Hello Mcxale,

I'd like to suggest St. Louis Park near Cedar Lake, depending on your criteria of a single family home. Their are plenty of houses within 10-15 mile radius near the University of Minnesota Medial Center. In order to narrow your search and help you find the right home. How many bedrooms and bath would you like?
Do you prefer houses that are in the 1950-1970s? Do you prefer a two stories, rambler, or a bi level style?

The mistake that I've noticed young couples make when they buy a condo in downtown Minneapolis is when they have kids, they discover downtown is not the most 'kid friendly' place. So they end up moving back out.

There is some great communities in South Minneapolis. And your Realtor can set the MLS search parameters so that newer homes only come up in the search. When Hiawatha Avenue was rebuilt from Hwy 94 to the crosstown, there was quite a bit of empty land left over, so there are many newer homes adjacent to Hiawatha Avenue. Plus there are many homes that were built on empty lots in the last 10 years.

I'd like to suggest looking in the Longfellow/Nokomis areas of Minneapolis in order to meet the criteria of your commute. The only drawback is most area within the 10-15 minute driving distance are going to be older homes, not newer. To get newer, you're going to have to go further out than that time frame. I suggest you check out a few agent's profiles to decide who would be a good fit for you. Of course, I think I would be a great fit for your needs. I am a relocatee to the Twin Cities about 17 years ago. I've been in the business for 15 years. Check out my website.

And, you should be aware that there are many things we cannot mention to you about neighborhoods because of the Federal Fair Housing laws. It might appear that we as agents are discriminating based on protected class information. So, we can talk about market values and commute times, but beyond that, we need to allow you to compile your own demographic and crime statistical information. Sorry, but that keeps agents from prodding buying toward or away from areas based on the agent's own opinions of what's better or worse and allows the buyers to be in control of those decisions.

Thanks. What are some neighborhoods that you can recommend for us?
Specifically we are looking for newer single family homes (

Well welcome in advance to the Twin Cities! All that you require can be found in and around the HCMC and the U Med Center. This includes Single family homes and High rises units. I work with relcation buyers includes getting familiar with the area's you may be interested including schools, entertainment, parks, neigboorhoods and more. I have a relocation package that would interest you. Contact me and I will send it out to you. It is a great time buy in the Twin Cities now and will be in a year from now. Also take a look at this site http://www.livemsp.org/

If you are looking for family friendly, I would assume single family would be a better choice. There are plenty of areas within 10-15 minutes of the areas you will be working, it just depends on the price range. I personally live near the University and there are some great areas to the east and to the north (NE Minneapolis) within a few miles of the university. There are also areas in South Minneapolis you can look into. Feel free to contact me and I can direct you to some specific areas based on the price range you would like to stay within.

There are many great places to live around Minneapolis within that range. I condo is also quite possible as downtown has quite a variety of units available. Let me know when you are in town next time and i would glady show you around the area.

Joel Friday

612-868-6287

I just had a buyer who works at the U of M hospital with similar criteria purchase a home in Robbinsdale. They are VERY happy there.
As for safe neighborhoods -- your best bet to satisfy concerns about safety of neighborhoods is to contact the local police department to find out where the violent/car theft/burglery/ ... police calls from the past XX number of days have been.
Feel free to contact me through my website if this doesn't help. Steve