Duluth, MN

[crazycat]

Any help on housing advice would be much appreciated!

[Katia_chan]

What sort of atmosphere are you looking for, and will you have a car?

 

The areas near campus are pretty good.  As a general rule, it's better to stay higher up on the avenues.  From about 10th ave down, it can get a little sketchy.  Now, I'm a woman who walks around a lot, so I have a higher fear of "sketch" than some people.  And I know a lot of people who live in these areas.  I'm just paranoid.

 

If you don't have a car, the busses are pretty good, you just need to pay attention to routes when picking a place to live.

 

If you have specific questions, go ahead and ask--I've lived in Duluth for almost 8 years, and love it here.  It's the biggest small town you'll find.

[crazycat]

What sort of atmosphere are you looking for, and will you have a car?

 

The areas near campus are pretty good.  As a general rule, it's better to stay higher up on the avenues.  From about 10th ave down, it can get a little sketchy.  Now, I'm a woman who walks around a lot, so I have a higher fear of "sketch" than some people.  And I know a lot of people who live in these areas.  I'm just paranoid.

 

If you don't have a car, the busses are pretty good, you just need to pay attention to routes when picking a place to live.

 

If you have specific questions, go ahead and ask--I've lived in Duluth for almost 8 years, and love it here.  It's the biggest small town you'll find. 

For me, atmosphere isn't super important. My biggest concern is safety, so thank you for that advice on streets! I'm looking for a 1-2 bedroom place to live by myself and I definitely want to feel safe where I live. I would say that I'll be similar to you on paranoia level, haha. Do you know of any specific management or apartment complexes that are fairly priced/safe? 

I will have a car, so parking off street is important to me as well since I know how snowy the winters get. I'm originally from MN, but farther south.

[Katia_chan]

Haha, glad someone shares my paranoia.  I have friends who live downtown and have never had a problem, but there always seems to be weird crap going on down there, so it's not my chosen place to live.  Ideally, I like the area between 15th ave and about 35th ave, but that's just a very general guideline.  The areas around campus all seem to be really good.

 

As for management, I don't know of too many *official* places.  I've previously lived in the Edgewood apartment complex, and found that they were pretty good.  Not the fastest at maintenance, but over-all not bad.  It has on-street parking, but it's a private street just for the apartments, and does have parking lots.  They are just sometimes full.

 

And I've heard from people to avoid shiprock management.  Apparently they are awful.

 

What is your budget like?  That'll also help me give you recommendations, as it can kind of get expensive up here, which you wouldn't really expect.

[crazycat]

Thanks for that info! My budget is probably around $650-700 max. I noticed that places were surprisingly expensive. But it seems like they typically include heat in the rent, which is good because even in St. Louis I've been paying over $80/month to heat my small studio apartment. 

[Crucial BBQ]

I wouldn't be worried about Duluth.  I mean it's not like North Minneapolis.  

[Katia_chan]

No, it's not on the same scale as Minneapolis or other huge cities, but its bad areas are still pretty unpleasant, or at least they can be.

 

Not a place you need to be "scared", but definitely still a place to be cautious.  I wouldn't walk downtown alone after dark.

[GeographyOSU]

http://boulderridgeduluth.com/

^That's the apartment complex I'm looking at..looks like rent runs about $540 per month, heat is included. The complex is several miles from UMD but they offer a shuttle. There IS on-campus housing available for grad students but it doesn't look like an ideal situation.

[crazycat]

Yeah, I was in contact with them and they only have availability in 3/4 bedroom apartments and they do not allow pets. Otherwise it looks like a great place! I've mostly been looking on Craigslist and it seems like most places are duplexes downtown. It's so tricky finding housing beginning in August because a lot of places that I've liked want to start renting in June or July.

[Katia_chan]

If you don't have pets, Boulder Ridge and Campus Park are very nice, if a bit expensive.  The bluestone lofts are also completely new, and look really trendy.

 

I enjoy the place I live now, and it is pet friendly, but they are fairly boring apts--pretty cookie-cutter, so they may not be everyone's thing.

 

Lakeside and East Duluth are generally pretty nice, downtown is nice but has some sketchy areas, and same with West Duluth.  Do not live in W Duluth if you don't have a car--the bussing route is rough.

 

Also, if you want to check if there is a bus by you, go to duluthtransit.org, or you can call 218-722-7283.

 

Hope that helps.