Apartment hunting for an undergrad (Chicago, Lincoln: subletting, apartments, lease)

[asdjaf.er]

Hi,

I have been poking around the forum reading some of the advice given to other people about moving to Chicago, but I'm still having some trouble finding an apartment, and was wondering if anybody could help me out.

I am a female undergrad student that will be working in the loop this summer for two months, with a budget of ~$850/month (including utilities, so I would prefer it be less than that). At first, I thought that it would be a good idea to live near downtown for a shorter commute, but I found out from reading some of these threads that it's not necessarily the safest place area to live in.

I would be open to sharing an apartment, or to having a studio. I figure that having roommates might be a nice way to meet people. On the other hand, I also don't have any experience with living with a complete stranger, and wonder if I might be caught in an awkward situation being as young as I am.

So I guess my main question is-- what neighborhoods should I be looking at? I'm looking for someplace that is relatively safe, popular with younger crowds, with some nightlife, and preferably an area with a commute to downtown that is less than 30 minutes. From what I've seen on some of the other threads, some neighborhoods that might fit my needs would be Lincoln Square, Wicker Park, Lakeview, the Ukrainian Village, and Bucktown. I've been looking for these areas on Craigslist, and haven't found a lot. Can anybody offer me additional advice?

[jwaiter]

850/mo. should be enough to find a good living space in any of the hoods u mentioned. Keep looking.

[CoolSocks]

A little Craigslist search tip- When I searched on Craigslist, I always put $850 as my max price, thinking that I would see apartments listed at $850 and lower, but usually only got the higher priced apartments. Recently I've started using $750 as my base price and many more apartments pop up in the same areas and look relatively the same as the more expensive priced apartments.

As far as living with a stranger goes, as long as you're careful with who you choose as roommates, it can definitely end up being an awesome experience. When you're new to an area, having roommates can really help because it can be pretty lonely coming home to an empty apartment.

Have you looked into subletting?

[aragx6]

Your biggest hindrance is that you're looking for a sub-let not a traditional 12-month lease. Lincoln Park and other areas near DePaul are probably your best bet for finding a person or group that needs to fill a bedroom for the summer.

[It'sAutomatic]

You could live in any of those neighborhoods with your budget. Downtown isn't unsafe.

You might have a hard time finding a place for only two months as it is, though. There might be some summer deals in student-oriented housing near downtown. You could look into a furnished-room/SRO, which are dirt cheap and in great locations, but they're hard to find and probably won't be too nice. The Near North Side has the YMCA and the Olympia Building, and maybe more.