Tag: Moving to Minnesota

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
Moving to Minneapolis?
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Moving to Minneapolis?

MaryLeave a comment

Little joke for you – How do you get a Minnesotan to apologize? Step on their foot! ha ha! OPE!

We moved to MPLS several years ago for my husband’s job and before that happened I had given Minnesota approximately ZERO thought and had no idea what to expect.  We came from Chicago and even though it’s also an upper-midwestern city, something about MINNESOTA seemed like a whole different animal – a COLD animal that lives in the middle of “fly-over” country.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised and today I’m going to share a little about why. And, yes, it gets cold, but honestly, I love having 4 really distinct and wonderful seasons to fully enjoy and it seems that Minnesotans feel the same.

Minneapolis and the Twin Cities metro area are pretty big! There are about 3.4Million people living here.  It’s not Podunk.

All of those people support a pretty thriving economy with low unemployment, the HQ of many large companies like Target, Best Buy, United Healthcare, 3M, Cargill etc… and thriving mid and small sized businesses as well.

While the Twin Cities aren’t on the same scale as Chicago, we enjoy a lot of the same benefits – an international airport, fine dining – if you’re a foodie you’ll be glad to know that we have James Beard award winning restaurants. If you’re a beer lover – there are 56 breweries here.

There are Lots of theaters from smaller local theater companies to larger venues that host traveling companies and Broadway productions.

There are 55 museums in the Twin Cities! The Walker hosts contemporary art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art has art spanning 5,000 years and 6 continents and it’s FREE! Some other highlights that we enjoyed a lot when my kid was younger were the Children’s Theater (located inside the MIA), the Children’s Museum and the most amazing hands on museum – the Science Museum of Minnesota, that one shouldn’t be missed!

Bicycling is HUGE in the Twin Cities – year ’round!- and there are 4,000 miles of bike trails in the metro area – from designated lanes on city streets, converted rail lines like the Midtown Greenway and Luce Line Trails, and the 40 miles of paved bike/ walk paths called the Grand Rounds that wind around the many lakes residing within the city of Minneapolis.

Speaking of the lakes (and parks!) the Minneapolis Park District wins strings of awards every year and are an integral part of living here.  Most people live within 10 minutes of a park, and have access to community centers, park programming, tennis and pickleball courts, wading pools, beaches and restaurants.  If you visit Lake Harriet or Bde Mka Ska you can rent sail boats, kayaks, or paddle boards and have a great day on the lake while taking in the skyline.

If you are a sports fan – we have you covered! We have professional football, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, soccer and hockey teams. No matter what the season, there is no reason not watch your favorite sport.  And if that’s not enough we are neck deep in college sports as well!

There are 34 colleges and universities in the TC area, including the main campus’ of the University of Minnesota – of the best public research universities in the US. The U has many famous alum – including Bob Dylan, Chief Justice Warren Burger and if that’s not enough to convince you – Ric Flair! Minneapolis has a very educated population – 70% of all adults have at least some college education!

Ric Flair – Photo Credit WWE.com

Minneapolitans and Minnesotans are “outsiders” all year long – winter doesn’t keep anyone inside.  From the Art Shanties on Lake Harriet, to Holidazzle and Winter Carnival, and the Luminary Loppet – people here don’t let winter stand in the way of having a good time.  Of course, summer is outside all the time either at the lakes and parks or festivals like block parties, the Aquatennial, Minnesota Fringe Fest, or get something fried on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair.

The Housing market in Minneapolis is currently very “hot”, the average home price is nearly $280,000 in the Twin Cities, but that varies drastically by neighborhood.  If you like being in the heart of the city there are a lot of brand new buildings or repurposed industrial buildings and flour mills downtown on Mississippi River for condo living in the middle of everything.

As you move outward to the north – there are more affordable neighborhoods, and Northeast is somewhat hip and artsy.  To the south and west of downtown are well established neighborhoods with large gracious homes and as you move further south you gradually get into fairly solidly single family neighborhoods, with a lot of home built in the early & mid 20th century. 

Rentals in MPLS are generally between $1400 and $2500/mo.  St. Paul is less expensive for rentals and homes than Minneapolis as a general rule.

The first is that there is great access to good healthcare in the Twin Cities – from the University of Minnesota Medical center, to Abbott Northwestern, to the renowned Mayo Clinic to our south in Rochester MN.

If you love shopping – you’ll be happy to know that MN does not tax clothing purchases, so you can go to the Mall of America and shop yourself silly without paying a dime to the government. There is also no tax on groceries in MN – not the case everywhere, so it’s nice to not have regressive taxes.

