Robbinsdale safety/crime/neighborhood quality near Victory Memorial (Minneapolis, Crystal: appointed, appliances)

[qstarin]

Hi,

We're a couple approaching thirty and looking to buy our first house. Currently we live on Lyndale a couple blocks south of Lake (but yet our families are more concerned about crime in the areas we're looking at rather than here ... go figure, not that its bad here either in our opinion).

For our price range, size we want, and location - we're seeing lots of options in New Hope, Golden Valley, Crystal, and Robbinsdale.

There is in fact one particular property in Robbinsdale a handful of blocks west of the very top of Victory Memorial Dr; it's sort of between Crystal Lake and Lions Park lake on the end of a cul de sac just south of Cty Rd 9 & east of 100.

Now, from all indications - the listing pics, aerial views, other threads on this board, etc - the area looks just great. We've driven through Victory before and while everyone's a little close together for our preference, it certainly seemed decent enough (despite being close to N Mpls). We imagine heading a bit west closer to the lakes it even gets better.


But when I pull up the PIMA Web site I see a much higher number of robberies in the area over GV/NH and even Crystal.

What gives? Are people getting broken into a lot over there?

Also, are there other good sites recommended for comparing crime statistics or other demographic information for those cities?


I'm pretty sure we're fine with the area, just looking for some reassurance and maybe some hard data to show the nervous family members.

[srsmn]

Originally Posted by qstarin

Hi,

We're a couple approaching thirty and looking to buy our first house. Currently we live on Lyndale a couple blocks south of Lake (but yet our families are more concerned about crime in the areas we're looking at rather than here ... go figure, not that its bad here either in our opinion).

For our price range, size we want, and location - we're seeing lots of options in New Hope, Golden Valley, Crystal, and Robbinsdale.

There is in fact one particular property in Robbinsdale a handful of blocks west of the very top of Victory Memorial Dr; it's sort of between Crystal Lake and Lions Park lake on the end of a cul de sac just south of Cty Rd 9 & east of 100.

Now, from all indications - the listing pics, aerial views, other threads on this board, etc - the area looks just great. We've driven through Victory before and while everyone's a little close together for our preference, it certainly seemed decent enough (despite being close to N Mpls). We imagine heading a bit west closer to the lakes it even gets better.


But when I pull up the PIMA Web site I see a much higher number of robberies in the area over GV/NH and even Crystal.

What gives? Are people getting broken into a lot over there?

Also, are there other good sites recommended for comparing crime statistics or other demographic information for those cities?


I'm pretty sure we're fine with the area, just looking for some reassurance and maybe some hard data to show the nervous family members.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes-- buy that house!

I grew up in Golden Valley; have done lots of door-to-door work in Summers and such. Whenever my boss let me pick a neighborhood to work in, 9 times out of 10 I'd go to Crystal Lake/Victory. I *love* it there....if you haven't yet, go up and actually check it out-- preferably in nicer weather. The lake is gorgeous, the Parkway is a fun distraction, "downtown" Robbinsdale is nearby, and offers enough in the ways of shopping/dining/etc. Plus, it's an older area with a lot more character than quite a few other suburban neighborhoods I've been in. Theo Wirth Park/Parkway is nearby, too-- it's sort of the gateway to the Grand Rounds.

The crime is probably just overflow from Northside of Minneapolis....more general thuggery than anything I'd be too worried about. The real problems are further southeast of Victory, and you're probably shielded by at least ten blocks in any direction from it.

I can vouch for Golden Valley, New Hope, et al., too-- all good areas. Golden Valley in particular is sort of an older demographic, and feels more suburban, though.

Oh, and also, the houses will be on somewhat bigger lots on the Robbinsdale side of Victory than they are on the Minneapolis side.

[Kebinminn]

I live in that neighborhood and there's a lot I love about it. As far as crime there's issues with people grabbing things from garages and in December there was a problem with guys knocking on doors to see if someone was home, if not they broke in. One person was arrested for that and as far as I know there haven't been any more problems. I know people have had things stolen from cars that they leave out, one guy had his window broken on it. IMO you're better off with a garage and you need to be prudent about your belongings but at the same time I don't fear for my life here.

The climate around here is politically more moderate than the Mpls side, I know people on both ends of the spectrum. Lots of singles, young families and I see a fair amount of older couples. Some kids, not super kid dense but the area you're looking is a few blocks away and has bigger homes than my area so I think there may be more there.

