white bear lake mn Archives - Living in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Need access to the cities but want a small town feel, White Bear Lake has it! I love where I live but every single time I go to White Bear Lake I want to move there! This suburb of Saint Paul just has a good feel to it – from the historic downtown to the lake and parks. If you’re looking for a walkable lifestyle this should be on your list of places you consider! Watch the video below to see what I mean – lots of footage of the downtown and the homes.

White Bear Lake sits north of St Paul (so if you’re not from around here that’s the east side of Minneapolis St. Paul), if you work in downtown Saint Paul you’re about a 15 minute commute or to downtown Minneapolis it’s about 25 minutes. Getting to the airport will take a little longer because it’s on the opposite side of the city, but if you’re only heading there periodically it shouldn’t be a problem, it’s less than 30 minutes in decent traffic.

Downtown White Bear Lake drips CHARM from top to bottom. Most of the homes in the downtown area have a historic look and feel, but are well maintained. As you move out away from that central downtown area homes get a little newer but this is not the place to look if you want new build / subdivision feel. WBL was an old resort town and escape from the city and the rail line still runs right up to it, it retains that feeling of a lakeside vacation area today. The old downtown has a ton of options for restaurants, pubs, bakeries, shops and other services like salons or day spas. The library is downtown as well, it’s a busy bright and modern space that is part of the Ramsey County Library System.

panda printed paper coffee cup on table — Photo by Quang Anh Ha Nguyen on Pexels.com

In the summer and fall, Grab your morning coffee and a muffin from one of the bakeries and then enjoy the community and seeing your neighbors while you shop for locally produced eggs, honey, fruits and vegetables at the farmers market held in downtown every Friday morning from June through October.

a person holding a purple cabbage — Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

For a small town white bear lake has a pretty big focus on the arts and you can take classes or take in a show at the White Bear Center for the Arts, The Player’s Theater or the Children’s Performing Arts.

HOUSING

Home prices in WBL range from the mid-$200’s for a townhouse to $1.2M for a new construction lake front home. If you want to live directly on the lake, prices are consistently over $1M, but you can find something more moderately priced with lake front access.

low angle photography of brown wooden dock at golden house — Photo by Heiner on Pexels.com

Currently White Bear Lake has a tighter sellers market than the metro area as a whole – they are sitting at only .7 months of inventory whereas the twin cities is a little over a month on average.

Schools

White Bear Lake Area Schools are the big cahuna in this part of the metro they serve all or parts of Birchwood, Gem Lake, Hugo, Lino Lakes, Little Canada, Maplewood, North Oaks, Vadnais Heights, White Bear Lake and White Bear Township.There are a lot of schools in the district, so do your research and see which one will work best for your kids. You can look at sites like Great Schools or Niche.com, but schools welcome visitors that want to tour and get questions answered before making a decision.

Parks

White bear lake is home to 24 parks including access to docks at the lake, a disc golf course, and access to Bald Eagle-Otter Lakes Park which is one of 4 Ramsey County regional parks. This park has a playground, boat launch, fishing pier, access to the Tamarack Nature Center and an off-leash dog area. If you’re looking for swimming, White Bear Lake County park has a swimming beach, this park is located just north of the downtown area.

A city in Minnesota couldn’t hold up it’s head if they didn’t have an ice arena – White Bear Lake is home to the Sports Center Ice Arena where you can participate in or watch the state sport of MN – ice hockey – or for those without the urge to body check someone simply some ice skating. You don’t have to be a member to use the ice here, it’s pay as you go!

Hey – if you have questions about anything real estate or living in the Twin Cities related, let me know! I’m happy to help!

Teodora Pogonat

2023-11-19

We had a really great and thorough experience with Mary. We moved from Austin to Minneapolis and she helped us with every single logistic, big and small. She went above and beyond in helping us view homes, giving recommendations, thorough knowledge and explanation of every question we had, and even answers to questions we didn't know we needed to ask. Mary went and viewed homes for us while we were remote, pointing out everything she saw and even smelled. She watched out for us and pointed out things that we should pay attention to, especially since we came from a warmer environment and having no knowledge of what we need to know for living in a northern climate. Mary also had the unique experience of knowing the Texas real estate lingo to help translate the equivalent terms for us to equate the process from our previous state's lingo and process. Overall it was a smooth and seamless experience with Mary and I take comfort in knowing we were well taken care of and protected during the whole process.

Dave Englund

2023-11-14

Adding to my wife's comments... We discovered Mary through her very informative YouTube channel in our long-distance search for a place to spend summers away from the heat of central Texas. We knew nothing about Minneapolis, but Mary provided OneHome/MLS access a month before our 3-day visit from which we identified a preliminary set of properties to visit. Once in town, we changed course (homes or condos, this neighborhood or that) and added to the list more than once. She spent three days that included all day Friday, all day Saturday, and late into a Sunday afternoon, ending in texting an offer while on our return flight. We thought we were looking for the perfect space, but what Mary recognized was that LOCATION was more crucial to our bigger picture than the physical characteristics of the property. She watched our reactions as we visited more than a dozen properties, questioned and advised, and ultimately suggested that we might want to revise (or recognize?) our real goals. Her ability to identify precisely what we were looking for, even before we fully comprehended it ourselves, speaks volumes about her commitment to her client's needs above her own. Her invaluable support culminated in a recommendation we now realize was exactly right all along. Thank you Mary for your dedication and keen eye for detail. We are immensely grateful and now consider you to be our (first and only) friend in Minneapolis.

