Relocating to Minneapolis- Best place to live? (St. Paul, Bloomington: houses, wage)

[moving123456]

Originally Posted by Slig

If you want to live in an exclusive area with a bunch of snobby rich people you should check out North Oaks. Personally, if I HAD to live in a wealthy area I'd choose a home on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis.

Have you personally met a "bunch" of people that all live in North Oaks to form that opinion?

[mgrannis75]

Definitely right. Another area to consider would be Eden Prairie. EXCELLENT schools and nice area!

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by moving123456

Have you personally met a "bunch" of people that all live in North Oaks to form that opinion?

Nobody on this message board knows a "bunch" of people that live in North Oaks.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by ozzie679

Nobody on this message board knows a "bunch" of people that live in North Oaks.

I know 4 families, is that a bunch .

Pia--you still need to define for us what you mean by the best. What is your price range for housing, that is going to make a big difference for areas to suggest.

[Pia]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I know 4 families, is that a bunch .

Pia--you still need to define for us what you mean by the best. What is your price range for housing, that is going to make a big difference for areas to suggest.

Hey guys! Hope everyone is fine!!

I'm so upset with all these insulting responses i've received...what a shame, you minneapolitans!! hahahahah!! whatever..people you think whatever you want to think about me...but I MUST say i'm not a princess (wish i was) nor a snob....with two babies under the age of two (not because of the babies, you just have to look to my face and see how exhausted i look), and 10 lbs overweight, i do NOT classify in the 'snob/princess' section (damn!!!)

Going back to the relocation subject...i was thinking maybe of renting first, til i know the area pretty well, i don't want to buy with don't knowing enough. we have a budget of around $2000 per month for renting. i looked at several areas, the lake minnetonka is kind on our budget, perhaps a bit over.....and then i looked at this area called 'brooklin park' and the houses are big, nice and cheap!! hooray!! so, the question is... what's wrong with this area???

thank you all very much, thanks for your time and your help!

Pia

[Pia]

Originally Posted by MNNative

I'm really surprised people are jumping on you for asking your question. I'm a little insulted for you (way to welcome someone to the state...).

Anyhow, I have lived in MN my whole life and think many of the people here are fantastic, down-to-earth folk who have unfortunately had someone steal their lunch one too many times and cannot understand why someone might want to live in areas of town where they can enjoy the benefits of their hard work. Many people these days are so quick to settle and your attitude for the best-of-the-best, which in my opinion everyone deserves but many people aren't willing to get, is a turn off.

The fact you are from out-of-state, and an immigrant at that, also comes into play. I know my fair share of immigrants and the ones I closely associate with are some of the most hard working and ambitious people I've ever met. They came to this country with a huge desire for success and they don't allow others to steal their dream. They're the ones you see living in nice neighborhoods and sending their kids to top schools. They know they are entitled to the best and will take advantage of the fact that "normal" folks don't seem to feel and act on that same entitlement. I tend to think most states are unlike MN, so most likely you're used to a different thought process than us here.

Anyway, my point.

You should come into any new state or town with the intention of finding the very best location for you and your family. The catch is that to everyone, based on their needs and financial capabilities, the best-of-the-best is really different. No one walks into a new environment and says "Hey, can you tell me where the worst possible place to live will be cause I'm totally interested in moving there."

And I'm highly shocked that people are taking issue with the fact that you are asking for relocation advice. There are numerous threads and posts regarding the fact that realtors are of little value in determining the ideal places for people to live and aside from that...this is a relocation site isn't it? A place where you can find information from people who actually live in the areas you are looking for. This is a site where HUNDREDS of people ask about neighborhood opinions. Why wouldn't any intelligent person want to hear straight from the horse's mouth?

I guess I'm just disappointed. I have really appreciated all the help that people have given me and I've enjoyed reading other threads with great, helpful information. It's too bad that that help is not equal opportunity advice/help.

I'm sorry I can't shed too much light on the type of community you might be looking for. Without too much detail I can only suggest that if you need to stay near Golden Valley I'd recommend sticking with the western suburbs. The area around Lake Minnetonka will have the most wealthy professionals...Southwest Mpls has wealthy professionals who don't choose to live in 10,000 square foot mansions. Already mentioned and I'll ditto: Bearpath in Eden Prairie and Interlachen in Edina. I knew people who lived in Interlachen and I have family who live at Bearpath...Both beautiful. Interlachen seems more "mature" than Bearpath. I might agree with others that in ultra-upscale communities like these you're likely to run into many busy folk or find people to be in their groove and not as interested in "making friends" but that could just be plain wrong. I can't attest to whether those types of areas hold neighborhood events or whatnot, nor can I tell you if you'll find many children. Being that you have young kids, I'd recommend sticking with less pretentious-type areas...maybe Edina (it's still a wealthy area just not Lake Minnetonka reputation) or Eden Prairie. Chanhassen supposedly has some nice developments. I don't know much about Plymouth, Hopkins or St Louis Park...they're decent places to live I just don't know much about them. Perhaps the best advice I can give you is to do some property listing searches around the western suburbs (do a search of Hennepin County) and then you can get a feel of the homes in those cities and narrow your search down to particular cities.

