Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
mommy on training wheels
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Hopkins, MN - INFORMATION PLEASE!!??!!
My husband and I are new to the Minneapolis area. We're here from Michigan. Not much will change weather wise, etc... however, we've found a house and are thinking about putting in an offer. We've done quite a bit of research, driving, experimenting with shops, restaurants, etc. But, there's some info. you can only get from locals.... The house we are looking to buy is in Hopkins, MN. Is there any information anyone can provide, anything we need to know before putting in an offer or closing on a home in that location???? We are aware that it's not necessarilly the most saught after town or school system (apparently Wayzata and Edina are). But, is there anything we should be worried/ concered/aware of???? We came from a metropolitan city in Michigan and apparently have decided to take our lives down a notch??? I'm sure we will still be getting out to the two twin cities for some night life no matter where we end up. ANY AND ALL OPINIONS AND ADVICE WELCOME!?!?!?
mommy on training wheels
Re: Hopkins, MN - INFORMATION PLEASE!!??!!
Welcome to MN!
I live in St. Louis Park, so same general area. I've always heard wonderful things about Hopkins schools, especially the high school. An attorney I used to work for sent all of her kids there and she couldn't say enough good things about it.
I would totally live in Hopkins. It's within reasonable driving distance of downtown Mpls. I've seen lovely homes in that area. Close to lots of local businesses. I honestly can't think of anything negative as someone who lives in the area.
If I can also get a plug in for my city, St. Louis Park is awesome too. There are a few nesties that live here. I don't think you can really go wrong in either.
ETA: had to fix my "never always" error.
Hopkins is totally fine by me. My husband grew up in Edina, my family is from Bloomington (we bought a house in Bloomington) and we looked at homes in Hopkins before making an offer on the house we are now in. I've heard good things about Hopkins schools (my SIL's parents moved into the Hopkins district because their son - severe ADD/ADHD - had better opportunities in the Hopkins district than he had in the Edina district.)
Hopkins itself is a little small-townie feeling, but it's so close to downtown and other areas that it'd be great. There is a fantastic meat market (Nelsons? it's on Shady Oak Road just north of Excelsior) and it's close enough to the St. Louis Park Trader Joe's store. I can't think of a grocery store in Hopkins proper, but there are options close by.
jack | born 9.13.12 at 40w4d | 9 lbs 12 oz | 23 in
my puppy loves - chloe & jenson
pregnancy blog | chart
I'm an east metro gal... so not too familiar with the Hopkins area. But, I too have heard that the schools there are very good.
You didn't mention where you or the hubs would be working. If it's downtown Mpls or towards St. Paul, you might deal with a fair amount of traffic.
And, one final bonus to Hopkins.... Kris Humphries is from there... he's the guy marrying Kim Kardashian.... so you might get in some celebrity sightings! Lol.
Yep, there is a grocery store right off main street. Somewhat small compared to Cub, but otherwise I'm sure it has everything a person might need.
*M&M* Super Pitbulls
I love Hopkins!! I grew up in Minnetonka but went to Hopkins schools, I work in Hopkins, and I'm on the board for the the Raspberry Festival (the town summer festival). I tried to get DH to buy a house in Hopkins, but we ended up in Eden Prairie.
The downtown area is cute. Lots of antique shops, restaurants, a movie theater, etc. There is a library and grocery store a half block north of Mainstreet. There is bus service and easy access to the major hwys, but it is currently not close to the LRT. There are plans in the works for a SW metro LRT, but that won't be open until 2017.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
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Hopkins is great. FWIW I went to Hopkins and Wayzata schools as a kid and I'd say they're about equal. But it's been awhile since I was in them.
I'm partial to the east metro, but if your DH is working in BP, I'd stay northwest. Maple Grove would be another option for you. Or Plymouth or Minnetonka.
Check out our website: www.raspberrycapital.com . There is a place there to sign up to volunteer. The festival just ended a few weeks ago (the parade is always the 3rd Sunday in July). We usually start planning for next year in the winter.
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My realtor refused to show us houses in Hopkins because, he said, it was too blue collar. I don't know the area well but he was, for sure, talking about the main street/downtown Hopkins area.
Can you rent for a year or two before buying? That way you can get a feel for what areas you like before being stuck in a house.
Yeah, haven't been sure what to make of the comment and it stuck with me. We were firmly focused on a particular property at that time anyway so didn't push the issue. Just wanted to throw his comment out there because that may be a reflection of some people's honest and unfiltered perception of that area. I don't know that it is necessarily discrimination based one of the classic protected classes - for instance, I don't know enough about the area to know if it is minority dominated. I don't think it is.
While I don't agree with the way the realtor stated it - I do sorta understand what he/she meant. Downtown Hopkins has a distinctly working class downtown area. That's not a bad thing, or a good thing, it's just a thing. Downtown Hopkins feels incredibly different than Downtown Excelsior or Downtown Stillwater. It also feels completely different than where I grew up, Downtown Hutchinson (ugh! How many small shops selling plaid and apple home decor can one town need!? So country...)
Any implication that downtown Hopkins is not good because it feels working class/blue collar is crappy - because there is no shame in being working class/blue collar! But if you prefer fine dining and want something within walking distance in your downtown area, you won't be wowed by the restaurants in downtown Hopkins (unless things changed since last summer - we honestly don't eat in downtown Hopkins much...) like you would be wowed by the restaurants in downtown Excelsior or Wayzata.
But - if the realtor was being a bit of a d-bag by implying that downtown Hopkins is undesirable because of the working class nature, that's just plain rude and borderline unethical.
jack | born 9.13.12 at 40w4d | 9 lbs 12 oz | 23 in
my puppy loves - chloe & jenson
pregnancy blog | chart
I agree, Anita. I'm not sure where he was coming from and I'll have to look back but I don't think I said that he thought blue collar was bad in my posts. I think assumptions were made in subsequent posts, assuming that he didn't show it to us because he implied that blue collar is bad.
For clarification, I don't harbor any prejudice that blue collar is a bad thing. I am surrounded by family members (my father included) that work really hard and do back breaking work, day in and day out. It's work that I respect and that this country needs more of to help drive the economy.
I'd like to think that the realtor didn't want to show Hopkins to us because he thought that was not what we were looking for in a neighborhood, not because we think it's bad but because he thought we'd want something different. And I wanted to throw his perception of the area out there because OP wanted to hear all opinions of the neighborhood and I thought that this could be a helpful opinion to offer if they are looking for something different than what is percieved, by some, of Hopkins.
To give you insight into the realtor's read on us, he ultimately pushed a property that he called "party central" which wasn't our speed. We ended up buying a quiet condo in Bloomington near France and 494 wihch is occupied by many 55+ and loved it there when we lived there.