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At least your home is in a city that appeals to many people (winter aside ) and it isn't in an economic dump...hopefully you can get a buyer soon. I heard that the lower budget and starter homes are still selling well, just taking longer to move the higher price stuff than it used to.
A single family home for less than $200k can be found in the north metro near Blaine, but it will most likely be in a less desireable neighborhood. Coon Rapids and Anoka (blue-collar suburbs immediately west of Blaine) have many cookie-cutter 1950's/60's ramblers in the $150k-$200k price range, but many of them are dumpy and need a lot of work. I grew up in this area and I have to say that the homeowners in some of these neighborhoods don't show much pride in keeping their houses in good shape.
I would think that the same style house in Golden Valley and St. Louis Park would cost quite a bit more than that, as those areas are in a more central location.
I read that the median home price in the Twin Cities is about $230k, but keep in mind that condos and townhomes are factored into that figure. The median single family home in the north and west suburbs is probably around $275k.
Good luck.
I wouldn't label Blaine or Coon Rapids in this way at all. There are huge, beautiful homes going up all over in leaps and bounds. Brand new shopping centers galore. What you may find in this price range in this area may buy you a VERY small 2 or 3 bedroom rambler in a not so nice area (not crime ridden or anything, just older and not as well kept up) that needs lots of work. You may find more in Anoka in this price range but you may need pretty low expectations to be satisfied.
I think this area has changed A LOT since you were growing up. There may be pockets where people have less pride of ownership but you will find this most anywhere.
I don't think of Golden Valley or St. Louis Park as "central". They are located in the west metro .
Apparantly you haven't been to Coon Rapids lately.
We live in Coon Rapids, my daughter goes to Sorteberg, the neighborhoods are very clean and people take pride in their community and their homes.
If you're looking at the lower end, say $140-$170k yes, those would be fixer uppers... but, if you are looking around $190-$225k you will find very nice homes.
Most of the parents at my daughters school grew up in the area, moved away and came back to raise their own kids here.
There is a lot of community togetherness and pride here.
On the fourth of July, you can take your lawn chair a few blocks down the street and sit with your neighbors to watch the parade.
At night, you can take your blankets down to Sand Creek, pick your spot and watch the fireworks.
There really aren't too many places that you can go to, to be that close to watching the display.
Every year, they have the carnival set up for the weekend and the kids all just love it.
I'm getting so tired of people thinking that "blue collar" is a dirty word.
Yes, Coon Rapids is made up of a lot of blue collar workers who work hard, and want the best for their kids.
There were some areas of Coon Rapids that were starting to go downhill but, thanks to an alert City Council, those areas are no longer an eyesore.
Just take a drive down Coon Rapids Blvd, past the exchange.
Those old dumpy buildings are gone.
They were torn down, and a new developed area is going to be built.
Coon Rapids has also built the new shopping area off of 242/Main, with just about every store imaginable.
We have an excellent hospital, good police support, an excellent fire department, and community spirit.
THANK YOU!!!! I get so TIRED of defending Coon Rapids to people who apparantly never come here. We live very near you and do the Fourth of July event at Sand Creek every year. I just love living in this area and always recommend it to people. I think people are a lot nicer, more down to earth here than in other areas of the metro and it's very safe. Everything is convenient. There are so many programs and events for kids here it's crazy. The Parks & Rec dept is fantastic - we've taken kayaking, canoeing and skiing through them at very low prices. Anoka Hennepin is the largest school district in the state. We homeschool, but I can say that there is no end of things to do up here with our family and we rarely have to leave the North Metro. I think Coon Rapids is a LOT nicer than some of the suburbs to the west or south where people pay way more to live in a house half the size of mine. Whatever. I just wish people would stop stereotyping a place where they obviously do not live or spend time in.
On the NorthStar Corridor, this has been in the works forever. I remember hearing about it years and years ago. It's progressing now finally, but last I heard it will only make 6 runs a day when complete. We will have a station within a few miles of our home.
Regarding some of the NW suburbs like Corcoran, Otsego, etc. they are nice but pretty far out. You probably wouldn't find anything SF under $250 though. Otsego would take around 45 minutes to get to downtown Minneapolis without traffic. I wouldn't want to have that commute.
I have a house for sale in Baldwin, Wisconsin. It is a small town now, but is growing. It is only about twenty minutes east of Woodbury, MN. It is 2002 square feet with an unfinished basement, 3-bed, 2 1/2 baths. Sale price: 284,900. It has wood floors, upgraded lighting and flooring, six-panel doors, and an audio system throughout the house. We have open houses on most Sundays. If you are interested call (651) 331-9001
What are the taxes?
