If you’re thinking of moving to Minneapolis or the Twin Cities area, you may also be wondering what kind of employment opportunities are here for either yourself or someone in your household.
If you’re thinking about moving here, check out my FREE relocation guide, you can download it here: 🚗🏡🌼 http://bit.ly/MPLSReloGuide 🌺🌻🚕
Today I’m going to give you a run down of some of the top employer in the Twin Cities metro area.
The Minneapolis area is a “hub for headquarters”! We are home to MANY fortune 500 companies including (but not limited to) giants like
United Health Group – healthcare & insurance
Target – Retail
Best Buy – Retail
US Bank – Banking & Finance
3M – industry, worker safety, US health care, and consumer goods
CHS – Agriculture cooperative & farm lobby
US Bancorp- Banking & Finance
General Mills – Food processing & maker of many major food brands
Ecolab – Hygiene & infection control
Large PRIVATE companies include names like:
Cargill – Agriculture
Mortensen Construction
Anderson Construction
80 of INC’s 5000 fastest growing companies in the US are located here in the Twin Cities.
Other industries that are very well represented here are education & healthcare. The Minneapolis- St. Paul area is home to 25 colleges and universities, from the main campus of the University of MN to smaller private colleges like Gustavus and Augsburg, to community & technical college and even smaller schools that specialize in particular trades. If you are a teacher in k-12, the Minneapolis – St. Paul schools and thee districts surrounding them employ many thousands of teachers and support staff.
Healthcare systems in the Twin Cities area include HealthPartners, Fairview Hospital, Allina Health, Hennepin County Health, and the Minneapolis VA among others.
The twin cities has a very diverse economy & that is one of it’s strengths! Because of this diversity the economy in this area is generally stable and growing – the unemployment rate in MN is consistently lower than the US unemployment rate.
If you are thinking of moving here, chances are that there will be a good fit for you work-wise. If you have questions I’d love to hear from you – please leave a comment or contact me via my contact info.
Are you a new home owner? Is this your first winter in the northern part of the country? Your house takes on a whole new meaning when it’s what is standing between you and below zero temps, howling winds and piles of snow.
In this post, I want to give you some tips for winterizing your home and heading off potential trouble right when you want it least. These aren’t in any particular order, and almost all of them are easy to accomplish, but NOT doing them can lead to a world of hurt.
Tune up your furnace. Have someone come out and service it and make sure that it’s functioning well. One thing you’ll notice is that furnaces malfunction at the very worst of times – probably because a lot more is being asked of them when it’s very cold and you want this to be the time when your furnace rises to the challenge.
If you have a high efficiency gas furnace, you will have 2 PVC pipes that exhaust out the side of your home. It is really important that these two pipes are free of any obstructions. And if snow gets high enough, you’ll want to make sure that the snow isn’t blocking them either.
they will look like this!
Make sure you change the filter, and change it monthly when the weather gets cold and it’s running. Contrary to common belief – you want a thinner filter!We had been spending all kinds of money on “good filters” only to be told by our furnace tech that it actually inhibits airflow and that is BAD for the furnace – you want dirt filtered out but AIR going in for best results.
Boilers that service radiators need attention too! Once a year before it gets cold have someone take a look.
Clean and inspect your chimney. If you have a wood burning stove or fireplace, before you light a fire make sure that the chimney is CLEANED. Soot builds up in the chimney and it is flammable – everyone wants to be able to put their feet up in front of the fire, but no one wants a chimney fire.
Check the batteries and AGE of your CO/smoke detectors. Winter is when carbon monoxide poisonings are most likely to happen. Make sure your batteries are functioning – we like to change them at the fall time change.
Your detectors should have a date on them, but if not know that they should be replaced every 10 years just due to the fact that dust builds up and makes them less dependable. And if it’s time to replace them – think about going with the photoelectric instead of ionization type of detector. I’ve seen demos of the difference and it can be 15 minutes more escape time gained with a photoelectric alarm.
