Moving from SoCal to Minneapolis (Bloomington, Plymouth: transplants, real estate, to rent)

[Cruiser760]

I'm starting to see a theme here. Man, now that I have done a bit of research, it looks like the Twin Cities are and have been growing.


I've taken a job where my office location will be on the eastern edge of Minnetonka near Edina. I'm relocating to the Twin Cities with my family (wife and two kids ages 12 and 14 next year) in the summer of 2017.


My wife and I both lived our childhoods on the East Coast so we are looking forward to having our kids be exposed to the seasons and all that entails. And yes, we are aware of Minnesota winters and we do plan on embracing the winter activities that the locals get involved in.


So, I'm looking to get suggestions from locals on places to live with this list of priorities:


1) Good school life for the kids. My oldest will be starting high school and my youngest is going into 7th grade. Both are competitive athletes. The older is a swimmer and the younger is soccer player and swimmer. Judging from what I have seen so far, there are not many ways to go wrong with Minneapolis-area schools.


2) A 30 minute commute or less during normal commuting hours. I expect to start my workday around 8am but will come in earlier to beat traffic if needed.


3) Established neighborhoods where property sizes are large enough to get a sense of space. This is very desirable after living on top of our neighbors in So Cal. We have enjoyed our neighbors everywhere we have lived, but I really don't want to wave good morning to you from our bedroom windows


4) Access to trails that we can hike, cross country ski, snowshoe, etc.


We are willing to look at houses up to about $500k but we plan to rent for about a year in order to become more familiar with the area.


Thanks in advance for your comments!

[gopherviking]

Edina or Minnetonka sound like a great fit for you. Close to work, good schools and sports, easy access to trails. The western part of Edina has more homes that have more of a sense of space, parts of Minnetonka even more so.

[Staggerlee666]

Absolutely do Edina! It is denser and more developed than the other West metro suburbs and they have a great downtown area at 50th and France (google it). If you like living closer to the lakes, but not lakefront (you can't afford it), try towns and neighborhoods like Excelsior, Deephaven, Shorewood. These may be a 15-20 minute drive for you though, so staying close in Edina and you can't go wrong.

Haven't really explored much of Eden Praire which is a bordering suburb, but from what I have seen it is very spreadout and boring, but you can probably get a nicer house for less money. The three burbs bordering Edina are Hopkins, Saint Louis Park and Richfield, which while nice, are more working class places with small, densely spaced houses.

If you prefer being closer to the city, look at neighborhoods around the west side of Lake Calhoun and Harriet. The area is def upscale but $500K can get you a decent house.

[Citykid3785]

Most suburbs will have good schools. It sounds to me as though you value the outdoors, and large lots. Given this, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, Wayzata, Plymouth, and Maple Grove would all make good places. It goes without saying that the further west you go, the more land you'll have. The closer to Lake Minnetonka you get, the higher the price.

The west metro has the awesome three rivers park district, as well as Elm Creek Park Reserve, which are great outdoor spaces that facilitate xcountry skiing and hiking, etc.

Do note that many of these suburbs lake an "identity" if that makes sense. Great places to live, but if you are looking for a walkable downtown, you won't find it.

[MichelleLC]

We have just moved to Edina from the east coast this past Summer with 3 children. My children appear to be the same ages as yours (next summer I will have twins who are 12 and a 14 year old entering High School). All are boys.

Our transition into Edina and Edina schools has been wonderful. We had a wide variety of housing available to choose from ... but keep in mind the market really picks up around April and the house you love online may well be gone by the time you get out to look at it if you wait too long into the Spring. We LOVE our neighborhood, have many other transplanted families on our block and many, many, many kids who just absorbed our kids into their group.

The sports and extracurricular offerings through both the school and the City of Edina are incredible. Swimming and Soccer are very popular and available! I'm glad to answer any questions if you are interested. One thing that I was wary of before moving to the area was the reputation that Edina and other Western suburbs have for being "affluent" and being called "cake eaters". I have found that there is very little to that and the area is incredible low key when compared to the NY City area suburbs and I'm sure areas in California as well. Our taxes and cost of living went down incredibly when we moved here.

[mr roboto]

Edina is a great suburb, and dare I say the only truly 'elite' one here (in terms of money, connections professionally etc). But it's closer in, a bit more busy, traffic can e very annoying on France Av and 50th during busy times.

Minnetonka, Wayzata, Eden Prairie are going to have larger lots and you get more for your money. Plus there are easier-to-access lakes, trails and nature than Edina.

Make sure to look for Minnetonka schools if you are looking at Minnetonka. Half the city is zoned for Hopkins, which is a fine district but Minnetonka is better.

[uptown_urbanist]

I think Minnetonka or vicinity will be a better fit than Edina, mostly because I think for $500k in Edina you're probably going to be closer to your neighbors than it sounds like you want. (Although admittedly I haven't paid much attention lately) Maybe also look into western Bloomington or Golden Valley or Plymouth. No idea what the swim programs in those 'burbs are like, however.

