Buying house in Kenwood, Lowry Hill or Linden Hills (Minneapolis: elementary school, property tax rates)

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

This has been changing, especially as it relates to the schools. Many people have relocated from SW Mpls to Edina, primarily for better schools, but continue to vote for the same policies that caused them to leave Minneapolis. (The same thing is happening on a state wide basis in AZ, MT, ID, CO, and NV with people fleeing CA.)

You can see this in the last Edina school board election where the issue in contention was the new social justice curriculum and all the leftist candidates beat the conservatives. If you look at the school test scores in Edina, they have been declining for several years. Private schools have been picking up quite a few additional students from Edina the last two years.

Wow, that’s interesting, I really have no clue and just mentioned it figuring things were good there.

[ima30something]

Linden hills

[Traveling Man MN]

Originally Posted by Twin_cities_newbie

Hi everyone!

My wife and I recently moved to the Twin Cities. I work in Cedar-Riverside and she mostly travels for work (WFH now of course). We're looking to buy a house and in particular have liked Kenwood and Lowry Hill. We think we might put our kids in public school (at least at first) so want to live in a good school district. We checked the stats on Kenwood Elementary and noticed that they're much worse than Lower Harriet Elementary, and also worse than Edina, Wayzata, Minnetonka, etc. Is Linden Hills the place to be in the chain of lakes if we want good public elementary schools, or is Kenwood just fine? Houses in all these places fit within our budget, but I'm surprised that Kenwood seems like the most expensive neighborhood but may have a worse school.

Any other tips on where to buy in the Twin Cities would be appreciated! We also have looked at nice some houses along W River Parkway, but that neighborhood doesn't seem as nice as Kenwood/Lowry. And we live in Saint Paul now, but so far we've liked the vibe in Minneapolis more (although we're currently renting in Midway, which while fine I think is not one of the better neighborhoods).

Thanks in advance!

Something doesn't seem right here. You're a newbie, yet you've been living in St. Paul... You rent in the midway but are looking to buy in Kenwood or Linden Hills. You work in Cedar Riverside, which would seem unlikely to support jobs that provide the needed income to buy and sustain in Kenwood or Linden Hills. You would know the situation in Mpls. currently, including impact on home prices, ask for advice on where in the TCs to buy, and yet only ask about Mpls neighborhoods.

Like I said, this just doesn't feel right to me.

[Twin_cities_newbie]

Originally Posted by Traveling Man MN

Something doesn't seem right here. You're a newbie, yet you've been living in St. Paul... You rent in the midway but are looking to buy in Kenwood or Linden Hills. You work in Cedar Riverside, which would seem unlikely to support jobs that provide the needed income to buy and sustain in Kenwood or Linden Hills. You would know the situation in Mpls. currently, including impact on home prices, ask for advice on where in the TCs to buy, and yet only ask about Mpls neighborhoods.

Like I said, this just doesn't feel right to me.

Sorry my post was unclear--I moved to Saint Paul like 3 weeks ago. I didn't know anything about the Twin Cities at the time (still don't know much), which is why we moved to Midway, which is fine but not a place we'd like to stay long term. We have a lot of assets already but I'll also say there are plenty of high-paying jobs in Cedar-Riverside, probably hundreds of similarly situated folks to me; moreover my wife makes more money than I do. When I asked, I hadn't realized how much people have internalized the looting and how badly it's affected Minneapolis house prices, although now having watched prices drop precipitously over the past few months I agree it looks bad.

Anyway, you're certainly entitled to be skeptical, although I'm not sure how I could stand to benefit from any shenanigans.

[wamer27]

Look in the Edina neighborhood of Country Club and White Oaks, it’s a very unique high class fairytale type neighborhood. There is an important hospital in Cedar-Riverside. Also, look on East River Road in St Paul, the houses are awesome. One next to U of M president’s house (white picket fence is owned by the U) took about 3-4 years to build and completed in last few years. Homes that take longer to build are worth way more due to getting top trade people, and rarer materials.

[Twin_cities_newbie]

Originally Posted by wamer27

Look in the Edina neighborhood of Country Club and White Oaks, it’s a very unique high class fairytale type neighborhood. There is an important hospital in Cedar-Riverside. Also, look on East River Road in St Paul, the houses are awesome. One next to U of M president’s house (white picket fence is owned by the U) took about 3-4 years to build and completed in last few years. Homes that take longer to build are worth way more due to getting top trade people, and rarer materials.

Thanks! Both very helpful. Is the East River Road area sketchy? We've gone for runs there over the past few weeks and it seems nice enough. One of our big problems with Midway is that there are basically no enjoyable places to run or bike, you can't get anywhere without passing grim industrial areas.

[Twin_cities_newbie]

Originally Posted by wamer27

Look in the Edina neighborhood of Country Club and White Oaks, it’s a very unique high class fairytale type neighborhood. There is an important hospital in Cedar-Riverside. Also, look on East River Road in St Paul, the houses are awesome. One next to U of M president’s house (white picket fence is owned by the U) took about 3-4 years to build and completed in last few years. Homes that take longer to build are worth way more due to getting top trade people, and rarer materials.

One other question--is there a lot of airplane noise in Edina? We went to view houses in Linden Hills this past weekend (a couple blocks from the lake) and were startled by the audible airplane noise. But maybe Edina's better because it's a bit further away? We haven't noticed any airplane noise at all in Lowry Hills or Kenwood.

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by Twin_cities_newbie

Thanks! Both very helpful. Is the East River Road area sketchy? We've gone for runs there over the past few weeks and it seems nice enough. One of our big problems with Midway is that there are basically no enjoyable places to run or bike, you can't get anywhere without passing grim industrial areas.

This is a really nice area, especially the Shadow Falls area near St Thomas, but the public schools are generally pretty awful.

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by Twin_cities_newbie

Thanks! Both very helpful. Is the East River Road area sketchy? We've gone for runs there over the past few weeks and it seems nice enough. One of our big problems with Midway is that there are basically no enjoyable places to run or bike, you can't get anywhere without passing grim industrial areas.

Most kids I would figure go to private schools and probably Cretin Durham Hall for high school. I don’t know about airplane noise of Edina, I know it exists, but how much I don’t know? Worth a weekend day to walk the area to see for yourself. Minnehaha creek flows through it and many homes on the creek have hockey rinks in their backyards. I drive around all day for my career and this area of Edina stood out a ton when I randomly found it last winter. I was amazed to a point as I follow real estate for a hobby. I know it’s not a cheap area to buy in.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by Traveling Man MN

Something doesn't seem right here. You're a newbie, yet you've been living in St. Paul... You rent in the midway but are looking to buy in Kenwood or Linden Hills. You work in Cedar Riverside, which would seem unlikely to support jobs that provide the needed income to buy and sustain in Kenwood or Linden Hills. You would know the situation in Mpls. currently, including impact on home prices, ask for advice on where in the TCs to buy, and yet only ask about Mpls neighborhoods.

Like I said, this just doesn't feel right to me.

Yes, it does seem quite shocking that someone would have the audacity to attempt to use this message board as it was originally intended....to seek city data.