Turn off exterior water. Before it gets truly cold, shut off water to hoses. And if you have pipes that run along exterior walls INSIDE the house – think about putting some insulation around them. Pipes can & do freeze in winter, and when this happens the water doesn’t stay inside the pipe, it flows freely throughout your walls and causes a LOT of damage. This 10 minute task will bring you a lot of peace of mind.
Clean your gutters. When all of that snow and ice melts – it needs a place to go. You want your gutters to be able to guide it AWAY from your house. Having them clean is the way to go.
Cover the TOP of your AC unit. if you have central air, don’t put a full cover over the compressor (it will attract animals looking for shelter and hold moisture in), but if you set a piece of plywood on top and put a couple of bricks on it, it keeps things from getting into the unit.
Change the rotation of your ceiling fans. Fans can switch direction, heat rises and you stay down by the floor, so if you have tall ceilings, change the setting so that the fan rotates CLOCKWISE and the warm air will be pushed downward toward where people are.
Stock up on GRIT. In MN, that’s what they call it. It’s a mix of sand that you can scatter on your sidewalks and driveway to keep yourself from wiping out. I have a friend who broke her ribs trying to walk to her car because of ice. I highly recommend trying to AVOID this with liberal use of GRIT.
Air Seal. This one… is not really DIY, but I dream of doing it to my house because I fear ice dams which are caused when heat gets into attics and melts snow which then freezes on the edge of the roof. This can cause a lot of problems that I don’t want to have. And it takes a suprisingly small amount of heated air to create this issue, so if you can have someone crawl around up in your attic and seal up any hole from wiring, pipes or chimneys that allows warm air up there, you can potentially save yourself a roof and ceiling if winter conditions cause ice dams.
Put on your buffalo plaid flannel shirt, grab your ax, and head to the cabin!
Or something like that.
If you’re thinking about moving to Minnesota you may be wondering if the stereotypes are real – is everyone nice?!? ARE there 10,000 lakes? Does everyone say “you betcha!”? (kinda, more than that & no.)
Why do people like it here?
By “here”, I’m going to say the Twin Cities Metro area + the hinterlands.
PROS:
Minnesota Nice. It’s a midwestern thing, I think. For the most part people look out for their neighbors and are willing to pitch in and help when you need it. They will definitely give you some friendly conversation in the grocery store check out line. I often also read that while Minnesotans are nice, they won’t allow you into their inner circle easily. I honestly don’t think it’s any different here than anywhere else I’ve lived. The way to get close to people in the community is to make the effort yourself – get involved in things you enjoy and you’ll find your group.
Cultural diversity. Yes, nearly 84% of the population of the STATE is white. Look, it was settled by Scandinavians – they are a pale people. However! Minneapolis has a more diverse population – and with that comes the art, culture & food that makes a city vibrant. If you didn’t know better you might believe that the food would be bland here, and while it’s not like Chicago or New York, you will not be stuck eating tater tot hotdish every day (unless you want to- then have at it!). There is a Vietnamese population that keeps everyone happily eating Pho, and one of my favorite restaurants is Ethiopian, among many others.
Autumn. People talk about going to New England to see the leaves… well, I am 100% sure that New England doesn’t have anything on Minnesota! Autumn here is something to behold. In addition to the leaves, crisp temperatures and apple orchards, if you like birds MN is a hot spot for bird migration in the fall and you can see some very unusual ones. One of my favorite things to do in September is bike over to Longfellow Gardens in the city – it’s a work of art with annuals and perennials and apparently the hummingbirds think so too – they stop on their migration south and there are days when you can see about 100 of them getting rest and fuel for their journey. It gives me awe to see them like that.
