Relocating to Minneapolis Area and Need Help!

I recommend Falcon Heights, Roseville or Lauderdale as a fantastic location close to both downtowns (Minneapolis and St. Paul). We live in Lauderdale, my husband takes 1 bus straight downtown to work, easy as pie. Roseville is a great school district as well.

Jess

We live in St. Louis Park - a first tier suburb - just a few minutes from downtown - super low crime rate and houses within your range. My kids go to the Early Childhood Center at the Jewish Community Center (we aren't Jewish but they are accepting of everyone and are super family centered.) I teach half day kindergarten for Minneapolis Public Schools but if I weren't so happy there I would consider working for the ECC. Super facility, great staff and I think they get 50% off. The kids have art class and swimming lessons weekly. Welcome to Minnesota!

Welcome to Minnesota.

I love our neighborhood, Saint Anthony Park in Saint Paul. It is very convienient to downtown Minneapolis, my husband takes one bus or rides his bike. He drops off our daughter at preschool on the way. When he drives its ten minutes from door to door.
We are right on the edge of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul and the 1st tier suburbs of Roseville, Falcon Heights and Lauderdale. Roseville has all of the shopping you can think of and a great park system too. Actually, all of the metro area has great parks, Minnesota is very nice that way.
We have a great elementary school in the neighborhood and a German Language Immersion charter school (elementary) and the Junior High for the area is in our neighborhood as well. There is also a great little shopping district with a bank, post office, hardware store, medical offices, restaurants, dry cleaner, independent book store, etc. We also have a beautiful old Carnegie Library. Check out www.sap.org
Houses start closer to $275k but its worth a look.

I'm from the Milwaukee area and have lived in Minneapolis for over 3 years. My husband and I love it. I think you get a lot more for your money here. In my opinion, the property taxes are really cheap. I also pay about $2500 annually in prop. taxes on our home that is about $250,000. In Milwaukee, taxes on that would be doubled!

Hi chaska is a beautiful area to live in actually the house across the street from mine is for sale we just moved into the neighborhood and people are awesome and taxes are not too bad we pay 1900 a year for 250,000 dollar house. The schools are awesome also lots of daycares in the area aswell centers and churches. if you have more questions feel free to ask me. ____@____.com
I am not sure of the commute to mpls it depends on what company you are going to and what time of day. But it shouldnt be too bad.

Welcome! The city of MPLS and most suburbs contain older homes that fall within the price range your are looking for. Taxes for this range of homes has actually gone up percentage wise over the homes in the higher price range. On our home, in Maple Grove - valued around $250K - our taxes are over $2600 per year. eek.

Please visit this page for information regarding starting a home daycare in Hennepin County.

http://www.asktheprovider.com/licensing.htm

My husband and I live in Richfield, and we love it here. Homes are right in your price range, property taxes are 2K/yr we're close to schools, shopping, and downtown is 10 minutes in heavy traffic. I love this location. We're close to the city, but we have a hometown feel with parks and treelined streets. Our crime rate is very low, and it's a great community.
As for daycare, there are many in the area. New Horizons is one that I'm aware of, because they're everywhere, and there are a lot of other places. I use an hourly daycare, so I'm not much help in that arena, but I'm sure there are great resources for you!

S.,
My husband and I moved from Chicago 5 years ago, and like you I had not been to Minnesota, and on our first visit found a house. Three kids and a dog later we are home. Our first house was in Nokomis are of Minneapolis, which was great, except we were way too urban, so we currently live in Uptown, which we love, and plan to stay here for the long haul. That being said, there are a lot of great areas-do you want to live in a city area, or suburb? Where do you live now-I could probably give you ideas based on that...I agree that St. Louis Park is a great suburb, close like Oak Park or Beverly to the city...without the traffic. Minnesota has tons of great things to offer-let me know if you would love to talk more-I'd love to help.
C.

Hi S.! My husband and I spent some time in the Chicagoland area - we went to North Central College in Naperville and lived in Chicago for about a year after school. Where do you live now? or What type of area would you like? Minneapolis is a nice city, but compared to Chicago much smaller. For houses in your price range you will have more to choose from in MN than in the Chicagoland area, so let me know what type of places you like in IL and where your husband will be working and I'll give you some ideas of areas to look here. Good luck to you!

I've lived in many areas of Minnesota over 35 years. My favorite place to live would be the St. Anthony Park area...it's got that small town feeling in a big city and the crime rate is vertually non-existant. However, the cost for houses are VERY high, even for a small rambler fixer-upper. They go for 275-400 range. You'll probably want to branch out to St. Anthony; (Different than St. Anthony Park) Lauderdale, Roseville, or Falcon Heights, which are all very close to St. Anthony Park. They all border Minneapolis. But, if you're looking for the best, St. Paul is really the place to live. Minneapolis, there are small neighborhoods that are good, but..it's really hit or miss unless you live near Calhoun lake, which is costly. As far as work for you, I'd look at these daycare centers. Children's World Learning Center; New Horizon; Tutor Time. I'm sure there are some smaller local centers too, but I'm not familiar with them. These are the bigger ones and if they don't have positions available, they might be able to offer some suggestions as to what other centers are in the areas. Good luck. And, I hope you can find a spot at St. Anthony Park...my husband grew up there and we still have lots of friends and family there, but we've been trying to get in there for years...and can't afford the houses.

