To buy within 30 minutes of Minneapolis? (St. Paul, Bloomington: for sale, house, safe neighborhood)

[Athmea]

Hi all,
hoping for some advice about where if anywhere we can afford to start looking to buy.

What we would like:
150k or less
30 mins or less to Minneapolis
Decent school area
Safe neighborhood
3 bedrooms +
Fenced in yard

Apart from those things we aren't too fussy.

Is it possible in the twin cities?

[WendyRLee]

I did a quick check for you and there are some properties in your range, except the issue is going to be the fence. Unfortunately there are not a lot of homes with full fenced yards out of the main cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis in that price. There are available homes in Brooklyn Center, Mounds View, Golden Valley and Crystal, West St. Paul and Forest Lake with fenced yards at the current time. You may want to consider finding a house then adding the fence.

[pvoyd]

Originally Posted by Athmea

Hi all,
hoping for some advice about where if anywhere we can afford to start looking to buy.

What we would like:
150k or less
30 mins or less to Minneapolis
Decent school area
Safe neighborhood
3 bedrooms +
Fenced in yard

Apart from those things we aren't too fussy.

Is it possible in the twin cities?

It would be helpful if you clarified what 30 minutes or less to Minneapolis means to you. Without rush-hour traffic or weather events, most of the Twin Cities metro area (including 3-rd tier suburbs) are within a 30 minute drive to Minneapolis. During rush hour, not so much.

[atler8]

Yes, a clarification would be helpful by what you mean as "30 minutes..." could be in reference to central Minneapolis or to where the density factor begins to pick up on the outer metro fringes.
Earlier today I read about the desperate situation in Hutchinson with the collapse of housing values there. The city is in the far western metro in McLeod County. Due to major downsizing there at the largest employer, Hutchinson Technologies, home values in Hutchinson have tanked drastically.
Given the rapid post WW2 growth of Hutchinson with the rise of Hutchinson Technologies, there is a large inventory of nice homes in that city & the market is currently flooded with properties that are for sale.
So, if you wanted to try to pick up something really nice at a steeply-discounted price, Hutchinsoin could be the answer for you.

[BillWallace]

My MLS search shows 174 active listings that match the following -

Single Family, Priced less than $150k, within 20 miles of downtown Mpls, 3+ bedrooms, Chain link or Wood Fencing (can't always tell if these are full fences).

What I can't tell is your definition of "decent school" and "safe" - those are somewhat subjective. Here is a breakdown of cities -

Andover - 1
Anoka - 3
Blaine - 2
Bloomington - 1
Brooklyn Center - 8
Brooklyn Park - 6
Centerville - 1
Columbia Heights - 1
Coon Rapids - 3
Cottage Grove - 2
Crystal - 8
Eden Prairie - 1
Golden Valley - 2
Hopkins - 1
Lauderdale - 1
Minneapolis - 49
Mounds View - 2
New Brighton - 1
North St Paul - 2
Robbinsdale - 3
Rogers - 1
South St Paul - 1
St Paul - 75

I think you can find something - condition and size of home will be less the nicer the neighborhood.