Lake Culture. I’m calling it a culture because it really is a way of life here. Even when you live in the city, summers are spent at the MANY lakes in and around the metro area. Swimming at the beaches, eating at the beachside cafes, paddleboarding, kayaking or sailing on the water. Many people have lake cabins here, and spend weekends and holidays there. And winter is no exception, either! If you like cross country skiing on flat surfaces, lakes freeze to depths of many feet and are safe to ski on, many people enjoy ice fishing and park their ice houses out on the lake and while away the day there, and we even have a lot of festivals held on lakes in winter – the Eelpout Festival is HUGE in northern MN, but down in the cities we have things like the Kite Festival and the Art Shanties on Lake Harriet.
CONS! What? yes, there are negatives… according to some people…
Winter… I am wincing as I write this because I like winter, but there are some days in winter here where you kind of question your sanity. Average winter temps are about 10 degrees F. Wind chill adds another dimension. It is cold, but not awful (dress properly! See my video about surviving winter in MN!). We do have cold snaps that are significantly below zero for a few days every winter. In northern MN, a friend of mine posted a photo of her car thermostat showing an external temp of -41. School still happens. Life goes on, you won’t hear a lot of moaning and groaning because it is what it is. Anyone can make it through a couple of nasty cold snaps, but what tends to weigh on people are the short days (the sun sets around 4:30pm and rises at around 8am), and while it’s often quite sunny here, that can feel like not quite enough. Winter also feels like it stretches on a ways. We usually have a frost in the beginning of October and first snowfall (that doesn’t stick) by Halloween.
Slower pace. Once again – this is how you look at it. Personally, I don’t mind. I’ve lived fast paced in Chicago for a long while – LOVED it, but it can also be a big relief to not. The outdoor lifestyle here is naturally kind of a quieter way to be, people hunker down at bars for a drink and a good time with friends in winter, but it’s definitely got a slower pace. If you have kids, one thing that struck me here that I didn’t have in Chicago is that my daughter could play outside without intense scrutiny and people wanting to call DCFS. Kids still play in the park without parents helicoptering around them. It feels nice.
Bland food. Yes – this is the exact opposite of what I said before. But we are talking about MN as a whole here, and while you can find some great options in the cities, you are very likely to encounter a lot of “meat and potatoes” food as a whole. Nothing wrong with meat and potatoes, but sometimes you want something else. Also, the Minnesotan version of “spicey” is comical.
OK – that is IT for me today! Let me know if you think this sounds like something you can handle. 😉
I’m covering the big ones today, but this is NOT comprehensive! There are so many little markets where you can find great foods that are culture specific – one of my favorites that fits this description is United Noodles but I could do an entire video and post on that place alone.
Today is more about soothing the furrowed brows of worried transplants. There are definitely your hometown local things that you may miss, but I can assure you that you’ll find other items that make your mouth happy here. Minnesota has been the beneficiary of several groups of refugees and with these people come their foods, so we now have more diverse options even at big box grocery stores.
I’m going to start out with my main squeeze – Costco. I love this store and even though there are only 3 people in my family, and no matter what you buy you get a LOT of it at Costco, I still shop there. They carry a little bit of everything – including the kitchen sink! You can get kitchen appliances, large and small, TV’s, books, and clothes, but I go there for their produce – we eat a lot of fresh fruit and the quality is amazing. I also love their meat and seafood selection, well priced and high quality, they are famous for their $5 rotisserie chickens… Other things that are a regular purchase for price and quality – milk, eggs, butter, cheese, anything for laundry and cleaning, TP, paper towels, coffee! There is a membership fee, but you get cash back on every purchase – up to 4% on another favorite feature- gasoline, which is priced lower as well.
My husband & I have bought insurance through Costco, we bought a car through their auto program, it’s just a great place to shop. If you care about company ethics – they pay a living wage to all their workers and if you love great customer service, they take ANYTHING back no questions asked no matter how far past the purchase date. That sense of security make me spend way more money in the store and on their web site too.
