First, know that real estate agents are not allowed to talk with people about safety. Having said that, here is my two cents on safety.
One - This is not one of those giant cities filled with desperately poor slums like something out of the third world. There is no area of the metro, urban or suburban, where I would feel uncomfortable walking around in the day time. I would also say that, our world being what it is, I would not find myself walking around at 2am in any neighborhood – anywhere.
Two - If you feel unsafe, you are most likely going to be unsafe. And remember that familiarity should not be mistaken for safety. If you come to the Cities from rural America and walk down the streets of the most popular neighborhood (popular neighborhoods are often those with the reputations for being safe) in the city, be careful not to label it unsafe because the housing structures don’t look like what you are used to and the people look and act differently that what you remember from back home.
Three – Safety, ie - the lowest crime statistics in town, is not the be all & end all in finding your niche. A friend once said to me in discussing the relative merits of different types of flooring, “Well gee, if maintenance free is that important, why don’t people just have concrete floors so they can hose them off and be done with it?” Remember to keep some perspective!
Last – Consider the source of your information when you are asking around for tips about safety. To illustrate my point, let me tell you a story. When we moved here in 1988, we came into town for a weekend to find a house to rent. We went to the dean's office at the University where Gregg was going to work and asked the administrative assistant where a good place to rent would be. She took our map and drug her hand across everything from the River Road south of I94 to downtown St. Paul. “This is all high crime.” she said. Later, when I started selling real estate, I realized that she had pointed out the MOST popular neighborhoods – and thus the safest – in the city. I didn’t know it then, but I had hit on a common suburban dweller’s belief that everything inside the city limits is ‘unsafe’.