Joanne Englund

2023-11-07

We decided to buy a place in Minneapolis having only visited it once. Mary listened when we said what we wanted and paid attention to our responses as we checked out several condos and houses. She then guided us to the perfect place in the perfect setting. She knows this town and we are very grateful for her!

Erin Proctor

2023-10-08

Mary is amazing! We found her via YouTube while researching areas for our move to the Twin Cities. After watching a few videos we got the feeling that she would understand and appreciate what we were after, and we decided to reach out and see if she could help us. From the very first email, we knew she was the right realtor for us. As first-time homebuyers moving to MN from out of state, we felt she really understood what we were up against. We had quite a wish list and she helped us figure out which items were most important and what we could expect from the MN market. She was so patient with us and our never-ending questions, and she did a great job educating us and walking us through the difficult parts. We found our house on the second day of our search and Mary went to work with the offer. It was not an easy negotiation but this is where Mary really came through. She is the realtor you want in your corner! The effort she put in behind the scenes, dealing with an odd listing agent and crabby sellers, was truly remarkable. Every time there was a bump, Mary was in contact explaining our options and helping us navigate a tricky transaction while managing our stress and putting our minds at ease, assuring us that she would get us through to the other side. I honestly feel that we could not have done this without her. We’re so happy that we found this house, made this move, and had such strong support from our agent the whole way through. Her YouTube channel is a great resource for exploring potential Twin Cities neighborhoods, and we still enjoy watching and learning about the area and the new life (and weather) we’re going to experience. We definitely recommend checking her videos out, and when you’re ready to start getting serious about your move, we could not recommend Mary highly enough.

Carol Myers

We found Mary on YouTube when planning to relocate to Minneapolis. Her expertise in the real estate market and warmth made house hunting an enjoyable experience. Best of all, Mary helped us find our perfect home!

Daniel Donoghue

2023-10-01

I came to Minneapolis not knowing a single thing about the real estate market and without any contacts. After a long day of looking at apartments, my wife called around 8pm. She had stumbled upon a very appealing property listing, but I was leaving town the next day. I did a really quick search on the internet for a realtor and took a leap of faith on Mary based on some positive reviews. She responded to an online message immediately, sorted out our interests, and by morning had arranged a showing of the property. By that afternoon we entered a purchase agreement, but only as a result of some intense negotiation on Mary's part because of multiple bidders. Since then, Mary has become a good friend. I would like to emphasize Mary's delightful, warm personality. However, her professionalism, hard work and integrity are where my mind goes in providing this review. If you find yourself in my shoes, looking for someone to trust and rely upon, call Mary Schumann.

Meg Donoghue

2023-09-21

New to Minnesota and not knowing anyone, we reached out to Mary Schumann based on glowing reviews to show us a property in which we were interested. From the start Mary was very professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. She helped us successfully navigate and win in a double offer situation, answered or got answers to all our questions throughout the waiting period, and represented us at the final walk through and closing as we were not able to attend ourselves. We highly recommend Mary to anyone who is looking for a realtor, she is very kind, quick to respond to all requests and concerns, and helpful in every way possible throughout the process.

Holly Culbertson

2023-08-23

Mary has been fantazmous! We researched several realtors and stumbled upon Mary’s YouTube channel and found her to be down to earth, informative, trustworthy, and helpful. We reached out and she helped us with everything. We moved from FL to MN and Mary made our virtual experience easy, she was responsive and proactive, went above and beyond with the process, and made us feel at ease for being unable to be present in person. She communicated at every moment of the way. We would recommend Mary to anyone looking for homes anywhere she is willing to be a realtor because she is phenomenal!

Joey Dale

2023-07-21

Mary just helped us relocate from Florida to the Twin Cities, and the experience could not have been better. We discovered her initially on youtube while researching the area, and I sent her in email asking for some specifics. I wasn't really sure I was going to get any meaningful answer, but boy was I wrong. Not only did Mary respond with a bunch of helpful info, but she did it in less that 15 minutes. I was completely blown away. Fast forward two months, and we are in town, and meet face to face. Mary answered all of our questions, gave us a bunch of additional prospective, and was a delight. After that we headed back home confident that we were in good hands. While looking at homes, Mary was consistently one of the first showings when our prospects hit the market, and provided invaluable insight and prospective. She was attentive to our feedback and helped further refine our search. After we came in second place the second time, and were feeling discouraged, she was quick to reassure us that eventually we would be successful, and would be better off. Our next offer was accepted and we couldn't have been happier. She made sure to be onsite for the inspection and was able to answer any questions we had. Long story short, if you are looking to relocate to the Twin Cities metro, you need to have Mary Schumann in your corner.

Natasa Dragovic

2023-07-20

Mary is an amazing realtor! I came across Mary's Youtube channel initially and she seemed very knowledgeable. That was important to me because I moved from out of state and wasn't familiar with the area. She helped the transition be quick and smooth. We visited 15 apartments in one day because of my time constraints. She is on top of things and will make you a priority. Quite happy in my new home.

Tag: white bear lake mn

Walkable, Charming, White Bear Lake MN

HOUSING

Schools

Parks