We also have national grocery store options that you’re probably very familiar with – Target is headquartered here in Minneapolis and I bet we have more Targets per capita than any other state, Walmart is here, and HyVee is starting to pop up in the suburbs. I am not as familiar with HyVee, but have been in one and it had a full “food-court” area of prepared foods, along with an enormous store that reminds me a bit of Cub Foods, which is a local option…
Cub Foods is a midwestern chain with stores in MN and IL, the store is enormous and the selections are great. They have everything you would expect in a large grocery store, but I do think of Cub as more of a budget store. You will bag your own groceries, there is no carry out service, I think it’s profit model is based on volume.
Another budget friendly option that is springing up all over is Aldi. Aldi has a decent selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, but the store is mainly focused on package goods. The packages will look familiar, but not exactly the same – Aldi has a LOT of store brand packaged items that are reminiscent of bigger brands. If you aren’t super stuck on an actual brand name, I’ve heard great things from people that love to shop at Aldi. One quirk that you should be ready for is having your quarter ready to release the cart – you get it back when you put the cart back. Oddly this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this.
The Twin Cities is also home to a couple of very local chains – Lund’s and Byerly’s and Kowalski’s. These are the two I shop at most for my everyday needs mainly because I’m under a mile from either one.
Kowalski’s market is cozy and they have higher end brands of food – free range chicken, lots of organic veg and boxed items, they have an extensive hot food area, you can order to go specifically to what you want to have or you can pick up salads, sandwiches or heat and eat food. One of my favorite things is the soup bar – it’s delicious and perfect when you’re out running around but don’t want to eat fast food. This is the store I would come to for my cheese fix. They focus a lot on local suppliers and you can find some really wonderful choices here from MN and WI.
Kowalski’s bakes all of their pastries and bread on site. They have a small gift area in every store that has some charming items that you would not suspect of being from a grocery if you need to grab a quick gift for someone. Kowalski’s does carry out to your car, and they deliver as well.
Lunds… Lund’s is what I think of as a middle ground – not huge like Cub or Costco. It feels friendly and the right size for everyday shopping. Lunds is a full service grocery – they bag and carry out for you. They have increased their focus on including organics, if that is a concern you will be OK shopping there. They also sell things like dog food, cleaning supplies etc, but in my opinion you can do far better for that type of thing elsewhere. I stick to food here. Withe the exception of a few locations, this is not really a place to go grab a sandwich or soup, this grocery sticks pretty closely to its original mission.
If you ARE committed to organics or sustainably sourced foods – the Twin Cities has a large number of food Co-Ops that you can shop at – you can buy a membership and pay slightly lower prices, or not. Anyone can shop there.
In addition to co-ops, we of course have Whole Foods Market – or “whole paycheck” as it’s known. It’s not inexpensive to shop there, but they have things you won’t find elsewhere and generally their produce section looks like a work of art, so if you need a pleasant shopping experience or are just used to the brands that Whole Foods has you can continue to enjoy that here. A couple of my favorite things are the really amazing hot food selection at lunch and I believe dinner hours too, as well as their bakery, where you can find really beautiful pastries that might be too pretty to eat.
Any other lifestyle questions? I’m always looking for content ideas that people want to dig into! Let me know.
When we were moving to MN and searching for a home we had a bizarre desire to live in Minnetonka just so we could tell people we lived there and make them say MINNETONKA, too. Side note, our GPS had fun pronouncing it and made us laugh every time. Do GPS’ learn regional pronunciation at some point? I haven’t noticed the weirdness since I moved here, but then again I’ve started saying things like “OPE!” and “UFFDA!” and the most common of them all “Oh, sure!” (it’s not “You betcha” – I think that must be more North Dakota, or “NoDak” if you’re cool)
I also had a strong association with Minnetonka slippers. Warm feet. Cold winters. Fun words.
What is the reality of Minnetonka? Here are 5 things to know if you’re thinking about moving there.