S.,
Welcome to MN! We were also relocated up here 10 years ago from the Chicagoland area and have enjoyed MN very much. Less crowded, MUCH cheaper property taxes than Cook Co. and very nice people. The housing market is great for buyers right now so the prices are more in line with what they should be and you can find some great deals. We found a home in the northern suburbs (Coon Rapids) and it's a 20 minute drive to get to the downtown area. Anoka County has cheaper property taxes than Hennepin or Ramsey but the school district is the largest in the state (if that concerns you at all).

Hope your move is a smooth one,
L.

Hi S.,
we relocated to mpls 3 yrs ago from California! We love it here (our families think we are insane!) We lived in Uptown( south mpls) but recently moved to north east mpls and love it. affordable houses ( we are currently apt. dwellers but are looking at buying here) great shopping, beautiful parks, lots of Kids, I love taking my seven month old for walks here! Good luck with your move! I know how stressful it can be, I can't imagine moving with a little baby!

A.

Edina realty (www.edinarealty.com) has a great website where you can use a map to search for houses. For example, you could search for houses within a certain radius of downtown that fall within your price range.

The daycare my children attend (Noah's Ark - has locations in downtown Mpls and Hopkins)is very family friendly. Several of the teachers have children that attend the center, so I assume they get a discount.

With respect to requirements for being a daycare teacher, they vary depending on whether you are a "lead" teacher or an assistant teacher. Here's a link to the MN regs:
http://nrc.uchsc.edu/STATES/MN/mn_2TOC.htm

Hope this helps!

Hi S. -

Golden Valley is a nice area that is just north of St Louis Park and directly west of downtown (10-15 minutes). The home prices can be slightly more than some other suburbs. However, we use to live in New Hope, which bordered Golden Valley and the homes were older but prices were very affordable. We sold our house for just over $200,000 and I believe our taxes were around $2,000 - that was 3 years ago. From our experience, homes go quickly in this area. It's a great area but you will likely put a little bit of work into the home, cosmetically to modernize it, which many people do not mind.

We're now in Northern Brooklyn Park. Commute to downtown is about 30 minutes. The suburb as a whole hits the news for crime quite a bit. It has a good pocket in South Brooklyn Park (near Brooklyn Center) of low income housing where 90 plus % of the crime originates and takes place. We've been happy with the school district here, the Parks and Recreation department is awesome and offers a ton for kids. Homes in this area are towards the top of your scale but you can get 2000-3000 square feet. Taxes are around $3000 and up.

Hope this helps.

Hi S. and welcome to Minnesota!
Our family also was relocated two years ago and we absolutely love it here. Last year we had the opportunity to move to Chicago and, after studying the area, we chose to stay here as we realized we had a better quality life here.
I can't give you advice on Minneapolis neighborhoods because I live in a suburb of St. Paul. But have been all over the metro area (both downtown areas are 15 minutes from each other approx)and I'm sure you'll love it here. I second the mom that suggested Edina Realty website. I used to spend hours online looking at houses and they have a great map on their site that lets you have a good look at neighborhoods.
MN is a great place to live. You have all the big city amenities and there are lots of outdoor activities. I'm sure your family will be very happy here.
Welcome :)

Maple Grove, about 14 miles northwest of dowtown Minneapolis, is a wonderful suburb to live in. I commute to south Minneapolis which is approx. 9 more miles than that and I actually enjoy my drive time. I don't, however, typically have to commute during rush hour. I've lived her for three and a half years and have loved every minute of it. My 11 month old daughter attends a daycare/learning center called Kindercare. There are two facilities in Maple Grove, so depending on which end of town you live in would be where you would take your child. I absolutely love Kindercare and the love and attention they show my daughter. I am aware that they offer discounts to family members but for how much I could not tell you. You can get a very very nice house for 200k-275k here in Maple Grove. Taxes are about the same wherever you go around here. Good luck with your move. Take care.

Jen M.

Hello S.,
If your looking for affordable housing close to the city-St. Louis park is a good bet. It has a great school system & is super close to downtown Mpls. Unlike cities like Maple Grove, Chanhassen, Chaska (where you would spend half of your life in traffic to get to downtown)- no offense to anyone who lives in those cities-I'm sure they're nice but you'd have to admit the traffic would be horrible during rush hours! There are parts of S. Mpls which are pretty affordable too, such as the Nokomis area-but you'd want to be cafeful where you look because it's close to the airport & depending on the part of Nokomis you're looking at could be quite loud.

One suggestion I have for you is to find a real estate agent in Mpls. that can help determine a good area for your family taking into account your needs and income.

Right now is a GREAT time to buy here, the market is flooded with inventory which makes it a total buyers market!

Feel free to contact me if you would like recommendations for a good real estate agent, I know a few!

Good luck!