You can find homes priced less over the border in Wisconsin, BUT the taxes will be double!
1. You think your smarter than everyone but 60 million people our of 6 Billion in the world.
2. You don't deserve to live in the slums, that's for stupid people
3. Teachers should be paid more even though there are tons of people graduating with degrees in education knowing what the pay scale is.
4. You've deemed the value of teachers to be $70,000 a year.
5. You think a house in Rochester should be valued like those closer to Minneapolis (I wonder why it doesn't work that way?)
6. Your too good of a person to be a salesperson (Implying all salespeople have low moral fiber), you're too stupid for med school and too poor for law school
Have you figured out yet why life is so bad for you yet? Sounds like someone feels entitled to everything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rochestercheesehead
Yikes! So if I move up there and think an affordable home should be between $100,000-$180,000, does that put me in St. Paul proper? I have young kids, so schools are important, but as I obviously don't have money for a SF house, which we've had since our second year of marriage, I don't have money for private schools either. (Don't even get me started on the private school thing--I taught in a private school for three years between 1997-2000--with an MA I started at $23,000 and was earning a whopping $24,500 three years later. Bus drivers earn more than that. I know because that is what I'm doing now. Bread vendors earn more than twice that! I know because I've worked for two different companies).
OK, I'm done ranting about inadequate teacher's salaries, and woefully inadequate private school teacher's salaries--NO, they DON'T earn more! They earn significantly less than their substantially underpaid public school counterparts. I was a fantastic teacher, but I'll never teach again unless they start paying teachers the $70,000 per year that everyone else with their level of education earns.
By the way, any hints as to what fields a guy who could do and has done nearly everyone else's job and has an IQ that theoretically makes him "smarter" than all but 60 million others in the world should go into in order to be able to feed his family without government support and buy a home outside of the slums? As I'm currently working on yet a third degree, I have no interest in med. school, I can't fathom paying for law school, I don't want to be a school administrator--where all the "smart" teachers end up because it's one of the top ten paying fields while teacher doesn't even make the top two hundred--and although I'm an excellent salesman, I have too much integrity to reenter that horrible field. What's left that will enable me, on my income alone, to purchase an outrageously priced house in the Twin Cities?
I mean realistically, even if I could land a $70,000 a year job, which is unlikely, I shouldn't have a mortgage exceeding $140,000. If I get TOP dollar for my house in Rochester, I'd have $58,800 in equity after paying the realtor his $10,200 commission, which would put me in a house for 198,800. The more likely scenario is that I land a job at $48,000; sell my house for $150,000, leaving me with equity of $40,000 down and a mortgage of $96,000--less than my current mortgage, and a total of $136,000 for a house--$1000 less than I paid for my house in Rochester.
Where can I live? I refuse to live in a trailer park and I've heard that carboard boxes aren't made as well as they used to be.
I just moved back to MN from Washington DC. I've been gone for 10 years (I grew up in Coon Rapids until I left for college).
I sold my house in DC (750 sq ft row house, needed a full rehab, in probably one of the top five most dangerous neighborhoods; sold for $214,000). I'm renting a place in Fridley now and I intend buy a house in 6-9 months.
What I would like:
1. I would like something 200K or less
2. Neighborhoods like Brooklyn Park is fine (which is where I've been looking)
3. I would like a rambler
Questions:
1. What are the neighborhoods close to the light rail...it wasn't here when I left for school and I see it coming from the airport but I don't know where it goes through.
2. Open for suggestions other than Brooklyn Park and Mounds View where I've been looking. I would like to be able to get to Coon Rapids within a half hour (my family mostly still lives there) but be close to Minneapolis driving or close to public transportation lines (I got used to not having a commute in DC)
To the last poster, I understand wanting to 'educate' people of their ways, but it is really a lost cause, especially when people are not knowingly being hostile toward other people and other communities. You had quite a collection of responses yesterday, likely offending some people, to the extent that no one has attempted to answer your questions. I do not necessarily disagree with your analysis (though keep in mind that you are making very strong assertions without all the available facts), and in an attempt to keep this subject on track, I will share what I know of your potential transit options.
1. The Hiawatha line, mostly running along Highway 55 with terminuses in downtown Minneapolis and Mall of America in Bloomington, is currently the metro's only rail line. (Link to Metro Transit web site: http://www.metrotransit.org/rail/index.asp.) As far as neighborhoods off of the train are concerned, there are nice, quaint neighborhoods on either side of the light rail in Minneapolis, as the once neglected southeast side of Minneapolis gets a facelift through incremental residential and commercial development along the light rail line. The specific Minneapolis communities to look into are Nokomis, Longfellow, and Powderhorn, in that order. Airport noise can be in issue for some neighborhoods in the Nokomis area.