[ellysbelly]

In addition to Edina and Minnetonka, you might want to check out Eden Prairie, Chanhassen and even Victoria (though that might be pushing your commute to 30 minutes)-- but your money will go a good bit further in Victoria-- a $500K budget will get you a large, upgraded home in a nice community-- even perhaps on or near a golf course (check out Deer Run) or walking distance to a lake (there are some new builds-- even by custom builders-- on and near Lake Wassermann that can be had for $500ish) vs an much smaller, older home on a smaller lot in Edina (and I do love Edina, but if you're looking for space, both inside and out, it comes at a premium there). Chan is more expensive than Victoria, but you can still get a lot of home for $500K (and it's 10-15 minutes closer to your work, so it might be worth the cost premium vs Victoria and it's still a LOT less expensive than Edina).

You can also find homes in Chan that attend Minnetonka schools (it's the section that's north of 5, off of Powers/Mills, as you approach Excelsior). One of the things I love about living out here is the proximity to the town of Excelsior, which has a fantastic and walkable downtown (and great restaurants!), as well as access to Lake Minnetonka.

Victoria has a lot of executives and a goodly amount of MN transplants. It's definitely (far) more suburban in feel than Edina and other first ring suburbs, but it's still close enough that it's easy enough to get to all the Cities have to offer while being a bit more green and quiet, with a great community feel.

The schools in Edina and Minnetonka are excellent-- as are the schools in Eden Prairie and Chanhassen (Chan High serves both Chanhassen and Victoria)-- all are rated 9/10 or 10/10 on greatschools (not that that site is perfect, but it's at the very least directional).

Don't know enough about swimming out here, but have heard that the soccer program out this way are excellent. Best of luck in finding the perfect community for you and your family!

[Cruiser760]

Wow, so many great comments. Thanks! I had to chuckle because when I was out meeting my new coworkers and talking to them about where to live, I did get a lot of variety of comments such as this. Everyone agreed that unless I had a real desire to add to my commute, stay north of the river.


That said, I'll take a closer look at Chanhassen and Victoria. Edina and Minnetonka are already on my radar both from a neighborhood and from a school perspective.


I already did do a brief spin through Orono, Wayzata, down to Deephaven and then back to the airport. Not sure about the commute from those places but I did get kind of pinned in on the roads up in Wayzata around midday. That surprised me and was what encouraged me to drive further south along the shore of the lake. Deephaven seemed nice. I don't have to the on the lake but being close to it seemed like a neat idea.


To be honest, I'd be totally satisfied with an older home that we can make our own. I live by the 3 rules of real estate...you know what they are. The house can be modified but you can't change location.


Thanks again!

[mr roboto]

Originally Posted by Cruiser760

Wow, so many great comments. Thanks! I had to chuckle because when I was out meeting my new coworkers and talking to them about where to live, I did get a lot of variety of comments such as this. Everyone agreed that unless I had a real desire to add to my commute, stay north of the river.


That said, I'll take a closer look at Chanhassen and Victoria. Edina and Minnetonka are already on my radar both from a neighborhood and from a school perspective.


I already did do a brief spin through Orono, Wayzata, down to Deephaven and then back to the airport. Not sure about the commute from those places but I did get kind of pinned in on the roads up in Wayzata around midday. That surprised me and was what encouraged me to drive further south along the shore of the lake. Deephaven seemed nice. I don't have to the on the lake but being close to it seemed like a neat idea.


To be honest, I'd be totally satisfied with an older home that we can make our own. I live by the 3 rules of real estate...you know what they are. The house can be modified but you can't change location.


Thanks again!

Many parts of Minnetonka were built out in the 60s and 70s and as such there are a lot of empty nesters living there now. Some young families are beginning to buy those homes but in the next 5 to 10 years I would expect a turnover of young families coming into that community en masse. If you like a good renovation project and want a large solid home in a nice school district I would definitely look at Minnetonka.

Regarding the access to Lakes, Minnesota has a very public belief about access. You can use or boat on just about any Twin Cities without living close or owning property on it. Lake Minnetonka it's self is huge and gets quite crowded in the summer, often times with a frat boy or sorority girl feel on the weekends. But Excelsior and Wayzata are both neat small walkable cities on the lake.

Your commute from Chanhassen or Victoria, in my opinion, would be needlessly difficult. The housing stock is newer with more mid 90s McMansions and recent construction. But Highway five and Highway 212 are both very busy in the morning and you would be commuting through Minnetonka to get to work.

Eden Prairie is a family focused supper with some older housing stock on the north side and many newer McMansions and legitimate mansions on the south side of the city. It gets a bad reputation as an Edina wannabe and also because of the cluster of retail around the mall, but we really enjoyed living here and all the amenities at the city offers with all that tax revenue from their office and retail development.