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Several weeks ago I made a post about my pregnant wife moving to Minneapolis alone in February. Update since then, she recently birthed our baby (yay) and we decided the best thing would be for us all to move together. So a little info about us. We will be moving in February. We are both in our mid 30s, attorneys (but not wealthy), with three children (17, 4, 1 month). We are looking for a short term rental (approx 6 months) and then will most likely buy. Our 17yo will graduate from HS early in December and then take a gap semester before college in Fall 2018. Our middle child will enter kindergarten in Fall 18.
We are looking for a suburb with the following qualities (in no particular order)
1. Single family homes with 4br/2bath or 3br/2bath with an office space. Condo/Townhouse would be an option as well if they allowed pets and had a fenced area for potty breaks. I don't plan to walk dogs in the Minnesota winter, at least not long term. We are not necessarily looking for a new construction or even a home that was built in the 2000s. We are looking for a reasonably updated home with some good bones. We don't mind doing some reasonable updates but I'm not ripping 1970s pink tile off the bathroom walls. We would like to stay around a $2k rental/mortgage price per month. We understand this possibly prices us out of some 'burbs. We will be in a more favorable position to purchase in the $400k-500k range in a few years.
2. A community that has younger families. We love our current location (in Southern Illinois) but the majority of our neighbors are retired. For example, our next door neighbor knitted a little bag for our son to put under his pillow for the tooth fairy. Really awesome, but not a neighbor we can BBQ or play Cards Against Humanity with. There is something nice about hearing a pin drop on your back deck though. Community could be as small as a street within a suburb or as large as a town in general.
3. Good school district from primary school through secondary school. We also value diversity, racial, and, to an extent, socioeconomic. We are not as concerned about making sure our kids are in a district that offers Chinese immersion programs etc. We do want to make sure our children are well situated both academically, physically, and socially.
4. Within a reasonable commute (~30min) of downtown Minneapolis. We are hoping this includes high traffic time frames as well.
5. We do NOT need a large plot of land. I currently have a 1/3rd acre of landscaped property and that is almost too much to handle. We would be fine with a quarter acre or less.
6. Close to retail but within walking distance of a cuter/older downtown. I know this sounds like a cake and eat it too kind of situation but that's our current situation. We can walk to two parks within 10 mins, our library within 10 mins, and several bars/restaurants within 15 mins. We can drive to Walmart/Target/Aldi within 10mins. Something similar is desirable.
7. This sounds a little picky but because we would potentially both be commuting it would be preferred to be driving West in the morning and East in the evening. We both hate driving into the sun. Are the Western suburbs really that preferable to the Eastern burbs like Woodbury.
8. Good daycare options for our newborn at a reasonable price. We are in a top notch daycare in Southern Illinois (Goddard School) and the rate for a full time newborn is roughly $300/week. I called a daycare a block from my wife's new job in downtown Minneapolis and they quoted me at $615/week. Lol that's over double what I currently pay and completely unreasonable IMO. Not everyone is raising the next Einstein.
9. A neighborhood with paved sidewalks and within walking distance of a park.
10. We are ok with a subdivision with a HOA assuming the fees go towards lawn/snow care, a park, community center, and/or a community pool.
11. A community with a bit of community spirit. A community that hosts festivals, has an active chamber of commerce, holds parades, holds summer movie nights in the park, strong HS sports that the community attends, etc. In other words, we want the option to go to the local farmers market in the morning followed by the HS lacrosse car wash in the afternoon followed by the (name your religion) beer festival in the evening.
We are currently scheduled to come to the twin cities the week of December 4-8. This may be our only trip to the twin cities before we move. We would like to narrow down our housing search as much as possible. Any tips/recommendations would be welcomed.
Several weeks ago I made a post about my pregnant wife moving to Minneapolis alone in February. Update since then, she recently birthed our baby (yay) and we decided the best thing would be for us all to move together. So a little info about us. We will be moving in February. We are both in our mid 30s, attorneys (but not wealthy), with three children (17, 4, 1 month). We are looking for a short term rental (approx 6 months) and then will most likely buy. Our 17yo will graduate from HS early in December and then take a gap semester before college in Fall 2018. Our middle child will enter kindergarten in Fall 18.
We are looking for a suburb with the following qualities (in no particular order)
1. Single family homes with 4br/2bath or 3br/2bath with an office space. Condo/Townhouse would be an option as well if they allowed pets and had a fenced area for potty breaks. I don't plan to walk dogs in the Minnesota winter, at least not long term. We are not necessarily looking for a new construction or even a home that was built in the 2000s. We are looking for a reasonably updated home with some good bones. We don't mind doing some reasonable updates but I'm not ripping 1970s pink tile off the bathroom walls. We would like to stay around a $2k rental/mortgage price per month. We understand this possibly prices us out of some 'burbs. We will be in a more favorable position to purchase in the $400k-500k range in a few years.
2. A community that has younger families. We love our current location (in Southern Illinois) but the majority of our neighbors are retired. For example, our next door neighbor knitted a little bag for our son to put under his pillow for the tooth fairy. Really awesome, but not a neighbor we can BBQ or play Cards Against Humanity with. There is something nice about hearing a pin drop on your back deck though. Community could be as small as a street within a suburb or as large as a town in general.
3. Good school district from primary school through secondary school. We also value diversity, racial, and, to an extent, socioeconomic. We are not as concerned about making sure our kids are in a district that offers Chinese immersion programs etc. We do want to make sure our children are well situated both academically, physically, and socially.
4. Within a reasonable commute (~30min) of downtown Minneapolis. We are hoping this includes high traffic time frames as well.
5. We do NOT need a large plot of land. I currently have a 1/3rd acre of landscaped property and that is almost too much to handle. We would be fine with a quarter acre or less.