Keep in mind that metro transit in Minneapolis operates in a hub-and-spoke fashion, meaning that you will mostly likely need to take transit into Minneapolis before heading out to the suburbs because there is not much suburb-to-suburb transit.
2. Based on the criteria you listed, and along with the sections of Minneapolis listed above, I would suggest that you look into the Columbia Heights-Fridley-New Brighton area, which has many starter homes. There are not many houses for less than $200K outside of the inner-ring suburbs, and there are transit options (bus) on that side of town. If you are looking at second-ring and outer suburbs (e.g., northern Brooklyn Park and Blaine), you may be restricted to buying townhouses at your price point.
On a side note, the Northstar Commuter Rail should be operating by 2009 and should run from downtown Minneapolis to Big Lake, with stops in Fridley and Coon Rapids, among others. Until construction is completed, a bus route operates along the same route as the future rail line. Link: http://www.mn-getonboard.org/index.html.
There are many very nice homes in Coon Rapids, Blaine, Spring Lake Park, Anoka, Andover, and the surrounding areas that are in your price range. And last summer, one of the local TV stations determined that Coon Rapids was the most affordable city in the metro area. The older section of Blaine is very similar to Coon Rapids.
Much of the land in Coon Rapids which could be developed was developed prior to 1985, but there is some new constuction too. This means that much of the housing is now 20 to 30 years old. And while there are sections where there are some "cookie cutter" homes, the vast majority of Coon Rapids homes are very nice and have a good amount of character.
For around $200K you can expect to find a good selection of ramblers that are 1200 - 1500 sq. ft. in size and in pretty good condition. Look for homes that have good solid mechanicals (furnace, roof, etc.) and are located in a neighborhood you like. Large sections of both Blaine and Coon Rapids are covered with beautiful mature oak trees.
Some of these homes may be a little outdated as far as the decor (dark woodwork, outdated colors, etc.) or need some "cosmetics" like paint or carpet. The big plus with these older rambers is that they will almost surely have hardwood flooring in most of the home. Years ago builders installed hardwood flooring in order to sell homes to Veterans using their VA benefits (because of old VA rules) so lots of older ramblers have hardwood floors under the carpet.
When they were built, most of these rambers had 3 bedroom, 1 bath, and depending on the age, either a one or two car garage. Many have been updated with extra bathrooms or finished basements.
I live right on the border of Blaine and Coon Rapids - off of the University Ave Extension and it sounds like you might want to be looking in my neighborhood.
Our schools are great! They're just not as rich as those in the southwestern metro. OK so maybe our high school football team doesn't have a dedicated domed football practice facility (like Eden Prairie), but we are solid on the academics and the basics!
Quote:
Originally Posted by montello1232
I just moved back to MN from Washington DC. I've been gone for 10 years (I grew up in Coon Rapids until I left for college).
I sold my house in DC (750 sq ft row house, needed a full rehab, in probably one of the top five most dangerous neighborhoods; sold for $214,000). I'm renting a place in Fridley now and I intend buy a house in 6-9 months.
What I would like:
1. I would like something 200K or less
2. Neighborhoods like Brooklyn Park is fine (which is where I've been looking)
3. I would like a rambler
Questions:
1. What are the neighborhoods close to the light rail...it wasn't here when I left for school and I see it coming from the airport but I don't know where it goes through.
2. Open for suggestions other than Brooklyn Park and Mounds View where I've been looking. I would like to be able to get to Coon Rapids within a half hour (my family mostly still lives there) but be close to Minneapolis driving or close to public transportation lines (I got used to not having a commute in DC)
Last edited by golfgal; 05-04-2007 at 03:34 AM..
Reason: took out ad links
There are many very nice affordable homes in Coon Rapids, Blaine, Spring Lake Park, Anoka, Andover, and the surrounding areas that are in your price range. And last summer, one of the local TV stations determined that Coon Rapids was the most affordable city in the metro area. The older section of Blaine is very similar to Coon Rapids.
The reason you are getting so much conflicting information about Blaine is because of its unusual history - which throws off the averages. Up until about 5 years ago, nearly half of the land in Blaine was federally protected wetlands. Now, that the wetlands have been opened to development, there are many new homes being built and some of them are very expensive ($1.8 Million for the top property in "The Lakes" development). And the homes in the Tournament Players Club (TPC) are also expensive because it is a golf course on the professional tour and hosts the Senior Tour each year.
