Young Couple Moving from NY to Minneapolis...help! (Oak Grove, Isle: sales, apartment complexes) - Minneapolis - St. Paul - Minnesota (MN) -Twin Cities - City-Data Forum

KWoods522 · 08-02-2012, 06:18 PM

Long story short, my boyfriend and I will be moving from New York to Minneapolis in April and need some advice. We're both in our mid 20's and he will be attending St. Mary's University's Minneapolis campus (Nurse Anesthesia Program) in May. We're looking to be around the uptown area and are looking to rent a 1 bedroom, furnished (ideally) apartment but having a super tough time finding a furnished place for less than $1500/month. I keep stumbling on luxury apartments which would be fabulous without the price tag. Basically I'm looking for some advice and direction on apartment complexes that would suit us. Ideally we'd like to stay around $700-$1100/month but I'm not even sure if that is doable for a furnished place in that area? Also, what neighborhoods of uptown (or even downtown) are nice areas to live in? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

-Kate

rtloucks · 08-02-2012, 07:17 PM

You would be better off just renting an unfurnished one bedroom in a location that is ideal and tehn renting all of the main furniture(bed frame, dressers, couch loveseat, tables, etc) then Buy a matress since I would imagine it would be kind of gross to rent a matress, then just pick up little odds and ends at Ikea or your dept. store of choice.

You can find several places to rent furniture. It isnt super cheap, but it is probably just as cheap as finding a furnished apt. Plus the rental centers will deliver and pick up the furniture. Just an idea.... good luck in MN

KWoods522 · 08-02-2012, 08:17 PM

Never even considered that...we figured if we had to buy stuff we would just try to sell it afterwards (or just by really cheap ****) as we're only gonna be there for a little over 2 years. Thanks for your advice!

golfgal · 08-02-2012, 08:32 PM

Renting furniture is a big rip off. You can probably buy used furniture off Craigslist or Ikea stuff for a lot less and then sell it later. It will be a lot less expensive doing that then trying to find a furnished place.

uptown_urbanist · 08-02-2012, 08:42 PM

Skip the furnished place (you will pay a premium for it!) and buy some cheap stuff used and from IKEA. You can try selling it yourself before you move and recoup some of the costs. If you get yourself a $700 or $800 1-BR in Uptown you can put some extra money to furniture. And let's say you move in April 1; get yourself the bare basics then, and then in May garage sales will be out in full-force. The CARAG neighborhood sale (part of Uptown) is in mid-May; that's potentially dozens of sales in one small area where you could pick up whatever you're missing. The ECCO annual sale (TONS of sales) usually takes place in June, and there's always tons of affordable furniture and household items there. Or check out Craiglist; there's going to be lots of people moving in the spring, and a lot of them will be looking to unload couches, tables, etc. You'll save yourself a lot of money buying your own stuff versus renting furnished or renting furniture (which is expensive and is NOT cost-effective-- it's like throwing money away.) In Uptown (and other neighborhoods) at the beginning of the month you also see a lot of nice stuff sitting out by the dumpster or curb after people move out.

Uptown doesn't have a lot of "complexes" in the traditional sense. There are some management companies that have a bunch of properties in the area; Warner Properties is one, but there are others. There's a mix of building types: lots of duplexes and four-plexes, larger vintage buildings, mid-scale 1970s apartments, and some luxury new places. The '70s stuff seems to be the cheapest, but the big vintage buildings still have some great deals (and usually include heat). Depends on what you like. Most listings will be on Craigslist. I would start seriously looking about two months in advance; people in the Twin Cities often have to give two months vacancy notice.

KWoods522 · 08-02-2012, 08:50 PM

Thank you so much!! That was a huge help. We've begun to realize just that about furnished places. Awesome info about the neighborhood sales, we probably would have never found those on our own. ECCO annual sale is East Calhoun, correct? I know it's not in uptown but would you happen to know anything about Oak Grove Apartments?? Really liking what they have to offer but the reviews I've seen are either really good or really bad, no in between.

uptown_urbanist · 08-02-2012, 11:57 PM

Yes -- ECCO is East Calhoun. The major Uptown neighborhoods are ECCO (East Calhoun), Lowry Hill East (also known as the "wedge"), East Isles, and CARAG. All are nice areas; the Wedge has the reputation for being the loudest, but also has, I think, the most convenient location. ECCO is the quietest of the four. The Wedge and East Isles can have really tight parking, especially in the winter, so that's something to keep in mind if you will have a car with you. And on the sale topic, the Wedge has a sale, too -- usually later in June, and on every weekend in nice weather the area is filled with yard sales. (ha -- can you tell where I do my shopping? But seriously, Uptown is a great area for yard sales, and while April is usually a bit early for them to get fully started, by May you will have no problem finding them sprouting up everywhere.)

Not sure about Oak Grove -- never been inside or known anyone who lives there. Loring Park (both Loring Park the neighborhood and Loring Park the park) is very nice. It has in years past been surprisingly lacking in terms of basic amenities, but that's been changing. Street parking is a major issue, but I think most of those high-rises have parking available (although probably not included with rent). And if you don't have a car, it's a very convenient place for public transportation.

rtloucks · 08-03-2012, 05:54 AM

Agreed with the other posts, Renting is not a bad idea if you don't want the hassle of buying it all, moving it all then selling or moving it all later. Rentign isnt cheap though either. probably mor of a short term fix. I can't quote you dolalr amount but it may be worth looking into. As mentioned above though, buying used furniture is always the best way to go though longer term to be the most cost effective if you dont mind physically moving it all. I would still reccommend a NEW matress though to sleep on....

Just don't waste your time looking for a furnished APT. you will may a lot more and the locationswill be limited. Ususally they are furnished as a ploy to get you to consider a less desireable location. If you want to enjoy MSP then find yourself a fun, hip and trendy location while you are youger and can enjoy it. then worry about the furniture

pzrOrange · 08-03-2012, 07:24 AM

IKEA furniture is definitely the way to go. when I moved from apts to our first house, we were able to easily sell everything on craigslist to young students...

Slevin Kelevra · 08-03-2012, 08:55 AM

Uptown has some decent prices. It is much better prices than the higher end downtown apartment market in the city. If Uptown is too pricey, you can always start edging east down lake. It starts to get a bit less expensive, albeit for good reason.

Uptown is priced for a young demographic and it caters mostly to the young hipster crowd (20-25 yr olds), so I am sure if you look hard enough you can find some decently priced things. 1500 should be able to get you a decent one bedroom, if not a small two bedroom. Try using Trulia.