Tag: Minneapolis real estate agent

Minnetonka – more than a fun thing to say. :)
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Minnetonka – more than a fun thing to say. :)

MaryLeave a comment

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.

  1. 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

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.

PLUS – you get to say “MINNETONKA” all the time!

mschumann@kw.com
612-234-5703
Waconia
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Waconia

MaryLeave a comment

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.

Photo by Austin on Pexels.com

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.

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

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.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

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!

Photo by Magnus Martinsen on Pexels.com

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.

mschumann@kw.com
612-234-5703

Cobblestone Lake Apple Valley
Living in Minneapolis · Uncategorized

Cobblestone Lake Apple Valley

MaryLeave a comment

When you think of the suburbs what adjectives come to mind? Generic? Homogenous? Cookie cutter? Boring?!?! I admit that sometimes I think the same thing.

it’s NOT like this….

I like having access to parks, bike trails, restaurants etc either right outside my door or very close, I like sidewalks, and old trees, established neighborhoods and the character of older homes appeals to me. Those things don’t really make me think of suburbia. But in this case, maybe they should…. because Cobblestone Lake is something special.

Take a look around.

Unique

I’ve seen a lot of NICE neighborhoods in suburban Minneapolis, but this one really stood out! It’s a planned community and it has all types of housing. There are senior apartments, townhouses, small single level homes, and large custom homes. Most are very distinct from each other and that really appeals to me. Modern amenities on the inside with the attention to detail and character of old homes on the exterior.

Active

The lake has a charming gazebo and a fishing pier and there are canoe/kayak storage bays if you like to paddle often and don’t want to have to load up your boat every time you want to go. I can imagine some pretty idyllic paddles in the early morning or evening on the lake.

The neighborhood surrounds Cobblestone Lake and the lake is a major feature for the whole neighborhood. It has a bike path as well as a walking path around the lake. A resident I spoke with said that the path around the lake is about a mile and a half long. The bike trail also dips under busy 160th street and into the neighborhood across the way where you can continue riding / blading / walking around a pretty extensive trail system surrounding East Lake.

They also have a community pool! I don’t see a LOT of this here, and it would definitely be a selling point for me and anyone that likes to make the most our summers here.

Housing prices

Sale prices in the past year range from $247,000 for a 1664 sf townhouse with 2 beds and 2 baths and 2 car garage to $660,000 a year ago for a 3300 SF 3 bed 3 bath home, that had a lot of custom touches. In addition to the variety of single family homes, if you have a senior member of your family and want to have them live nearby while still maintaining their independence, or even if they need assisted living or memory care, there is a senior building on the edge of the development that would make it easy to keep a close eye and yet have everyone maintain their independent spaces.

Not a lot comes on the market in this neighborhood, so if you want to live there, have your agent put you on an MLS alert for the minute a listing comes up and be ready to pounce.

Convenient to shopping

Most of the homes in Cobblestone Lake are a very easy walk / bike/ or drive to shops. Target is just outside the neighborhood, along with several smaller restaurants, coffee shops (all three of the big ones in the Twin Cities – Caribou, Dunn Brothers and Starbucks… pick your fancy!), exercise studios and larger venues like Crooked Pint. The newest grocery store to come to the Twin Cities, HyVee, has a large store just outside the neighborhood as well.

mmmm…. beer….

Easy commuting

If you need to commute to downtown, the Mall of America or the MSP airport the MVTA Red Line commuter bus runs straight down 77 / Cedar into Apple Valley and there is a large “ramp”, or parking garage if you’re not a native Minnesotan, next to the station where you can leave your car.

Community Feel

I visited the neighborhood on a weekday morning, and neighbors were out walking and talking to each other, riding bikes, and enjoying the neighborhood. Sometimes subdivisions can feel like places where neighbors drive into their garages and that’s the last that you see of them – that was definitely not the impression I got while I was there – it looks like a place that will give you a sense of community and where it would be easy to make friends.

mschumann@kw.com
612-234-5703

Apple Valley
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Apple Valley

MaryLeave a comment

Calm down, professor! I’m about to tell you!

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.

mschumann@kw.com
612-234-5703