Brooklyn Park - palmers lake area decent? (Minneapolis, Golden Valley: apartments, condo)

[vivithemage]

My dad drove down ... juts so happen he was out so he chatted with him quick ... I would definitely like to, I don't want to just go knock on his door ... seems it might be a bit much to do so.

Yeah, I know about the shots fire splotter for minneapolis, neat to see. Where I own a condo in uptown now is totally fine...fremont ave s and 35th.

I was looking at the crime stat map, and north of 85 looked just as 'bad' as south of 85 ...

tell me more about this 20k, never heard of this option?

[The Old Scowl]

Captain21:
I think that the imaginary line of 85th Ave. being a demarcation between the good and not-so-good part of Brooklyn Park has gone farther north to Highway 610 in the past 10-15 years.
I remember in the early 1980's when the developments were being constructed on the farmlands that were there, including a friend's family's hobby farm. They are now showing their age, much like some of the developments north of Brooklyn Park in Champlin.
The foreclosure rate in BP has been certainly high. According to a (relatively) recent article 1 out of every 5 houses had been foreclosed on in BP in the past 8 years. Link is below:

Brooklyn Park, the metro's most diverse suburb, will choose its mayor from 12 diverse candidates | MinnPost

[northsub]

Originally Posted by Captain21

I personally think Brooklyn Park is one of the best priced neighborhoods in the state. They also have one of the most aggressive down payment programs where you can get up to $20,000 still I believe.

This city is also one of the hardest hit foreclosure areas, which is one of the reasons why the price points are still really good for buyers. The perception tends to be that the central part of Brooklyn Park as a whole is pretty rough. As you get closer to 252 or 169 it tends to get nicer. I almost never did any real estate over by Xerxes.

I don't know if I can paste links on here, but one website I use sometimes is neighborhoodsscout.com

Just an FYI Minneapolis has a "shots fired map" along with other tools for Minneapolis. St. Paul has similar tools for researching crime statistics. Maybe useful down the road if you ever consider moving back to the cities.

If you look at Brooklyn Park it certainly is not ranking the greatest. It is 16 out of 100 with the higher being considered the safest. If I understand correctly that means this city ranks higher (safer) than only 16% other cities in the country.. It would also indicate that the SW part of the city below 85th is "the least safest" according to their key box.

85th is considered an imaginary border in Brooklyn Park. A lot of newer homes got built North of this, and certainly that is where the big golf course is. This area is considered extremely nice and not part of the "dark side".

I am from the NE side of the metro and work all along the North suburbs. Many of my friends and buyers won't even look in Brooklyn Park because they associate it with North Minneapolis too much. On the other hand I have worked with buyers that are perfectly happy with living in Brooklyn Park!

It is not my position to tell someone they should or should not live somewhere. It comes across as opinion instead of fact. That is why I try to use crime statistics as much as possible. Ultimately you need to look at the facts of crime in the area, and maybe even speak with that cop a couple houses down from you? Gain as much concrete information for yourself and then make an educated decision.

Here is some food for thought. I also looked up Coon Rapids and it actually was rated LOWER than even Brooklyn Park! Even another big suburb Blaine is only rated 20. It just goes to show you that public perception is usually a lot more extreme than actual reality. Every city has its rough spots, and once you get labeled it is hard to buck that reputation.

The site you are linking to is calculating rates by number of crimes per resident. Since most crimes are going to be larceny/theft (probably shoplifting), the numbers the website gives are highly influenced by the number of commercial areas in a city.

Look up the FBI crime statistics where you can get data by category. You will find that Brooklyn Park does have vastly higher rates for most crime types than places like Coon Rapids or Blaine. For instance, if you look at robbery you will find the rates per 100,000 residents in 2011 to be:

Blaine: 24.29
Coon Rapids: 25.83
Brooklyn Park: 134.88

Brooklyn Park is substantially higher in every category except for larceny/theft and arson. Arson is small and not really influencing the overall numbers at all. The larceny/theft category is such a large percentage of the total number of crimes that it dominates the overall rates.

[vivithemage]

That is pretty high northsub, do you have the DBI stats link?

[northsub]

Originally Posted by vivithemage

That is pretty high northsub, do you have the DBI stats link?

The numbers are posted on city-data.com if you search for each particular city. Otherwise, you can get the data from the FBI here:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr..._city_2011.xls

[vivithemage]

interesting, thanks.

[Captain21]

1) NorthSub- Thanks for that info I thought something was goofy on that website. I will for sure check out the FBI website

2) The Old Scowl- I would still have to disagree with you on North of 85th. I have sold homes up there and it is a completely different micro-market compared to south of 85th. Certainly there are foreclosures in this area just like the rest of Brooklyn Park, but many of the sales were still traditional well-kept homes. Believe it or not this has been one of the hottest markets over the past couple years. By far I consider Brooklyn Park to be one of the best buys in the North Metro. Although some of the construction happened in the 80's most of it took place in the 90's. The housing is in a higher price point, and an interesting thing I found out is that a lot of the neighborhoods have these mini-associations to help keep up the neighborhood.

There is actually new construction going on there right now in Tessman Farms, and there is a new Target corp I keep hearing about that is "big news" for that area. Obviously North of 610 is a whole other beast. It is hard for me to articulate this all to you, but think of it this way: The median price for a home South of 85th is probably around $160,000. The median for a home N of 85th is going to be around $225,000-$240,000. Once you go N of 610 you get into the 2-stories big time and it goes even higher. Price points effect neighborhoods.

3) Vivithemage- For the majority of buyers looking under 200k for a home there is a very good chance you will qualify for DP assistance. Whether you choose to use it of course is up to you, and a good loan officer that understands these programs should be able to explain how it works. 99% of the time it comes in the form of a 0% 2nd loan on the property that is 100% forgivable after 5-7 years (or whatever specific date the program states). Combine that with seller paid closing costs and most buyers today can get into a home for $1,000 bucks.

The state has their own I believe to be about $4,000 that always is running and the easiest to get. For most buyers this is enough. Each county and city though sometimes will also have their own. Brooklyn Park happens to be just one of those. Go to their city website and you should be able to find it easily. I have a PDF that I downloaded from their website, but I don't know how to share that. It has been probably since fall that I have done work over there, so it is quite possible this has changed. City funding can go fast and thus change very quickly, but I think Brooklyn Park did this with Hennepin County so the program is set to be around for awhile.

Besides Woodbury that just came up with a $25,000 program I think Brooklyn Park has one of the most aggressive programs in the metro suburbs. Nothing else in the North comes close.

[Captain21]

This is where you can start looking at DP assitance for Brooklyn Park Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP)

[vivithemage]

This is a traditional sale, do you think it will be an issue getting some of those assistance funds? Would I ask my lender to look into it?

[ocsid]

Originally Posted by Captain21

1) NorthSub- Thanks for that info I thought something was goofy on that website. I will for sure check out the FBI website

...and an interesting thing I found out is that a lot of the neighborhoods have these mini-associations to help keep up the neighborhood.

...Once you go N of 610 you get into the 2-stories big time and it goes even higher. Price points effect neighborhoods.

This is very neighborhood dependent. We built north of 610 in the late 90's and sold in 2011. Driving through our old neighborhood, I'm really surprised how shoddy many of the houses and yards are now, especially compared to developments of similar ages in places like Plymouth, Maple Grove, Savage, etc.