Early 30s couple with 8-month old relocating from Louisville (Minneapolis: 2015, condo)

[FBCoach1230]

My wife and I have never lived outside of Kentucky and will be moving to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for a job relocation in Golden Valley, MN. I am a high school science teacher and football coach and am garnering interest by MPS school district but I'm looking diligently for any type of work. We will be moving by the end of the calendar year and neither one of us have ever been to Minneapolis-St. Paul.

We are interested in finding out where our best case scenario location would be to move, that would allow us to make friends quickly, and provide a great environment to raise our daughter. We plan on joining a Catholic church community that has many young families like us, but don't know which churches would fit the bill. We also want to join a Young Professional organization for after-work socials and events, but don't know what exists in that regard in the cities.

We are coming up in mid-September to meet with our realtor and take a tour of the cities and their neighborhoods, and then again in October to put an offer on a house. Our budget for a house is no more than 275K. We are looking forward to it, and have heard that it is absolutely beautiful and clean there. Both Louisville and the Twin Cities are highly ranked when it comes to quality of life.

In Louisville, we have had it easy. We are literally located fifteen minutes from everything (downtown, St. Matthews/Bardstown Road areas with great nightlife and restaurants, work, etc.) and love the convenience. We are getting a bit out of our prime (32 and 31 respectively) but feel young and still love being active and social. We want to live near a park/lake so we can continue our active lifestyle, but also be in a location where we can get everywhere somewhat quickly and has a true neighborhood feel.

Any suggestions/feedback would be greatly appreciated. We have researched areas online and have found some places to start. We feel Uptown might be a little too young and expensive for us, but have heard it's pretty awesome and has great location. We like what we read about St. Anthony, Mac-Groveland, Highland Park and Minnetonka, but are not sure if we want to tackle that commute everyday and fight traffic and they seem to lack the park/lake environment we are hoping to find.

Thanks for your help! We are excited about this new adventure in our lives and look forward to moving to the Twin Cities!!!

[uptown_urbanist]

I'm a few years older than you and love having a family in Uptown (so don't think it's too young for you!), but with that said, the odds of finding a house in your budget in Uptown are pretty slim. You'd more likely have to go with a condo or rent, and it sounds like you're in the market for a single family home.

Honestly, unless you want a more urban lifestyle, I'd consider Golden Valley itself, or perhaps the part of Plymouth directly adjacent, say by Medicine Lake. You'd be right by work, a quick drive from downtown Minneapolis, and you'd be well-situated for outdoors activities; Medicine Lake is very nice, and you'd also be very near Wirth Park in Minneapolis (which is huge and has lots to do in all seasons). It's less active than, say, Uptown, but if you don't mind a bit of driving (we like Uptown because you can walk everywhere and there's no need to get in a car) it could be a great fit. No idea about the Catholic churches in the immediate area, but I assume that anywhere you end up in the Twin Cities you'll be able to find a good church fit without having to travel too far.

If you do decide you prefer to be in Minneapolis, some of the far SW neighborhoods can be a quick drive to Golden Valley. Armatage, Windom, and Kenny neighborhoods are filled with young families with kids, and have houses under your budget. You'd be close to Lake Harriet and to Minnehaha Creek, as well as a convenient drive or bike ride from lots of destinations. Annunciation church is there (it also has an attached school; they might have a preschool, too, when the time comes for that) and seems to have a lively community of families with kids who live in the surrounding neighborhoods.

[FBCoach1230]

Thanks so much Uptown for the feedback! This is extremely helpful and we will be visiting the neighborhoods you suggested when we arrive in September to check them out. We most definitely want a single-family home, so it's good to know that Uptown might not be what we are looking for at this time. And apologies for implying that it's only for the young. At this point I only have what I read and hear to fall back on!

[Kebinminn]

Golden Valley is a good option. The Hopkins Schools side is considered a better option for school district. Plenty of families there and St. Joseph's seems to be an active Catholic community. Minnetonka also has good schools. New Hope is a great community but I don't care for the district as much. Minnetonka tends to have more wooded lots with privacy and New Hope has a lot of great neighborhoods with families. Both are great areas. I love the area around Winnetka and Boone north of Highway 55. The commute for any of these would be negligible. St Louis Park is also close with a lot of housing that may work for you. I like the area off of Cedar Lake in between 100 and 169. The schools there have a good reputation.

Robbinsdale is where I live. Affordable housing is plentiful here, the homes are smaller. They do a great job at working on that small town feel so close to the city. Easy drive to Golden Valley. I don't love the district - same district New Hope is in - but there's some popular magnet schools. The downside is they are chosen by lottery. There's a lot of professional families with babies here, active little league, there's all kinds of small kids activities. There's a Catholic church in town too. We are off the parkway so there's lots of options. You can connect to the trail system quite easily. I live near a small lake although it's not great for swimming yet, it's in the process of a clean-up. There's a lot of bikers, walkers and runners here.

[asitshouldbe]

Minnetonka is expensive and it is a suburban area.

Highland Park aka St. Paul neighborhood is a mix of large turn of the century homes and average sized older homes with a slight "uptown" feel on a smaller scale.

St. Anthony which is is on the edge of NE Mpls. is a nice older area on the more expensive side. Very cute area and well kept.

The Quarry is a shopping area that is convenient to both communities, NE and St. Anthony.

NE has quite a few teachers, I know because I belong to a group online where teachers make requests to the community in the area. It also has an ethnic mixture of restaurants, stores and people, it also has several micro pubs and coffee shops and was voted number 1 for art district and it is also child friendly and affordable.
There is the new child friendly water park as well.

Cub grocery store is also in that strip, next to Home Depot and Michael's craft store is next to Party City.

Best Art District Winners: 2015 10Best Readers' Choice Travel Awards

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[sandlapper]

My wife and I actually moved up from Lexington, KY about 5 years ago and we love it here! Anyway we currently reside in SW Minneapolis and as mentioned earlier their are a lot of young families here, its close to 50th and France, Uptown, Downtown, the lakes, the creek, etc... and for the most part you could find housing in your price range though act quick because the market is pretty hot it seems. These are just guesses but I would think that Highland Park or pretty much anywhere on that side of St Paul would be a good choice too. It may be a little further away from some of the more heavily traffic neighborhoods but I would suggest checking out some areas around Lake Nokomis. It has some nice walkable areas there as well with restartunts, coffee shops, etc... Good luck with your search!