Downtown Robbinsdale is vibrant, love the freeway access here. The chain retail shopping is a bit of a dud, the Brookdale Mall area sucks for that so you need to go a bit further for that but it's not too bad and easy to get to several different retail areas.

If you're into biking or jogging it's a great place, there's a lot of trails that are easy to get to. The parkway is active during the day, I do avoid it at night but am comfortable if in a crowd. You can also bike/run into North Mississippi Regional Park with a trail that goes under 94.

Sanborn is a busy park and in the winter there's a lot of ice skating and in the summer just a lot of people out and about. It's nice and with the lake there it's beautiful. Every summer I fall in love with the area.

What I don't like about this area for me is I wish there were more older kids, I wish that the Brookdale area wasn't such a mess and I'm not keen on its proximity to the Jordan neighborhood. I'm also not in love with the schools, it's a middle-of-the-road district - not horrible, not great. However, I feel safe here, we spend a lot of time outside spring-fall and a lot of other people do too.

[qstarin]

Originally Posted by srsmn

....if you haven't yet, go up and actually check it out-- preferably in nicer weather. The lake is gorgeous, the Parkway is a fun distraction, "downtown" Robbinsdale is nearby, and offers enough in the ways of shopping/dining/etc. Plus, it's an older area with a lot more character than quite a few other suburban neighborhoods I've been in. Theo Wirth Park/Parkway is nearby, too-- it's sort of the gateway to the Grand Rounds.

...

Oh, and also, the houses will be on somewhat bigger lots on the Robbinsdale side of Victory than they are on the Minneapolis side.

So we got impatient and drove through yesterday afternoon. The particular neighborhood this place was in was fairly dense and the exterior appearance of the homes overall was a bit mediocre.

It wasn't what I'd call a bad place, but it wasn't what I'd call really good, either.

The location/access of the area is very attractive to us. It is so, so close to everything. But despite being only a few blocks away from Victory, it doesn't appear to have much of the same character.


We didn't get enough time to drive around everything and really get a lay of the land. Honestly, we're a bit disappointed it wasn't just a bit nicer (because then it would've been perfect), but we're certainly not ruling it out. We'll be viewing the inside of the house today as well as several others.


At least now we understand the price on this particular house and why it's remained on market as long as it has. Prior to seeing the area personally, we were afraid it was a "too good to be true" place. But it makes for a tougher decision. We're willing to forgo a suburb with a better "rep", like Hopkins or Golden Valley - in preference of a larger nicer place, but the trade-off between that and increasing value potential concerns us.

[Hal Evans]

About a mile south down the road is the dreaded "north side" of Minneapolis. But you are in a better section of the city. If you go a few blocks toward the Mississippi River there are some old settler type houses and a thriving industrial area. Fun to explore that.

[qstarin]

Originally Posted by Hal Evans

About a mile south down the road is the dreaded "north side" of Minneapolis. But you are in a better section of the city. If you go a few blocks toward the Mississippi River there are some old settler type houses and a thriving industrial area. Fun to explore that.

Actually, about a mile south is the middle of Crystal Lake. You have to go east some from that location to get to "dreaded north mpls".


But it became a non-issue once we saw the inside of this house. The owners beat the living crap out of their new kitchen and in general it was obvious they didn't care for the place well (didn't even sweep the dog hair off the kitchen floor before we viewed it).

[Hal Evans]

Oh my gosh!

[qstarin]

I'm not sure what kind of person you have to be to put in new stainless kitchen appliances and then put 4 big dents in it. What were they, swinging a baseball bat in the kitchen? And the floors and cupboards were very sloppily finished, with missing moldings, cracked trim, and oozing glue.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by qstarin

I'm not sure what kind of person you have to be to put in new stainless kitchen appliances and then put 4 big dents in it. What were they, swinging a baseball bat in the kitchen? And the floors and cupboards were very sloppily finished, with missing moldings, cracked trim, and oozing glue.

It's a shame what kind of shape the appliances were in but it shouldn't be too hard to see past how the furnishings have been finished and things like dog hair...those should for the most part be easy and inexpensive fixes. On older homes, the main concerns should be the condition of the foundation, roof, windows, furnace, things like that.

[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?