness, it's going to be hard for people to give a substantive comment unless you define what you consider a "high quality of life." For some people, you won't find that in any of those places; for some other people, any of those place would be just fine.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

I don't think you'll find a 3BR/2BA house in Edina for under $300K. Maybe $500K? I'd look into Hopkins or St. Louis Park, as that price should get you a very modest home and the school districts are quite good as well. The homes will be smaller, for sure, but usually are very up-to-date, especially at that price. Also consider Bloomington, since it's so close to (or is AT) your work.

BTW, "older" homes tend to be much better quality, so I'm not sure why that's a "con".

[tonybasu]

Thanks for letting me know about older homes are better quality. How safe are the neighborhoods in Hopkins/St Louis park compare to Eden Prairie/Minnetonka ? Which parts of Hopkins/St Louis Park have low crime rate ? (My budget is 300K for single family house (3Br 2 bath min))

[golfgal]

I would look east to Eagan as well staying in the 196 or 197 schools. Anything off of 55 or 149 areas would give you easy access to Edina. You should be able to find something in your price range and end up in excellent schools. Edina would be ideal for you, but like you have found, your price range is not in line with that area.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by tonybasu

Thanks for letting me know about older homes are better quality. How safe are the neighborhoods in Hopkins/St Louis park compare to Eden Prairie/Minnetonka ? Which parts of Hopkins/St Louis Park have low crime rate ? (My budget is 300K for single family house (3Br 2 bath min))

You might see a few upticks in crime, but I've never heard of anyone refer to St. Louis Park or Hopkins as having high crime or even mildly elevated crime. Those are pretty safe suburbs tucked in near one of the safest areas of the actual city (Southwest Minneapolis), so you don't have anything to fear. They'd also be pretty close commutes to Edina.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

I wouldn't worry about crime in any of the areas mentioned. Hopkins has an attractive little downtown and is close to your work location. I'd give that area strong consideration given your price range. There are actually a decent number of homes in Edina that meet your criteria as well. They are just older and smaller homes probably stuffed behind a McMansion or two.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Hi Tony.
Re: schools. If you are looking for great schools, you simply need to avoid a couple of areas (Richfield and East Bloomington ). Just follow the money. People who do better economically place higher (educational) expectations on their children. Those areas have less children that coast so on average, the school scores higher. Putting it another way, if you take a "good" rated school and compare it to great rated school, I bet the top 25% of the kid's test scores look the same. If you have too many kids that coast, they suck the bandwidth out of the teachers and you will see inferior result. Pick a school that is big enough so they have kids grouped by performance. Because at the end of the day, your prime concern is how your 10 year old does (not the schools rating).

You as parents have an incredible amount of influence. The simple key is to dodge demographics where parents are not involved. That also means that you need to be incredibly involved.

The topic of schools comes up on CD often. Great rated schools in MN get the grades because of the great involved parents. Those are a lot of words to say that the schools in Edina, Minnetonka, St. Louis Park are equally good if you are a superior involved parent. Just look at what parent involvement equals when people home school. It's not my cup of tea but you get my point.

If it was me, I'd spend less on a house and see if one of the parents could stay home 1/2 the time. We as parents made that decision and I am extremely pleased with the results. Some people on the forum place way too much emphasis on a school district rating. It's really a reflection of the parenting. I'll now get off my soap box.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Hi Tony.
Re: schools. If you are looking for great schools, you simply need to avoid a couple of areas (Richfield and East Bloomington ). Just follow the money. People who do better economically place higher (educational) expectations on their children. Those areas have less children that coast so on average, the school scores higher. Putting it another way, if you take a "good" rated school and compare it to great rated school, I bet the top 25% of the kid's test scores look the same. If you have too many kids that coast, they suck the bandwidth out of the teachers and you will see inferior result. Pick a school that is big enough so they have kids grouped by performance. Because at the end of the day, your prime concern is how your 10 year old does (not the schools rating).

You as parents have an incredible amount of influence. The simple key is to dodge demographics where parents are not involved. That also means that you need to be incredibly involved.

The topic of schools comes up on CD often. Great rated schools in MN get the grades because of the great involved parents. Those are a lot of words to say that the schools in Edina, Minnetonka, St. Louis Park are equally good if you are a superior involved parent. Just look at what parent involvement equals when people home school. It's not my cup of tea but you get my point.

If it was me, I'd spend less on a house and see if one of the parents could stay home 1/2 the time. We as parents made that decision and I am pleased with the results. Some people on the forum place way too much emphasis on a school district rating. It's really a reflection of the parenting. I'll now get off my soap box.

I agree with you, to a point. Once a child hits about 5th grade or so, their peers have more influence over them than their parents and if you end up in a school where most kids don't care about getting an education, it can and does rub off. Add in the discipline problems associated with this and it's really difficult to do well in these lower end schools unless you are in the IB program or similar, which serves very few students at most of these lower end schools.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I agree with you, to a point. Once a child hits about 5th grade or so, their peers have more influence over them than their parents and if you end up in a school where most kids don't care about getting an education, it can and does rub off. Add in the discipline problems associated with this and it's really difficult to do well in these lower end schools unless you are in the IB program or similar, which serves very few students at most of these lower end schools.

I was talking about comparing St. Louis Park for instance versus Edina or "good" versus "better". Are you saying that the Kid's in St. Louis Park should be concerned about discipline problems that would pollute their kid's motivation / education? If so I strongly disagree.

Independent of that, I know there are "less than ideal" elements (lazy, unmotivated, bullies etc) 5th graders in Edina. Again, I default to parenting. I embrace that there are some elements that have problems. It's a wonderful conversation to explain to your child where they are going to end up at and why. But then again quality parents know how to teach morality as well. Morality excluding religion that is and not being overbearing.

For the "parents" that are too busy and want to let the schools raise their kids, I think they should focus on those better schools.