If you have questions about any aspect of life in the TC or have a topic you’d be interested in seeing a video on, I’d love to hear from you!

mschumann@kw.com
Neighborhood tour – Eagan MN
Neighborhood Tours

Neighborhood tour – Eagan MN

MaryLeave a comment
Go for a walk – in Eagan!

I’ve been talking to several people interested in the suburbs of Minneapolis so this week I decided to poke around Eagan MN. I live in Minneapolis, so of course I’ve been to Eagan before, but what is fun about these tours is that it makes me dig a little deeper and look a little closer at the details of a community and really think about living there and what would be a plus or a minus.

Deciding on suburbs of Minneapolis?

Housing in Eagan

Eagan has very diverse housing options. Lots of apartments (rents around $1800/mo), condos, townhouses/twin homes, typical suburban homes from the late ’80’s and through the ’90’s, and even a couple of incredible mansions.

On the low end of the price points in Eagan are condos that run about $100k for 2 bedrooms. They are midrise, shared laundry, well maintained and a great option if you live alone, don’t want maintenance, want an apartment near the city as a second home etc.

Townhouses similar to those in the video are in the high $200 – mid $300K range, and some of the larger and newer town homes in Eagan are $450-500K.

Single family homes run the gamut from 1970’s ramblers to an outright castle, but homes in the subdivisions of Eagan tend to be set on .3 – about 1 acre lots and are larger, lots of them with 3 car garages and minimum of 4 beds, 3,000 SF. Prices sit in the mid $500’s as a median.

Things you may like about living in Eagan

Location

Eagan is ideally situated. It is close to the airport & an easy commute to both downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul via 35 E or W.

Parks

Eagan also has easy access to a large park system. On the north side is Fort Snelling which is part of the National Parks. There are also two off leash dog parks in that area – one close to the airport and another a little further north at Minnehaha Falls.

To the south is Lebanon Hills Park – this place is amazing. The visitor’s center is quite new and clean, the park itself is very well maintained. There are many many hiking trails to take and it is a great place to go with kids. I took my daughter there last fall and we selected a 3 mile hike and were given a map that told us which trail markers to follow. The trails are really well marked! I love that! We saw so many animals and birds on our walk and while we weren’t completely alone the park is large enough that even when there are a lot of people visiting you are still able to achieve that feeling of having spent time in the quiet of nature. If you have horses, there are trails marked for that as well.

Eagan has 27 soccer fields and 56 parks – 14 of which have outdoor skating rinks in winter.

Shopping

“The Mall” as people here call it. The Mall of America is not actually located IN Eagan but it is right next door. I confess to having not been there until last weekend and I was surprised at how much I actually liked it! It’s not mobbed with people. The variety of stores is really nice and there are things there that are harder to come by in other places. The amusement park and roller coasters were larger than I expected and look like a lot of fun – we did Flyover America and loved it!

There is a brand new Costco on the north side of the city, and unlike the one in St. Louis Park, the parking lot doesn’t make you want to tear your hair out (or that other person that can’t park’s hair out… it’s occurred to me and I am a peaceful person… ). It’s a joy to shop there. A zen experience compared to SLP.

If you like Walmart – there is a shopping center with Walmart on the north side of the city and for the True Minnesotans™ who want to shop their hometown retailer, there is a large shopping area with Target in the triangle between 77 and 35E.

Finally – Eagan is home to Twin Cities Premium Outlet Mall on the NE side of the city.

Family fun

In summer, Eagan has an outdoor pool and water park called Cascade Bay. Summer in MN we just soak up as much outside time as we can, and this place looks like a lot of fun if you have kids.

Eagan Civic Arena has 2 indoor ice skating rinks that are open year round – if you live in MN, this might be one of your concerns! Hockey. It’s a thing here.

Schools and libraries

Speaking of kids – the schools in Eagan are rated fairly highly by Great Schools, so if you are looking for quality public education, this may be a good place to look. There are also quite a few private schools in the area.

Last, but for me not least, they have a large library (Westcott) that is open 7 days a week. The library is something that my family has made great use of over the years – children’s programming in the early years and now just feeding the voracious readers in my house without spending ALL the money.

Top employers in Eagan

Eagan is home to Thomson Reuters, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN, UPS, Ecolab, and while maybe not a “top employer”, it is also home to the Minnesota Vikings training facility – and that place is hard to miss as you drive down 494. 😉

Demographics

Eagan is home to 67,509 people.

More than half of the population has a bachelors degree or higher.