It’s a second ring western suburb of Minneapolis. Commute to downtown is about 20 minutes (14 miles to the heart of downtown). Maybe about 5 minutes further to the airport.
2. Minnetonka is not the most affordable place to live in the Twin Cities metro area. The median home price in Minnetonka is $436K for a single family home, $282K for a townhome. The median income in Minnetonka is $91,374 (national median is closer to $55K).
The population is educated – about 60% of adult residents have some college education. And speaking of education – the schools in Minnetonka are consistently rated A or A+ on Niche and other school rating web sites.
3. Other than nice homes and great schools with an easy commute – what do you get for your money in Minnetonka? Well, how about easy access to a lot of really nice parks like including the Bryant Lake Regional Park (technically in Eden Prairie but close!) which has a beach, trails, disc golf, and a dog park and as well as the Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail and easy access to the Dakota Regional Trail which begins in Wayzata.
Per the Three Rivers Park District: “The Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail stretches over 15 miles between Hopkins and Carver Park Reserve, offering scenic views of Lake Minnetonka along the way. This aggregate trail passes through the communities of Minnetonka, Deephaven, Greenwood, Excelsior, Shorewood, and Victoria. For more ambitious trail users, pack a tent and enjoy an evening under the stars while camping at Carver Park Reserve. No car required!” If you really like biking, this trail also connects to the Cedar Lake Trail heading into Minneapolis and the Midtown Greenway which heads east and west across Minneapolis and into St. Paul.
Dakota Rail Regional Trail
“The Dakota Rail Regional Trail is a popular attraction for bikers, in-line skaters and hikers. The 13 mile paved trail offers spectacular views of the lake and passes through a variety of scenic areas, including wetlands, wooded areas and agricultural land. In Carver County, an additional 12.5 miles of paved trail extends west of St. Bonifacius to Mayer.”
4. Minnetonka is close to shopping – my fave, Costco, is just south of Minnetonka in Eden Prairie. There are a lot of smaller shops and restaurants within Minnetonka as well Ridgedale Mall and shopping center up on the northern side of the city.
5. What do you get from the city?
Things I like to see are places for the community to enjoy outside of their homes. Minnetonka offers the Williston Fitness Center – aquatics, batting cages, indoor pickleball & tennis, fitness center and gym.
They also have the Minnetonka Ice Arena, Lindbergh Center (basketball courts, weight room), Grays’s Bay Marina where you can rent a boat slip or have public boat access to Lake Minnetonka and two public beaches.
I don’t know why I’m consistently surprised every time I profile a community, but I seriously underestimated Waconia. I think in this case I may have had a bit of urban arrogance… 😉
Waconia is a small community – only about 11,000 people – and it is 30 minutes directly west of Minneapolis. It’s kind of on the edge of Twin Cities development and there are still farms and fields on the way there and more so as you head west. I did not expect it to be able to offer all that it does!
Waconia has a charming downtown area that is still alive and kicking – businesses were busy when I drove through there on a Wednesday morning. I didn’t notice any vacant store fronts- something that breaks my heart when I drive through small towns. The downtown sits just off Lake Waconia and has the classic central square with the gazebo and a playground.
I’m always interested in parks, schools, libraries, and what things the city offers it’s residents – Waconia scores well on all of these things, plus a lot more.
The location on the lake is a huge plus – Lake Waconia Regional Park has a beach, geocacheing, sled hills, cross country ski and snow shoe rentals for winter fun on the trails. Waconia is a small community but it has has 3 community parks and 18 smaller neighborhood parks.
For such a small town, I was surprised at the amenities offered by the city – Safari Island (the name confuses me a bit, why SAFARI in Minnesota?), has an indoor aquatic center, fitness center, running track, basketball courts, and a kids play area. Hockey & ice arenas are a big deal here, and Waconia is keeping up with the Jones’. You won’t be deprived of your ice time here – and if the prices listed on their site are accurate, it’s super affordable.