But when it comes to Blaine, that is only half of the story. Much of western Blaine (west of state highway 65) IS in your price range. Many of these homes were built in the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's.
When it comes to timing, the time is NOW. We are solidly in a buyer's market but it is not going to last long. Builders have slowed the pace of new construction and sellers of pre-existing homes have, for the most part, adjusted their prices downward - or can be persuaded to lower their price during negotiations. Interest rates are still very close to their all time lows. Local rates today are averaging 5.79% for a 30 year fixed (per bankrate.com). By next year, most of the financial and real estate statistics have determined that it will be in a "balanced" or "mixed" market. That's not to say that there won't be good opportunities next year or beyond; they will just be a little harder to come by.
For around $200K you can expect to find a good selection of homes that are 1200 - 1500 sq. ft. in size and in pretty good condition. Look for homes that have good solid mechanicals (furnace, roof, etc.) and are located in a neighborhood you like. Large sections of both Blaine and Coon Rapids are covered with beautiful mature oak trees. Coon Rapids will soon have the Northstar Commuter Rail line and bus service in the area is good. Commuting time from Blaine to the western suburbs via highways 610 and 169 is generally about 20 minutes during rush hour unless there is snow, heavy rain, or an accident.
While I wouldn't call them shacks, some of these older homes may be a little outdated as far as the decor (dark woodwork, outdated colors, etc.) or need some "cosmetics" like paint or carpet. Most do not have problems that need immediate attention. The big plus with the older rambers is that they will almost surely have hardwood flooring in most of the home. Years ago builders installed hardwood flooring in order to sell homes to Veterans using their VA benefits (because of old VA rules) so lots of older ramblers have hardwood floors under the carpet.
When they were built, most of these rambers had 3 bedroom, 1 bath, and depending on the age, either a one or two car garage. Many have been updated with extra bathrooms or finished basements.
I live right on the border of Blaine and Coon Rapids - off of the University Ave Extension and it sounds like you might want to be looking in my neighborhood.
Quote:
Originally Posted by midwest456
Hi, I am considering a move to the Twin Cities next summer or later. I am not locked into a specific employment location yet, just interested in the city for the overall quality of life and because I have friends and family there. Because they all tend to be on the west side of the metro area, I am looking there first, but I also don't have a big budget for those expensive homes in suburban Hennepin. I owned a condo before and after my experience with noisy neighbors sharing walls, ceilings etc. would prefer to have a modest single family home (SFH) with a small yard. No kids so school district is not a consideration.
I visited the city data section on this page and saw that the "median home value" for towns I was interested in like Blaine (whichever is the nicer part of that city), Golden Valley and St louis park was from 125K-160K but I am seeing a lot of comments on the minneapolis forum that you can't get anything more than a shack for less than 250K. Could someone please explain what median home value is and why it is so much lower than the sale prices? Is it skewed downward a lot by townhomes? I had the impression that even the townhomes for sale tended to be at least 175-200K.
I did see a fair number of homes in those cities on various real estate sites for a bit under 200 so I wonder if that means there is something seriously wrong with them?
Are home prices likely to be much lower six months from now? I read about how it is becoming a buyer's market but that sellers are slow to lower their prices.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Last edited by golfgal; 05-04-2007 at 03:32 AM..
Reason: took out ad links
A single family home for less than $200k can be found in the north metro near Blaine, but it will most likely be in a less desireable neighborhood. Coon Rapids and Anoka (blue-collar suburbs immediately west of Blaine) have many cookie-cutter 1950's/60's ramblers in the $150k-$200k price range, but many of them are dumpy and need a lot of work. I grew up in this area and I have to say that the homeowners in some of these neighborhoods don't show much pride in keeping their houses in good shape.
I would think that the same style house in Golden Valley and St. Louis Park would cost quite a bit more than that, as those areas are in a more central location.
I read that the median home price in the Twin Cities is about $230k, but keep in mind that condos and townhomes are factored into that figure. The median single family home in the north and west suburbs is probably around $275k.
Good luck.
HRB - you should cross the river and come visit Blaine sometime! Evidntially, you haven't been in this area for a quite a while. There isn't any place in Blaine that I'd describe as "less desirable". Geez, you make it sound like north Minneapolis!
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) and it isn't in an economic dump...hopefully you can get a buyer soon. I heard that the lower budget and starter homes are still selling well, just taking longer to move the higher price stuff than it used to.
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Sure you can!!!