6. Close to retail but within walking distance of a cuter/older downtown. I know this sounds like a cake and eat it too kind of situation but that's our current situation. We can walk to two parks within 10 mins, our library within 10 mins, and several bars/restaurants within 15 mins. We can drive to Walmart/Target/Aldi within 10mins. Something similar is desirable.
7. This sounds a little picky but because we would potentially both be commuting it would be preferred to be driving West in the morning and East in the evening. We both hate driving into the sun. Are the Western suburbs really that preferable to the Eastern burbs like Woodbury.
8. Good daycare options for our newborn at a reasonable price. We are in a top notch daycare in Southern Illinois (Goddard School) and the rate for a full time newborn is roughly $300/week. I called a daycare a block from my wife's new job in downtown Minneapolis and they quoted me at $615/week. Lol that's over double what I currently pay and completely unreasonable IMO. Not everyone is raising the next Einstein.
9. A neighborhood with paved sidewalks and within walking distance of a park.
10. We are ok with a subdivision with a HOA assuming the fees go towards lawn/snow care, a park, community center, and/or a community pool.
11. A community with a bit of community spirit. A community that hosts festivals, has an active chamber of commerce, holds parades, holds summer movie nights in the park, strong HS sports that the community attends, etc. In other words, we want the option to go to the local farmers market in the morning followed by the HS lacrosse car wash in the afternoon followed by the (name your religion) beer festival in the evening.
We are currently scheduled to come to the twin cities the week of December 4-8. This may be our only trip to the twin cities before we move. We would like to narrow down our housing search as much as possible. Any tips/recommendations would be welcomed.
Thanks!
Perhaps Highland Park neighborhood in St. Paul, though the whole re-development of the Ford Plant property is still in flux. But whatever direction it goes, it will seriously change things there. Also not sure if you can still get in there at your price point. But very walkable and with it's own downtown area with local restaurants/cafes, shops and movie theatre.
Perhaps St. Anthony Park neighborhood and Como neighborhood, both also in St. Paul. Again, not sure if your price point will get you in there. But like Highland, both are very walkable, active communities. These are both also close to the Yinghua Academy (no personal experience, but a colleague has two children there and they are very happy with that school).
Keep in mind, with MSP, the commute park of the equation is important. MSP has a definite rush hour each morning and a afternoon. A 20-minute drive off-rush can easily double during and if there is snow - or for some reason, even a light rain in recent years has become an issue - that can definitely stretch to an hour-plus. The core cites and 'burbs are serious about snow removal and very good at it. The issue is the sheer number of cars on the road during rush hours and that will only increase over the next decade.
Parking in downtown MPS is expensive. If you keep within Minneapolis and St. Paul, one upside is the mass transit options. Bus and light rail in Minneapolis and St. Paul is solid and consistent. And some (many?) employers subsidize bus/rail passes. The mass transit options to downtown MPLS fall off when you get out the the first ring burbs, but there are still rush hour express buses to downtown MPLS.
There are also options in MPLS neighborhoods and western burbs that others here will know very well.
This would run just under 2k including insurance and property taxes.
You are only a couple of blocks away from mainstreet in Hopkins and should be able to get to work in 30 or less minutes.
This I think would check off many of your boxes. I don't know if they have film in the summer but I know EP does have an amphitheater that does and that is about 10 miles away from that location.
This property will go fast though because it is a good deal IMOP (assuming no major issues after inspection).
Thanks for the listing. I think at the moment the location is more important than the actual house. Assuming price was not a factor, what suburbs would match most of the list above?
OP, you have a very detailed list of requirements for your desired neighborhood; some of them appear contradictory, so it may not be possible to satisfy all of these, at any price; you may have to compromise on some. If anything, your rental/purchase money may go a longer way in or near St. Paul (that would also mean you are driving west in the morning when commuting to downtown Minneapolis; though driving there during the morning rush hour is no fun from any direction.)
I'd love to be proven wrong, BTW, and do not mean to discourage you.
First off, thanks for being very specific with your needs, that allows us to be most helpful. And I'm sure you hate having to defend that as a lawyer, you aren't rich, lol (I get it!).
Nothing is going to meet all of your needs. As a commuter to DT minneapolis, if you want sub 30 mins, you basically need to stay inside the 494/694 highway ring. At rush hour, even places like Eagan are 35-40 minutes. Loosely speaking, you're looking for about a $300K house given you 2k/mo price range. Most suburbs have good schools, however most are not very diverse in the burbs (this is all relative to where you are moving from, but most suburban schools are still predominantly white). Walkable cute downtowns also generally don't exist here with a few small exceptions.
Some areas to consider:
Hopkins (close to Minne, has downtown and indie shops, decent schools, reasonable houses)
Richfield (close to Minne, no downtown, decent schools, reasonable houses, albeit small Post WW2 style)
Bloomington (see richfield above. West is nicer than east, but east is where all the action is at.)
St. Louis Park (same as above, no downtown. A younger population base)
Roseville
Places like Eagan, Apple Valley, Woodbury, Lakeville, & Eden Prairie have some of the better schools, but no walkable downtowns (lakeville has a tiny one). All of these are typical, modern, big box style suburbs with 30-50 min commutes to downtown during rush hour.
By and large, our suburbs have sidewalks, nice parks, good schools. They tend to not be diverse. Neighborhood demographics will depend less on the suburb, and more on the individual sub-division you choose.
If you work in MPLS don’t live on the other side of St Paul (Woodbury).
Driving into sun can be solved with glasses. Commute patterns cant.
To get the price/size you want in a newer suburb you are going to have to give on price. Or find a smaller place in a walkable part of Minneapolis or St Louis Park.
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