Waconia has 3 wineries, a distillery, and a brewery that hosts food trucks or allows you to order or bring in your own food. If alcohol isn’t entertaining enough for you check out Carlson’s Lovable Llamas. Don’t say that there isn’t variety!
There is a wide variety of housing in Waconia – townhomes, and twinhomes, older single family homes near the center of town – either historic, character type homes or more mid century as you move outward a bit. On the outer edges of town are newer subdivisions with large modern homes on smaller lots. The least expensive home for sale in Waconia today was a 3 bed, 2 bath 2015 townhouse listed at $280K, and the most expensive single family home is a brand new lake adjacent build listed at $1.345M, but the median SF home price in Waconia is $340K, so higher than the twin cities median of $290K, but I would say lower than other western suburbs.
Niche.com gives Waconia schools an A rating, so if you have kids, there is lots to do between the parks, lakes and llamas, and they will likely make it out of school with some knowledge stowed between their ears.
A lot of these blog posts are actually motivated by me trying to answer the question “why?” about a particular suburb or area of town. I live in Minneapolis and while I spend time in the suburbs looking at homes for clients or visiting a venue or store, I try to take a bit of a closer look when I do these so I can really understand the character of the different communities around the metro areas.
It’s a Bedroom community – Apple Valley is residential with the exception of the shopping centers serving it along 150th & Cedar & parts of Galaxie. If you want to live near your company’s HQ, this is probably not the place. There isn’t really any nightlife or a a wide selection of non-family style entertainment options. But that’s great if what you are looking for is a quiet community that serves your everyday needs and you don’t mind taking a short drive when the urge strikes to do something else.
It’s only about 25 minutes into Minneapolis and less than 20 to the airport.
How do residents keep themselves occupied?
The Minnesota Zoo is located in Apple Valley. The zoo is great because they actually do more than educate & entertain children, the zoo holds a concert series that has some pretty big headliners and attracts people out of the city down to Apple Valley for some fun as well.
Apple Valley has easy access to Lebanon Hills Regional Park which is the largest park in the Dakota County system. They have really well marked trails that are various distances to get out and get a hike. We’ve been there and had a great time spotting different animals and types of caterpillars. If you’re an equestrian and want a place to ride – there are a lot of trails for you here as well!
The park also has a campground if you want to get a taste of roughing it without driving very far and a beach at Schulze lake.
Galaxie Library is really a gem – big and beautiful and looks to have been newly renovated.
Apple Valley goes for that small time community vibe by having celebrations a couple of times a year to bring everyone together – Freedom Days in summer with the pre-requisite parade and fireworks, but the one that sounds more interesting (and needed) happens in February when everyone in Minnesota has about had it with being cold or in the house – they have what they call “Midwinter Fest”. It’s sad that February is MID-Winter, but who am I to argue? Midwinter Fest has horse drawn wagons, ice skating and ice hockey, bonfires and smores, and indoor activities like pickleball and volleyball tournaments.
About 52,000 people call Apple Valley “home”, and 79% of them are home owners. The median income in Apple Valley is $87,164, and the median single family home price is above the twin cities median at $331,000. However, I thought it was really noteworthy how many townhouses, twinhouses, and condos were in Apple Valley – really great housing diversity. Condos have a median price of $122,000 and Townhomes are at $218,500. Another thing that struck me was that there were a lot of homes that looked to be single-level living and that isn’t the easiest thing to find in the Twin Cities area, so if that is a requirement for a comfortable lifestyle for you, you may want to consider Apple Valley.
And last, but not least, if you have kids and you’re evaluating schools, Apple Valley is ranked an A+ on niche.com. The high schools are really large, but there is a lot of diversity in educational choices for elementary – they have 4 schools that really stood out for specialized programs. They have a School of Environmental Studies, Cedar Park Elementary STEM School, Diamond Path Elementary School of International Studies and Echo Park School of Leadership, Engineering and Technology.
