my wife and i are toying with the idea of moving to minneapolis. i currently live in san mateo,ca with my wife and 3 kids(2yr, 10yr, 13yr) and am looking for an neighborhood with a lot of character, yet still affordable(>300k) and good public schools. i spent some time in uptown last summer with my wife and we really liked it but i’m not sure what the schools are like and whether you can attend a school outside your neighborhood school(e.g. can you live in uptown and attend st.louis park high assuming this isn’t the assigned school based on your address).
we also would like to have another child so we’d like a neighborhood that’s very kid friendly, yet active. we’re an extremely active family and the calhoun area is attractive as it appears that there’s plenty of life there but we did only spend a day there.
any recommendations/info would be great.
thanks,
b
Possible move to MN
Jul 5 2007 — 2:00am
4 Reader Comments
9:36 pm
Unless you work downtown or really like the character of uptown, Lake Calhoon area of Mpls. and since it sounds like you would be willing to spend up to $300,000 on a place to live I would investigate some of the second or third ring suburbs on the west side. You still can get to work if you live downtown via 394 or 55. Both can be a drag at rush hour though. You might be happy finding a house in the Wazata or Minnetonka or possibly Robbinsdale school districts. There are still some pretty decent homes available in both Minnetonka, Plymouth, Golden Valley in the 250,000 to 325,000 price range. It should be pretty easy to find one of these as slow as real estate as been moving in the twin cities the past year or so. It’s a buyers market right now. I would check out the school districts real well before you buy. Some are much better than others. There is no perfect school. I would avoid the Mpls. school district if I were you. They have closed a lot of schools lately and the students are bussed all over town for school. Your kids could all wind up in separate schools if you lived in Mpls. There are quite a few private schools both in Mpls. and the western suburbs if that’s an option.
9:56 pm
You can attend whatever school you like here. You have to provide transportation, but I believe enrollment is open. Good luck!
1:37 pm
Northeast Minneapolis is a great option. Housing is relatively inexpensive and you get a lot more for the money (larger home, larger lot). It’s still sort of an “up and coming” neighborhood, so values are still on the rise instead of stagnant. Most parts of the area are very safe and low-crime. There are also tons of great restaurants and shops in the area for everything from fine dining to dive bar, crafting supplies to the best wines and cheeses.
You’d want to investigate the many neighborhoods a bit. Some, like mine, have few children. A specific are you might want to investigate would be the space from Johnson St east to Silver Lake Road and between Lowry Ave and 37th Ave. You can go further west of Johnson and it’s still a nice area, but with a bit more petty crime. This is a gorgeous part of the city, quick to downtown, and close to bus lines and bike trails.
I don’t have kids, so I don’t know about schools in the area, but all of Minneapolis/St. Paul is open enrollment, so your kids could go anywhere.
3:48 pm
Move to the Linden Hills section of Minneapolis. Everything is there. It is very child friendly. Lake Harriet is right there and there are summer concerts weekly and its free. The Linden Hills Coop is there. Its all there. Look up Linden Hills on the web and see what you find! Welcome. Sue