st.paul vs. s minneapolis / rental logistics (St. Paul, Edina: for sale, real estate)

[idlemellow]

We're going to be doing a sudden move with small kids to the Cities in the next month and a half. My husband will be working in Como close to the stadium and we want to rent in a neighborhood that has an easy commute, is centrally located in case our job situations change, and is close to good public school districts (I know this is a loaded statement, but I'd call something good if the HS teachers have a good reputation overall and most/many of kids are assuming that they will go to strong state or national universities.) Our kids are still young, but we want buy in a year or two and don't want to have to move to a different side of the city when we buy. Our second priorities for a neighborhood are walkable/bikeable and not a new suburb/development feel.

We found preschools we liked in St. Paul (Highland) and S. Minneapolis/Richfield border and are leaning towards looking in S. Minneapolis because of the Edina/Southwest/South school districts. Is this probably where we want to be versus St. Paul? Should we look in Richfield too?

Also, when looking for a rental, do most 3 bedroom house rentals post on craigslist or do I need to also look at rental websites? One of us can fly in for a day to look at rentals (but probably not much longer), but how far in advance do rentals post and should we come on a weekday or weekend?

[jzeig104]

Your husband will have a horrendous commute if you move to Mpls, Richfield, or any other western suburb, just because of the way traffic flows here. I suggest you look at Highland/Mac-Groveland if you want to be in the city and want good schools and walkable/bikeable, with character, or Lake Elmo/Stillwater for good schools/walkable/bikeable, with character if you can tolerate being out of the city. Stillwater/Lake Elmo do not have a suburb feel. They are unique.

I would go with a real estate or rental property management company to arrange views of 3 bedroom houses. You will spend alot of time spinning your wheels if you go to craigslist and rentals go so fast here that they will be gone before you fly here. Google or look on Craigslist for names of companies.

[idlemellow]

Thanks so much for your reply. So Google maps is not accurate during rush hour? It said 14 minutes up 35W from Nokomis to TCF Bank Stadium. Maybe TCF Bank Stadium is not in Como? I'm not sure I am correct with the neighborhood name. We were hesitant to settle in St. Paul because we love the neighborhoods (Mac Groveland/Highland) but heard that a lot of people there send their kids to private school and not the public schools.

[katmu]

Originally Posted by idlemellow

Thanks so much for your reply. So Google maps is not accurate during rush hour? It said 14 minutes up 35W from Nokomis to TCF Bank Stadium.

In rush hour??? Very doubtful even in good weather.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by idlemellow

Thanks so much for your reply. So Google maps is not accurate during rush hour? It said 14 minutes up 35W from Nokomis to TCF Bank Stadium. Maybe TCF Bank Stadium is not in Como? I'm not sure I am correct with the neighborhood name. We were hesitant to settle in St. Paul because we love the neighborhoods (Mac Groveland/Highland) but heard that a lot of people there send their kids to private school and not the public schools.

TCF Stadium is not in the Como area of St. Paul. 14 minutes in rush hour from where on 35?

Richfield is NOT where you want to live if you want good schools. If you can afford it, Edina is your best bet in that area of the metro. Your budget is really going to determine where you end up living for the most part. Most of the suburban schools will give you what you want for quality education, with the exception of Richfield and a few others. St. Paul and Minneapolis have sub-standard schools, plain and simple. The IB kids at SW do ok, the rest of the school can't even get it together to graduate so it just depends on what you want. In the suburban schools you will see 90+ (and 95+ really) % of their graduates going on to top quality 4 year colleges.

[StanleyVegas]

There are two Como neighborhoods as Como Ave runs through both Minneapolis and St. Paul. The one in Minneapolis is just to the north of TCF Bank Stadium. The one in St. Paul is 3-4 miles to the east - just east of the MN State fairgrounds.

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by idlemellow

Thanks so much for your reply. So Google maps is not accurate during rush hour? It said 14 minutes up 35W from Nokomis to TCF Bank Stadium. Maybe TCF Bank Stadium is not in Como? I'm not sure I am correct with the neighborhood name. We were hesitant to settle in St. Paul because we love the neighborhoods (Mac Groveland/Highland) but heard that a lot of people there send their kids to private school and not the public schools.

TCF Bank Stadium is on the U of M campus in SE Mpls, near the border with St Paul. Como is a neighborhood close to campus where many students live. There are many great school options in both Mpls and St Paul. Anyone who tells you otherwise has an agenda.

Como: While I like the energy of the neighborhood, it's a little tricky because the houses tend to be old and wrecked since they're student rentals or they're very expensive if they're in good shape.

Nokomis: The commute from Nokomis area isn't bad compared to other cities. If you're worried about schools though, Nokomis is not better than schools in the Mac/Groveland/Highland area, in fact they're probably better than Nokomis, but both as just fine.

Seward: Another are to look at would be the Seward area which is close to the U of M and on the Mpls side of the river.

St Paul has many solid options for Elementary (Randolph Heights, Groveland Park, St Anthony park, et al) Junior High (Ramsey gets a bad rap, but it's a fine school) and High School (St Paul Central is one of the most respected schools in the state). The neighborhoods I liost below are all closer to the U of M campus than Mac/Groveland and Highland Park (which I don't consider to be close at all really).

St Anthony park: A bit more expensive but very, very nice and very close to the U of M is the St Anthony Park area of St Paul.

Merriam Park: Close to Mac/Groveland but closer to the U of M. Very nice area, good schools.

Como Park: Not Como in Mpls, but Como Park in St Paul, which is an underrated neighborhood imo and has easy access to the U of M.

[golfgal]

I travel frequently to the U of MN from Rosemount. There are several routes to take but even during rush hour the longest it has taken me from my driveway to office, including parking in the ramp and walking over to the office is 40 minutes. You can live any number of places and have a reasonable commute into the U of MN. The one thing that really affects the length of your commute is how long it takes to get to the highway/freeway. If you have to drive for 15 minutes along city roads that gets you 4 miles from home, you are often better off living 15 miles further away and getting on the freeway in 2 minutes. Don't let the distance be a factor as much as where you will be going. I know plenty of people on this board that live in Minneapolis that have far longer (time wise) commutes then most people that live in the suburbs. There have been several posts on that subject here.

[northsub]

You might check out New Brighton or St. Anthony (the suburb, not the neighborhood). Both have good school districts and easier commutes to TCF Stadium than you are looking at. They also don't have anything like a new suburb feel. New Brighton probably has more of a small town feel.

The southern part of Arden Hills might work as well.

Most of Arden Hills and New Brighton are in the Mounds View district which is arguably as strong of a district as you will find. St. Anthony has its own district which does fairly well.

Roseville also has a reasonably good district and would be a better commute.

These areas are not new suburban at all. New Brighton appears to have 36 houses for sale, all of which were built before 2000, 2/3 were built before 1970. St. Anthony currently has 9 houses listed, all of which were built before 1960.

[rzzz]

Try Prospect Park or St. Anthony Park. My great uncles and grandparents lived in those neighborhoods and they are very "quaint" and easy to get to TCF stadium. You might also want to think about neighborhoods along the new light rail line. It will go directly to the stadium.