Thank you for your response. Thanks for understanding me. At least there's one out there!!

I feel upset and sooo sad too, i was talking to my husband about all these responses i received...i don't want to talk of this when i go to bed..let's say i want to talk about something more interested..but, i couldn't stop thinking about people being so rude and so inpolite.

My husband told me that Minneapolis is the city with more PHD's in all US, and that everyone is well educated and polite, and soo nice!! even when you arrive there, in the airport, you can tell the difference.

And then i think about these responses, and i am like in shock...but you guys (the ones that are so mean and rude) are just a few and i will make lots and lots of friends there, and i just think that you people are so jealous...so, the best advice i can give you, is to go, relax and LIVE AND LET LIVE!


Pia

[Haver]

Its more of a perceived "something is wrong" than an actual "something is wrong" from what I've been reading. A corner of it has rentals and section 8 housing, and its close to North Minneapolis so there's a perceptual bias based on race. North of Downtown Minneapolis has also been seen as more blue collar and working class. The northern bias doesn't carry through to St. Paul's northern areas, its more of a Minneapolis thing.

There's a cultural divide in the twin cities, north/west/south on the Minneapolis side, and east/west between Minneapolis & St. Paul. In very broad and patently unfair generalizations, north is working class, west is money, and south is professional classes. The Minneapolis side is seen as dynamic and urban, while the St Paul side is viewed as sleepy residential. Anyways, that's the mental map a lot of people carry in their heads, even if it is overbroad and unfair.

Renting for a few months is a good call. In the city-data real-estate discussion forum that is always coming up as a topic of discussion, people wishing they'd rented first because they bought too soon and made a mistake.

$2000/month covers a lot of ground, so it really depends on what you want, beyond the basics of "quiet neighborhood with excellent schools". There's a lot of those, fortunately :-) You'd mentioned before you wanted to live within an expat community. We don't really have a place like that, but some creative google mapping could come up with neighborhoods where you'd have a higher chance of finding it. For example, google mapping for "minneapolis" and then backing the zoom out to cover the entire twin cities metro area, and then searching for "Indian grocery" (no quotes) shows a clustering along Hwy's 494 & 394. These are also our major corridors for information technology jobs, so its likely you'll find sub-continental Indians living in the area.

Likewise, google mapping for synagogue shows clustering in St Louis Park & the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul, and that maps with our Jewish population. Typing in mosque shows a clustering along hwy 94 north from Minneapolis, so I guess that's where a lot of Islamic immigrants live.

[nick is rulz]

Brooklyn Park isnt bad. Its kind of the typical boring suburban fare but its reasonably safe with the exception of a few patches here and there. I know a lot of people who reside there who have had no problems to speak of and like it.

[Pia]

Originally Posted by nick is rulz

Brooklyn Park isnt bad. Its kind of the typical boring suburban fare but its reasonably safe with the exception of a few patches here and there. I know a lot of people who reside there who have had no problems to speak of and like it.

Where are those patches?

Here are the addresses of the houses I saw, are these on those patches?

* 5644 102nd Court North, Brooklin Park, MN, 55443
* off of Hwy. 610 and Noble Parkway, Brooklin Park
* 9161 Louisiana Ave N, Brooklyn Park, MN 55445
* 9908 Honeysuckle Ave N, Brooklyn Park, MN 55443

Thanks again,
xoxo

[Pia]

Originally Posted by Haver

Its more of a perceived "something is wrong" than an actual "something is wrong" from what I've been reading. A corner of it has rentals and section 8 housing, and its close to North Minneapolis so there's a perceptual bias based on race. North of Downtown Minneapolis has also been seen as more blue collar and working class. The northern bias doesn't carry through to St. Paul's northern areas, its more of a Minneapolis thing.

There's a cultural divide in the twin cities, north/west/south on the Minneapolis side, and east/west between Minneapolis & St. Paul. In very broad and patently unfair generalizations, north is working class, west is money, and south is professional classes. The Minneapolis side is seen as dynamic and urban, while the St Paul side is viewed as sleepy residential. Anyways, that's the mental map a lot of people carry in their heads, even if it is overbroad and unfair.

Renting for a few months is a good call. In the city-data real-estate discussion forum that is always coming up as a topic of discussion, people wishing they'd rented first because they bought too soon and made a mistake.

$2000/month covers a lot of ground, so it really depends on what you want, beyond the basics of "quiet neighborhood with excellent schools". There's a lot of those, fortunately :-) You'd mentioned before you wanted to live within an expat community. We don't really have a place like that, but some creative google mapping could come up with neighborhoods where you'd have a higher chance of finding it. For example, google mapping for "minneapolis" and then backing the zoom out to cover the entire twin cities metro area, and then searching for "Indian grocery" (no quotes) shows a clustering along Hwy's 494 & 394. These are also our major corridors for information technology jobs, so its likely you'll find sub-continental Indians living in the area.

Likewise, google mapping for synagogue shows clustering in St Louis Park & the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul, and that maps with our Jewish population. Typing in mosque shows a clustering along hwy 94 north from Minneapolis, so I guess that's where a lot of Islamic immigrants live.

What it means 'blue collar'?