Relocating, looking for advice on neighborhoods and more. (Minneapolis, St. Paul: sublets, apartment)

[seaghost]

Hello all, I apologize in advance for how lengthy this is:

My boyfriend and I are strongly considering a move to Minneapolis-St. Paul in September. We're 24 and 25 and currently live a bit outside of Milwaukee, in the SE suburbs of WI. We'd be moving to MN without work lined up. My partner has a BA and experience as a school caseworker and will be looking for a job in the social work or psychology field. I will be looking for entry level office work or call center work (or really anything available, I have years experience a handful of unrelated fields and very flexible, willing to do most kinds of work and not picky).

We've already got a considerate amount of savings and by fall expect to have about $12K (obviously some of this will go to moving expenses, but we're very frugal already and good at planning ahead). I'm interested in finding out about the following aspects of the area:

1) I'm very interested in NOT driving, relying on public transit. We've both visited the area and I didn't drive while I was there, but a 4 day vacation is obviously not the same as living in an area. I know Minneapolis scores quite high on ratings for US cities with good transit systems, is it very reliable and at least relatively common to not drive?

2) Is housing very hard to come by without a paycheck in hand? We are most likely going to look for a sublet or house share to tide us over until we have money coming in. In a college town I feel it should be fairly easy to find people looking for roommates or sublets but I am unsure. We are going to scope out sites like airbnb.com and couch surfing sites too.

3) (Warning: vague question ahead) How is the job market in the area? I know MN has a very low unemployment rate but statistics alone are not always the best judge. Are we being totally unrealistic by thinking we'll be able to come and find jobs within 2-3 months?

4) Lastly, any suggestions on more hip/up and coming neighborhoods that would be good for a young couple interested in art and music, close to transportation stops and with affordable rent? I know that in a lot of cities you have to give up a couple of things on an apartment wish list but we're hoping with the cost of living being relatively low for a bigger area that we'll be able to find something interesting.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[uptown_urbanist]

I'm going to suggest my new favorite neighborhood for young people relying on public transportation looking for cheap rent: the neighborhood in St. Paul surrounding the Raymond Avenue light rail station -- so along University Ave just to the east of highway 280. The Green Line opens in June and will easily connect you with jobs along the University corridor and to both downtowns. It's a neighborhood filled with artists, and I think counts as up and coming.

[seaghost]

I knew there was a train line in the works to connect the two cities but didn't realize it's opening would be this summer. We were previously pretty much only considering Minneapolis for a rental location but I'm definitely interested in looking closer at St. Paul now. Thanks for the insight!

[Justabitoff]

If you're looking to only do public transportation, I would stick to Minneapolis proper and not a suburb. I can't imagine having to rely on public transportation out here (I live in Minnetonka, a western suburb). But buses or the light rail run often enough in the city that you shouldn't have a problem. But especially since you're young, you'll probably want to live in the cities anyway. I've heard that Northeast Minneapolis is artsy, and the area near U of M might be good too. But I like most of Minneapolis!

I'm not sure I could speak to you being able to find an apartment with everything on your wish list, since you didn't list your wishes, but depending on your budget and where you want to live, you may or may not have to give some stuff up. And I'm not sure about finding housing without a job, but I do think that the job market here is pretty good. In my husband's industry (which isn't the same) he had 3 job offers within a week of his interviews. So who knows? and I just got 2 part-time jobs within one week (food service and working at Barnes and Noble while I'm in school). So it's definitely possible! But everyone's situation is unique. Good luck!

[ocsid]

Look at Northeast Minneapolis if you want a hipper, up and coming neighborhood. The light rail doesn't run there, but they have good bus service. I will say, it might be a little tough getting an apartment with no job, but the job market here is decent, if not great. Education social work pays better here than in Wisconsin.

Wondering why you'd want to move here from Milwaukee. I really like Milwaukee - it has some issues as most large cities do, but it seems to be on the way up.

[seaghost]

Originally Posted by ocsid

Look at Northeast Minneapolis if you want a hipper, up and coming neighborhood. The light rail doesn't run there, but they have good bus service. I will say, it might be a little tough getting an apartment with no job, but the job market here is decent, if not great. Education social work pays better here than in Wisconsin.

Wondering why you'd want to move here from Milwaukee. I really like Milwaukee - it has some issues as most large cities do, but it seems to be on the way up.

We actually live in Racine, a run down, crime-ridden suburb south of Milwaukee. We do enjoy Milwaukee, MPLS actually reminded me of Milwaukee during my visit -- but we're young and idealistic want to go somewhere truly new

Thanks for your suggestion about neighborhoods!