The median income in Eagan is $82,265.

If you don’t like driving to downtown you can commute on the MVTA busses. They are clean! I always mention this after living in Chicago and spending a lot of time on busses and trains that had suspicious odors and stains. I loved the transit system there, but not everyone behaves well, so I appreciate it here.

I hope this helps if you’re considering Eagan as your next place to live!

Questions? leave a comment or tap one of the links below.

mschumann@kw.com

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Neighborhood Tours

St. Louis Park, MN – a winter tour

MaryLeave a comment
Theodore Wirth Park has TWELVE sledding hills + tubing + bike & ski trails… it’s fun to be outside in winter!

I made a video on Saint Louis Park – stop by my YouTube Channel! https://youtu.be/W0ESPeTzz00

When I make neighborhood tour videos for my YouTube channel they always seem to get the most interest, and I stopped doing them when the snow and cold came around. Today I woke up and wondered why I was being such a wimp. I realized I didn’t want to shine a bad light on MN, and people hold so tightly to their convictions about the terrors of snow and cold – in fact a Washington Post reporter that moved to far NW MN from DC and wrote a book and an article about how happy he was and how much he actually enjoyed winter, was fairly viciously attacked in the comments when it posted on line.

So, I guess I was traumatized. undefined

And then I said to myself – NO! I will not let the haters get me down – I will stand in solidarity with Christopher Ingraham and defend winter!

So here goes nothing! Don’t hurt me.

I took myself on a little driving tour of the first ring suburb of St. Louis Park. It sits directly west of the city and abuts the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis on one side and the City of Edina to the south. It is more affordable than the two of them, but because of the proximity to the city and the relatively more affordable prices, it has become a really hot area and things do not stay on the market for very long. The housing stock is pretty typical of SW Minneapolis in general – lots of 1950’s cape style bungalows, gradually giving way to 1960’s and 1970’s ramblers & split levels. I’m adding info about the home prices and the current market to the video….

It would be easy to picture the Brady Bunch living in SLP. I would not say that there is a lot of “historic charm”, but people have done some nice things with the ramblers (for the rest of the world – this is the MN term for a ranch style home). Lots are larger. There are sidewalks – and to me that is worth noting. I like walking without being hit by a car.

I admit to not spending an incredible amount of time in SLP other than driving through or shopping, so this was an enlightening trip for me as well. I was pretty pleased by some of what I found.

The Saint Louis Park rec center is not what I expected AT ALL! I thought it was a gym. It’s actually a park with an outdoor pool and water slides, and THREE full size ice rinks – 2 inside and a gorgeous outdoor rink as well. It’s a hockey paradise. Men with beards and big bags of equipment were pouring in for the open hockey that was happening.

SLP sits right on the the Cedar Lake Trail (temporarily closed because of light rail construction) and that connects to the Midtown Greenway and a whole network of other bike trails throughout the city and the suburbs.

At the “West End” you can find shops, restaurants (I tried “Lucky Cricket” Chinese restaurant and Tiki Bar today – Andrew Zimmern’s place. I was alone so I didn’t order a lot, but loved what I had – ShuMai burger). The insane Costco is over there, so if you’re feeling very Zen and can deal, or alternatively, if you’re feeling aggressive and want your anger to blend in, stop by! It’s mostly the parking lot that can change normally kind people into homicidal maniacs. Side note – there are 8 in the metro area, so if you go to the one in SLP consider yourself warned. There are other (more peaceful) choices. Just sayin’.

Tiki!

SLP has a very nice nature center on the far NW side of the city – I’ll come back in summer. The visitor’s center is being rebuilt and there are trails around a lake there. It’s called Westwood Nature Center and it reminds me a lot of the little oasis in Richfield – the Woodlake Nature Center.

Other outdoor activities… Theodore Wirth Park – an amazing and HUGE park with snow tubing! Groomed x-ctry ski trails! Biking trails – yes, even in winter! 12 sledding hills there alone! Snow boarding!

11 of the neighborhood parks have some sledding, night time lights, ice skating and a few have warming houses. I love this aspect of MN- it’s easy to be outside having fun year round.

Disc golf in winter at Brookview Golf Course! CURLING! I mean – that seems like a very Minnesota thing to do. Don’t ask me what it is.

Indoor – head to Punch Bowl Social for food and bowling. Or take the kids to Roller Garden – it’s old school fun.

That’s all I have for today and it’s way more than I thought I would have when I started out this morning. St. Louis Park surprised me. You may like it too!

Do you have questions? Leave a comment or tap one of the icons below.

mschumann@kw.com