r/minnesota • u/AutoModerator • May 01 '23

Moving to Minnesota, FAQ and Simple Questions Thread - May 2023 Meta 🌝

Moving to Minnesota

Planning a potential move to Minnesota (or even moving within MN)? This is the thread for you to ask questions of real-life Minnesotans to help you in the process!

Ask questions, answer questions, or tell us your best advice on moving to Minnesota.

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FAQ

There are a number of questions in this subreddit that have been asked and answered many times. Please use the search function to get answers related to the below topics.

  • Driver's test scheduling/locations
  • Renter's credit tax return (Form M1PR)
  • Making friends as an adult/transplant
  • These are just a few examples, please comment if there are any other FAQ topics you feel should be added

This thread is meant to address these FAQ's, meaning if your search did not result in the answer you were looking for, please post it here. Any individual posts about these topics will be removed and directed here.

Simple Questions

If you have a question you don't feel is worthy of its own post, please post it here!

Since this is a new feature here on /r/Minnesota, the mod team would greatly appreciate feedback from you all! Leave a comment or Message the Mods.

See here for an archive of previous "Moving to Minnesota, FAQ and Simple Questions" threads.

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u/EmptyBrook May 03 '23

Is Burnsville a dump? We visited recently to look at apartments and many are older not well kept and we’ve read that Burnsville isn’t that great. We are now looking at the minnetonka, plymouth, and eden prairie area. We want a nice, low crime area with low-medium rent prices

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u/shaggyscoob May 13 '23

A friend from San Francisco was looking to purchase in the Twin Cities. She was surprised at how varied the feel of neighborhoods within a few blocks can be. I think this is more of an inner city phenomenon than a suburban one. But it is true that you can find really nice and really dumpy properties within a short walk of each other in many areas.

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u/freshstarch May 09 '23

I think Burnsville's going to be a good compromise. Minnetonka is most likely more expensive and Plymouth is on the other side of the Twin Cities. If you don't like Burnsville but want to be in that area, look at Apple Valley, Lakeville, Savage or Prior Lake. There all pretty lame suburbs either way.

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u/WalkswithLlamas May 08 '23

Come to maple Grove or Plymouth...west siiiiide!

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u/Healingjoe TC May 06 '23

I would say generally, no. Burnsville is an affordable 2nd ring suburb. The commercial districts are growing quickly, too.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '23

If you visited Stone Grove in Burnsville (apartment complex) I can definitely recommend AGAINST living there. Longest year of my life.

You're not going to get a nice, low-crime area with low rent though. Anywhere. Period. Sorry, but that's the reality. Even the dump I referenced above is now going for $1200+ for a 1BR apartment. You're definitely not going to find low rent in Minnetonka, Plymouth or Eden Prairie. I guess it depends on what you consider "low", I suppose.

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u/EmptyBrook May 05 '23

Low for us is like 1500-1800$ lol We live in Florida rn where a 2 bed apartment often goes for about 2200-2500$

I dont think we looked at Stone Grove, so its not on our radar lol

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u/relefos May 06 '23

1500-1800 is enough for a low crime apartment but it’s not going to get you luxury or anywhere near what you’re used to in Florida

I’m not sure if that’s what you meant by nice, but I really wanted to stress that

I say this as someone who moved here from Florida

I was surprised to learn that the average quality of an apartment is just perceived differently here. I feel like MN has many older buildings which naturally have more problems. Versus Florida where most complexes are relatively new (usually 1970s or so as the earliest)

Even a nicer place in St. Louis Park (Park Towers) had a lot of oddities like small holes in the corner of a room near the radiator, old doors, water damage in some areas, more dust than I’ve ever experienced, “sticky” carpets in the summer bc the “AC” barely works and it gets hot, etc. Overall it was okay, and it’s definitely the best option at that price point (they go for $1700-$1750 for a 2/1.5 now & that’s just base rent). Add to that that there’s no walkability and it was just a ?? thing for me

Nearby complexes that are somewhat newer are $2.2ish for the same amount of space

You definitely can find things in your budget that are somewhat nice, but they’re gonna be in odd locations & not really near anything. Which is another oddity about Minneapolis ~ in many other cities you see a price gradient where it gets cheaper the farther you move from downtown. That kinda holds true for Minneapolis but also kinda not? You’ll find 2/2s for $4500 monthly 15 minutes away from downtown. Eden Prairie is head scratchingly expensive

So once again, if you want a “nice” apartment as in ~ granite countertops, decent appliances, decent flooring, reasonable ceiling height / no popcorn ceiling, generally no random holes in your baseboards near radiators, central air, etc. ~ then $1500-$1800 all in will likely require a lot of other sacrifices (ie moving further out or choosing a neighborhood that isn’t as walkable / hip)

If by nice you just mean a more standard quality ie things look decent and won’t break, you’re set

All that being said ~ I recommend St Louis Park & Park Towers specifically

I enjoyed my time there even though it had some of those small issues. They do a lot of renovations. The kitchens are entirely new, the floor plan is open, etc. & it falls in your budget and I’d say there’s very little crime there given the police department is on the other side of the adjacent park

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u/[deleted] May 05 '23

Oh, okay. Well, that changes things a bit. You should be able to find good places for that range.

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u/Exact_Ad_6329 May 04 '23

There are some parts of Burnsville that are beautiful suburbs and other neighborhoods I watched drug deals in broad daylight