Minneapolis-St. Paul Rental Rates

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RSteve

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Rents for even modest apartments in the Twin Cities have skyrocketed. A 2-bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood is about $2000 a month. Two of my friends live in the same building. It's a mixed use building in St. Paul with a Whole Foods Market and a couple of small shops on the main floor and three floors of apartments above. Both people have 2-bedroom apartments; one uses one bedroom as a den, the other uses the second bedroom as her office. They're both paying $2500 a month; 30k annually. Tenants have a heated garage, party room and exercise room. If these apartments were in downtown Minneapolis, rent would likely be $3000/month.
I'm pretty certain that it's getting to be time for me to move out of my house. Because of location and design, plus the scarcity of homes on the market in my neighborhood, my house would move fast at top dollar. The question becomes, if I sell my house, where do I live. Do I buy a townhome or condo or rent? Living in my house is fairly cheap. It's paid for, so it's taxes and upkeep.

My older daughter lives in a very nice suburb of St. Paul. By choice, she and her husband have no children. Her house is large for only having three bedrooms, three bathrooms. Their basement is an unfinished walkout to the backyard. The other day, she said, "You know, Dad, Evan and I would love to have you live with us, but I know that you'd want your own place. For the cost of two years rent, you could probably build out our lower level into a good sized apartment, plus we'd be at hand if you have any health issues in the future."
I don't want to impose on my daughter's privacy. I know this is not about having me pay for a build out. My daughters know they are beneficiaries of 90% of my assets. The only reason for a basement buildout would be to accomodate me. The question for me is would my privacy be compromised?
 
Mostly depends on the relationship between you and your daughter. Is she the clingy sort who would be checking in in you daily or would they allow you your independence and only visit when invited? Only you can answer that. Sounds like a pretty good proposition to me if they see the build out as totally separate living quarters, same as your current living situation. And there is a lot to be said for having someone available to assist should you have medical issues down the road.
 
We have somewhat the same situation here. With all the folks from Cali moving in housing prices have gone through the roof. We paid 480 six years ago and Zillow now says house is worth almost 800K. Thing is we love Prescott. It's a neat small town atmosphere and a lot of fun. Have friends who just moved to Kentucky. A nice state, although humid in the summer. Home prices there are significantly lower especially in the smaller towns. Our friends paid under $300K for a 4BR, 3 bath, 2400 sq. ft. house. Don't need the money but of course it would allow us to do more traveling, etc. Think we will visit our friends and check it out this fall if covid doesn't get us first, lol.
 
I wonder what our streets will look like in a decade. Lined with 5th wheels, airstreams, scamps, RVs, trucks with toppers, customized vans, etc? Or maybe those same traveling home situations commuting from BLM lands (when and where possible)? Not in a position to buy, and soon not be able to afford rent. If you watch youtube, or follow social media groups, it's already an exploding possibility for young people and older folk not being able to retire and not being able to downsize or rent.

I'd say if you can afford to own, then own. You can budget and set your own economics and not be at the whim of someone else. If it is in the form of a build out and family dynamics can handle the stress, that seems smarter too. I will say that I'm surprised by how many older people I see moving into condos are kind of stubborn about how they approached their homes before selling them. They wanted to maintain their house, lawns, X-mas decorations, etc the same way they did when they were younger. Let the trees, shrubs, decorating go, and take advantage of living in your home. Those maintenance rituals aren't mandated by anyone but them. So what if part of the lawn dies because you didn't fastidiously rake every leaf in the fall. So what if the front of the home doesn't have perfectly manicured shrubs and flowers planted. You get the gist. I'm not implying condos are a bad thing, but you're going to give up your paid-for home because you can't change the perception of your home? You're going to do that anyway if you move into a condo. "Because that's the way I do it." is contextual and can change if you are open to it. Home aesthetics don't have to be an albatross.
 
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