This week I spent some time in Apple Valley and found a couple of neighborhoods that need to be highlighted! Stay tuned for those.
I live on the SW side of the city but have been working on the north side a LOT the past couple of months, and one of my clients just bought a home in Mounds View. Good choice! I just had to share the top 5 reasons to consider Mounds View if you are looking for a northern suburb to call home.
The homes and lots! Um, if you want a LARGE, flat lot – this is the place. Every home I looked at in Mounds View had an incredible yard. For an area that is technically a city, and close to Minneapolis itself, the SPACE here was amazing to me! Not to mention that a lot of the city streets benefit from the shade and beauty of old growth trees, particularly huge red oaks. It really adds a gracious feel to the streets.
The homes were primarily built in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and they are built to last! Lots of brick homes and not a lot of cookie cutter architecture. Every home has it’s own individual flavor, you won’t be searching for a way to distinguish yours from your neighbor’s when telling guests how to get there. Despite the age of the homes, they are well cared for and many had updated kitchens and baths. People that live there see the value in their neighborhoods and making sure that their home appreciates along with it.
Schools Mounds View schools are well known for quality education and are a big draw to new families with kids. Check out their ratings on Niche.com. Schools really are the backbone of a community because good ones draw and retain people to the area and also help keep property values high. The student teacher ratio is 17 / 1. The schools rank #9/352 for best school districts in Minnesota. And Mounds View ranks high in diversity of students as well.
Parks! the neighborhoods themselves have little community parks with play lots, tennis courts, ball fields and basketball courts.
The park that really stood out to me as a gem is Mounds View adjacent – Long Lake Park. Long Lake is a BIG lake, which means that you can have motorized boats and jet skis on it. Many of the local lakes limit boat traffic to sails, canoes, kayaks and similar. So if you like to hot dog around on a jet ski – this would be a convenient place to play with your toys. The park is enormous, and has all of the things you’d be looking for in a park, including a beach with a lifeguard and a little cafe. Parking is free.
I can see this being a huge draw for anyone living in the area – whether you want to use the bike paths, playgrounds, walking trails or get in the water.
Drive Time Mounds View has easy access to freeways and is an 18 minute drive from downtown Minneapolis and only about 26 minutes to the airport! Not a bad commute!
Affordable! The median price for a home in Mounds View is only $250,000! The median for the twin cities metro area is about $287K, so Mounds View is a STEAL. However, it’s not a secret and I have been in multiple offer situations twice in the past few weeks there, people know this a great place to live at a decent price.
In the past couple of months I’ve had multiple people contact me as they explore housing options for their kids as they head off to college – either as an undergraduate coming from overseas to attend college in the US, or somewhat more locally, students from other parts of the US to pursue a graduate degree here in MN.
One parent in particular said that he had focused on tuition costs while saving for college and didn’t really give much thought to the fact that housing alone would be another $1000-$2000 / mo. Ouch. And that is to share a dorm room with between one and 3 other people.
So, maybe you start to think about renting an apartment instead? Well, rents here are not any better even if your space may be larger. Is renting a space the best way to spend your housing dollar? Possibly! But another thing to think about is buying a place and reaping the rental rewards for yourself, while enjoying possible tax benefits and putting your dollars toward an asset that you can eventually sell.
I used nerdwallet to see if this would be a “smart” move and made some assumptions – one that you’re buying a condo or a home with a purchase price of $300K and that because your family member is living there that you can put 20% down (not 25% as in an investment property). I also assumed that the interest rate would be around 3.5% which is actually HIGH for loans these days if you have decent credit. Why the BIG arrow and the underline and the exclamation point? Well, look at that payment!
This week I viewed condos that could have 3-4 students in them and were NICE listed at around $300K, walking distance or easy public transit to the U and they were getting $3000/mo in rent.
