Robbinsdale safety/crime/neighborhood quality near Victory Memorial

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by qstarin

Of course those things are less to fix. But that's just what I can see, and it speaks to the way the current owners treat the house.

But also they're asking a price that would suggest things were in good repair (and there was a foundation issue, reportedly corrected but I wouldn't trust them to do it right given what I saw, and there was still a large gaped crack in the ceiling).

Besides that, I found other places for the same or less, in less questionable neighborhood's, and in good repair with signs that the owners obviously took care of things.


So why would I want to buy the place with the dents in the fridge?

You may decide you don't want to bother but I wouldn't be scared off by the asking price alone. Asking prices are usually always negotiable. You could make an offer which includes the request that they would need to clean the place, re-finish the cupboards and replace the appliances, or you could subtract the cost of all that from the price you offer. In my experiences, creating integrative compromises are usually taken more seriously than just throwing out a lower price to see if they'll bite.

When we bought our house, the offer I made was well below the asking price, plus it included the condition that the owner would have to put in a new water heater, new garage door opener and remove the old appliances from the basement...needless to say it ended up being a pretty sweet deal for us.

[Camden Northsider]

Hi Qstarin-

Have been meaning to pipe in on your thread for a few days now (was out of town). Robbinsdale and the areas of Minneapolis bordering it are not questionable areas, and whatever neighborhood you are currently residing in (either CARAG or Lyndale?) would be higher crime rate than anywhere in Robbinsdale or Victory Neighborhood in Minneapolis. The Cleveland neighborhood of Minneapolis similarly borders Robbsindale as well as a part of Willard-Homewood...Cleveland is somewhat akin to Victory Neighborhood- has a similar feel and slightly higher crime rate, but for the most part is a nice residential area; Willard-Homewood is somewhat of a mixed bag, but the areas on the western edge bordering Theo Wirth Parkway areas are actually pretty nice (but for the most part Willard-Homewood borders GV along with Bryn Mawr n'hood in Mpls).

When people refer to the "Victory" area they are generally referring to the Victory Neighborhood of Minneapolis, which is part of the Camden "area" of NOMI (North Minneapolis); to a lesser extent, the areas of Robbinsdale bordering Victory Memorial Parkway are also included and/or sometimes referred to as the Victory area- I would disagree with your hypothesis that the farther west you go the nicer the area, I actually think the inverse is more accurate when looking at neighborhood areas bordering the parkway and around crystal lake.

I live in the Victory Neighborhood (2 blocks from parkway/Robbinsdale), and crime really is not a concern here, nor is it in Robbinsdale. Many Robbinsdale (and Victory) residents are either long-time residents (a number that grew up in the area) or younger couples and families that have moved here in more recent years- this is somewhat important to note as what I have noticed is that residents (esp. longer-time residents) are more vocal about both real and/or perceived increases in crime. This is good in a number of ways; residents are very aware, keep an eye on things, and sometimes call the police to a fault; I guess the downside at times is that people aren't realistic about the fact that they live in a pretty urbanized area that is going to have some crime (e.g. it's not the small town that it was 50 years ago)- I also think that in some categories, the heightened vigilanteeism has the potential to inflate crime rates a little more than other areas where police might not get called as much.

In my opinion or from what I have observed, I would say that as far as suburban reputation for the ones you named, it would go in this order: Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, New Hope, and Crystal, with New Hope being a little bit of a tossup w/Robbinsdale. All are very decent areas in their own right, and admittedly I am not all that familiar with New Hope/Crystal, but they have always seemed a little blander with less character to me. I think Robbinsdale, in general, is considered to be fairly on par with St. Louis Park in terms of rep/livability, but with (on average) older housing stock and a little closer in/more convenient. Robbinsdale might have slightly higher crime than NH or Crystal, but this I would think would be expected as it's denser/closer to the city (but should be noted that whatever crime does exist, it's pretty much a drop in the bucket).

I think the Robbinsdale/Victory area are going to have a much stronger sense of community as well as more community events happening throughout the year, if that's at all important to you. And both Robbinsdale and Victory Neighborhood have nice/appealing little downtown areas and way more green space to enjoy (when you look at the chain of Victory Memorial, Crystal and Ryan Lakes, Theo Wirth, and other area parks and parkways, the area is second only to the Chain of Lakes IMO). Regarding the 'denser' feel that you mentioned, although rare, ocassionally you will come across a larger lot up here- our neighbors and us both have 1.5 lot parcels on the Mpls side which we have come to view as one of the biggest assets of our home.

Good luck with your search and decision, and, one piece of advice that I would have (esp. if lot size, etc. is a concern) is to not overlook some of the amazing deals to be had on parkway homes for sale right now on the Minneapolis side- a few years ago (and even more recently) it was not uncommon to see homes listing in the $400-$500K range, and it is likely that at some point in the future this stretch of homes will get natl historic register status (I don't know if there are any apps out currently, I just know that a much less-historic but similar area of Nokomis was recently designated).

[fromthe'dale]

We moved to Robbinsdale about a year ago and, having grown up in a small town, I love it. It has a small town feel with the conveniences of being so close to all the amenities of the city. We live 2 houses from the Minneapolis city line on the Victory parkway and couldn't find a better location.

Our particular block is made up of older couples who have been there for 45+ years and young families with toddlers and younger school aged children. If we are working in our yard, we have half a dozen people stop to chat as they walk down the street. All of our neighbors wave as they go in and out of their houses. It really creates a sense of community that isn't found many places anymore.

Oh, and one thing that really cracks me up about Robbinsdale is that we still have a curfew alarm that goes off every night at 10 till 9 to let the kids know to head home! I remember that from growing up in my small town of 3000 people!

If you look at the crimes that happen around town, it's mostly theft under $300. Usually tools from an open garage, cds from an unlocked car, things like that. We get a free weekly paper and the police blotter in it for Robbinsdale is usually just traffic violations and petty theft, which I'm assuming is just teenagers being bored.

We used to live in St Louis Park and I would much rather live in R'dale. SLP's houses seemed comparable but the "community" wasn't there.