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andrea922
member
Possibly moving to Mpls, help please?
andrea922
member
My dh is interviewing for a position in Mpls (downtown) and is flying up next week for the next step. We live in Atlanta now, and know nothing about the city! We have an almost 3 year old son and I am 32 weeks pregnant. I guess my question is what areas should we be looking at if we are to move there? Now we live inside the city, in a house. I just don't know if we can do suburbs, but if there are no areas that are more urban (and safe and family friendly) then we will do the suburbs. We lived in London before here so we need to be able to be close to stuff!
Anyway, while this is all up in the air I figured I would start looking at areas so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
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Re: Possibly moving to Mpls, help please?
It really depends what vibe you're looking for. There are some very nice nieghborhoods in Minneapolis proper that are closer to "stuff" but you also can find some really nice spots in surrounding cities. Also, it's much easier getting into Minneapolis from the 'burbs as compared to Atlanta.
I have to say that it's really a great area to live, as long as you don't mind winter. DH and I moved from San Francisco and love it back here. There's so much to do all year round.
What is the price range you are looking at?
There are many things to do around the Twin Cities. You can live in the "burbs" & be close to EVERYTHING. Plus getting downtown is not that bad
We just moved from Atlanta to Minneapolis---like two weeks ago. I think I recognize your screenname from the Atlanta board. We moved into a rental in the Loring Park (downtown) area and so far, we love love love our location. There is a great city corner store up the block, not too far from the Nicolett lightrail station, close to Target, literally walking distance to Loring Park. I feel like it is pretty safe, I'm comfortable walking up the street at night but, you always have to be careful where ever you go. But, I will say parking is ridiculous though, but parking is crazy in any downtown city in my opinion. We also really liked the Uptown area (I would relate the Uptown area to Little 5 Points with all of the vintage/hipster shops and restaurants but definitely safer and nicer). We lived in the Dunwoody area, right by Perimeter Mall, so we consider ourselves city people. We're stuck trying to decide if we want to move out into the Minneapolis suburbs or stay inside the city in a condo or loft. There are really great grocery stores that are no more than 10 minutes from our apartment (The Wedge Co-op is our favorite so far). I feel close to everything that I need on a day to day basis but we have had to drive out of the downtown area to go to places such as Babies R Us, Walmart, D**k's sporting goods, REI, and Ikea--so thats something to consider about living downtown if you go to these types of big box stores on a regular basis.
I hope all of this helps a little bit. Like I said, we've been here for about two weeks so we still have a lot to learn about the city but, so far so good! Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you and good luck
Thanks all! The office is near the Nicollet light rail station. His interview is next week (he is preparing to be freezing up there!) so if it goes well I will be back
Truhle, you have pm!
One thin you have to consider is that snow emergency parking goes into effect during the winter. In some spots, you can only park on one side of the street... and the city has no problem towing your car. This too, will change when the snow melts and the streets are clear!
Minneapolis is a great city because you can have a single family home with a yard and garage while still being in the city and accessible to public transit, lakes, and walking distance to shops/grocery/coffee.
Depending on your price range, there are a lot of great areas to live. Downtown is mostly condo/apartment living (some high rises, some multi family homes, etc.). What you'll be worried about there is (like a PP mentioned) parking when it snows.
I live in standish erricsson which is a "starter home" neighborhood. Most people know someone who has at some point lived in our neighborhood when they were starting out. Smaller homes, but less expensive. Close to light rail, lakes, trails, parks and buses. It's close to downtown, but also convenient to get to the amenities of the suburbs (malls, zoo, big box stores, etc.)
If you have more money to spend, Linden Hills is a great family neighborhood. Much larger homes, close to lakes, lots of shops, very cute area.
When DH and I moved here from Boston, we used this website to help us figure out where in the city we wanted to live.
https://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/neighborhoods/
As a general rule, I'd avoid most neighborhoods in North Minneapolis. Even though parts are improving, the stigma of the area is keeping property values low and resale is difficult.
But don't lump NE minneapolis into North - houses east of central ave is good, and closer to stinson blvd is great!
Sorry for the late reply, but I just read this. South Mpls is a great area to live. That's where we are. Depending on your price range, there's different neighborhoods, but places like Longfellow, Kingfield, Standish are great neighborhoods. If you can spend a little more look at areas over by Lake Harriet and Southwest Mpls. But all of South Mpls has great little neighborhood restaurants, shops, and it's easy location to downtown. We love it!