I’m quite literally sitting here wishing that I had $60K to put down RIGHT NOW so I could buy that condo and start bringing in an additional $1500/mo in rental income. (ok – this is a goal of mine for my own kid and yes, she’s only 12, and, ok, she may not attend the UMN, BUT!!!, I still have deep desires for income properties near the U.)
Median sales price in Marcy Holmes by the U over the past 3 years compared to the Twin Cities as a whole.
MLS / Infosparks 6/26/2020
I even like this graph that shows that days on market are longer there – more of a buyers market! 🙂
MLS / Infosparks 6/26/20
OK – today’s video is a little tour of the area. I hope you like it. Let me know if you have questions!
I’m staying closer to home this week and highlighting another great neighborhood in south Minneapolis. I like to drive through here and let my jaw hang open looking at all of the beautiful homes.
#1 The homes…
This neighborhood is just chock full of very well cared for old homes. If you like the character and quality of homes built in the 1920’s, Tangletown is the place. Watch the video for a peek at the homes there, or just take a gander at the photo for this post which I took on a walk a few days ago.
Tangletown also has a row of Lustron homes along Nicollet Ave. One came up for sale last year and I was able to view it. It was like walking into a museum show piece – the owner had kept everything original and used period furnishings as well, but added a private outdoor patio / entertaining space that was ogle-worthy. If you’ve never seen a Lustron home read this article written about that particular home. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love that there is still room for different home styles and tastes.
Photo credit to Creator: Benjamin Clasen Copyright 2019
If you are looking for history and charm this neighborhood should be at the top of your list. And it’s positively bucolic – the winding streets, well landscaped yards, terraced gardens, and mature trees give you the very best of what a city neighborhood can offer.
#2 I love a walkable neighborhood!
This is definitely a residential area, but as is typical in Minneapolis you’ll see little corners within neighborhoods that have a coffee shop, cafe or little boutique of some sort. On the larger streets – Nicollet, Lyndale or 50th there are little shopping centers and more to offer.
Tangletown has within its borders: Kowalski’s grocery, Starbucks and Caribou coffee, one of the best stocked liquor stores in the city – South Lyndale Liquors. If you need some obscure liquor to make your special cocktail they likely have it, along with a large selection of local craft beers. The Washburn library is a friendly place with a wide selection of books and activities and they are happy to help you get a copy of whatever you’re looking for brought to this branch. On Nicollet you can get your bagels or other fresh breads and sandwiches at Sunstreet Bread or St. Louis Bagelry. I like to throw a little love toward the local Ace hardware stores here too – Tangletown has one, and I have found them to be the most helpful places to buy whatever you need for your home. If you want some farm to table food and an outdoor patio – head to Wise Acre Eatery. And one of the best garden shops in the city – Tangletown Gardens – is located right next door.
And schools are walkable too! Washburn High School and Justice Page Middle School are located within Tangletown.
#3 Bike paths!
Ok – this isn’t unique to Tangletown, but they are right on one of the BEST bike paths in the city. The one that follows along Minnehaha Creek and connects the chain of lakes to Minnehaha Falls.
I should probably change the heading to “Minnehaha Creek” because it’s not just the path, but the creek itself. We often walk along the path and my dog loves to jump in for a swim. People also kayak or float on inner tubes down the creek in the summer. Just make sure you get off the creek before you hit the falls!
Last year I saw some kids fishing there and they pulled out an ENORMOUS fish. And it wasn’t the largest caught in the creek – check out this story from MPR on a monster sturgeon caught in the creek last year:
Photo from Owen Sanderson
#4 Easy Access to Downtown
If you live in Tangletown you can be in the heart of Minneapolis in literally 10 minutes via the freeway (35W). Your commute can’t get much better than that.
So you get that neighborhood feel, walkable amenities, outdoor fun AND easy access to the more urban parts of Minneapolis.
Where it’s at!Median home prices for Tangletown over 3 years as compared to TC Metro
