Recent college grad moving to Chicago- someone help me find a neighborhood to live! (Lincoln: apartments, lease)

[ahoward89]

Hi all,

I recently graduated from Emerson College in Boston and am looking to move to Chicago in September as a great, less expensive largecity alternative to New York. Four of my college friends and I are going to look for potentially a townhouse-style or similar large apartment and I decided to hit up this forum for neighborhood ideas.

None of us own cars or are really interested in owning cars so access to adequate public transportation to the downtown area is key. Some of us have bicycles that we use for transport so being relatively close to everything is important. We would also like to live in a "safe" neighborhood (duh) but don't mind even the "up and coming" neighbhorhoods as they are generally cheaper than the already gentrified ones. Neighborhoods with other young professionals is ideal.

Right now in my apartment in an up and coming Boston neighborhood (Mission Hill,) my roommate and I collectively pay $1500 for a tiny two bedroom apartment. I am spending$ 700/mo on rent and would love to find something much cheaper than that. I hope this is a possibility in Chicago.

We are also looking for a neighborhood that is urban in nature (less detached homes with gardens, more brick row houses....less cars, more walking)

If anyone has any tips on places to start the apartment hunt, it would be really helpful. Thanks!

[chirack]

Lakeview, Lincoln Park and Bucktown are the usual suggestions. However be warned about public tranist. Our public transit is great at getting people to and from downtown. If you need to be elsewere(like on a different part of the city) or if you need to be in the burbs then you may need to own a car and/or move to a move to a closer location to where you need to be.

Public transit is good enough in the city itself that you don't need to own a car, but the city itself is large enough that using public tranist to get to distant points can take 1:30 or so. There is enough traffic to make getting from one side to the other or out to burbs painful if you say lived on the northside but worked on the far southside/south burbs.

Public transit in the burbs is much less ideal. If you work in the burbs you usually have to drive to work.There is some but while PACE is clean and on time, they can have problems with amount of service in some places(i.e. Buses every 30 mins and last bus at 6pm on a few distant routes). Metra is not as kind to reverse commuters(but not impossible) and the lack of sidewalks causes problems walking any distance.

[nowincal11]

Originally Posted by ahoward89

Hi all,

I recently graduated from Emerson College in Boston and am looking to move to Chicago in September as a great, less expensive largecity alternative to New York. Four of my college friends and I are going to look for potentially a townhouse-style or similar large apartment and I decided to hit up this forum for neighborhood ideas.

None of us own cars or are really interested in owning cars so access to adequate public transportation to the downtown area is key. Some of us have bicycles that we use for transport so being relatively close to everything is important. We would also like to live in a "safe" neighborhood (duh) but don't mind even the "up and coming" neighbhorhoods as they are generally cheaper than the already gentrified ones. Neighborhoods with other young professionals is ideal.

Right now in my apartment in an up and coming Boston neighborhood (Mission Hill,) my roommate and I collectively pay $1500 for a tiny two bedroom apartment. I am spending$ 700/mo on rent and would love to find something much cheaper than that. I hope this is a possibility in Chicago.

We are also looking for a neighborhood that is urban in nature (less detached homes with gardens, more brick row houses....less cars, more walking)

If anyone has any tips on places to start the apartment hunt, it would be really helpful. Thanks!

You are making a great decision by choosing Chicago over NYC. Since there are 5 of you, you could probably find a reasonably priced townhouse in Lakeview or even Bucktown. Be careful of Bucktown by staying east of Milwaukee and Western.

Lakeview is the post college den. I would estimate 80% of the people moving to Chicago right after college end up in Lakeview or Lincoln Park. It is tough to find a house in Lincoln Park.

I don't know if you can find a 4 bedroom apartment. But if you split up into two groups, you can easily find a 2 or even 3 bedroom for around $700 a month each. I don't think it will be much less than that.

You are getting a very good deal for Boston. Chicago is much cheaper than Boston generally for apartments, food, shopping, and nightlife, at least in my experience.

Boston public transit is more extensive as it covers the whole city. In Chicago, the L gets people from the north and nw sides to downtown, but neighborhood to neighborhood not at all unless you are going north-south or south-north. You can look at the Chicago L map and see.

A car is not necessary if you live in Lakeview and work along the L downtown or in the Loop, or a direct bus route to wherever you need to go. If you live in a more outlying neighborhood (i.e. not north or near nw side) you may need a car since things are more spread out than Boston.

[ForYourLungsOnly]

Wish my friends would come around and make the move with me so I could get a better apartment deal. Movin' solo in August and have been looking in Lakeview, LP, and Wicker Park for single apts. I've loved all three neighborhoods so far, Wicker Park being my favorite I think. I would definitly consider where you plan on working and make note of where the L lines run. Don't rule out the Southside as well. I looked at a decent loft for a reasonable price (I think near Printers Row). Good Luck!

[Aleking]

Since he said "but don't mind even the "up and coming" neighbhorhoods as they are generally cheaper than the already gentrified ones." I figured i'd toss places like Logan Square, Edgewater et al into the mix along with the typical Bucktown/Wicker/Lakeview which are more or less completely gentrified. They'd get a lot more for the money, are plenty urban and have access to the loop and other 100% gentrified areas.

[aragx6]

Do you know yet where you'll all be working? That's the big question mark!

[VinceB3]

I just moved to Chicago two years ago. Public transit is definitely reliable, I don't have my own car either. One thing i'd advise is to really do your research on what neighborhood you want to live in first. Once you sign a lease and commit to a place its not easy to just break a lease and switch neighborhoods. One mistake I made was under estimating my commute to work and ended up having to commute an extra 30 min. Make sure you check out the units in different neighborhoods to get a feel for each.

[chicagobear]

I'd look at Logan Square. It would be less expensive than Wicker Park or Lakeview.

[uffthefluff]

The best bang for you buck is, as others have said, probably to move a bit further out on one of our two 24hr train lines. That would mean Uptown/Edgewater on the red line or Logan Square on the blue line. That said, there look to be quite a few 4bdrm places all over the city for less than $2500. You could definitely get closer to the city center and live in Lakeview or possibly Wicker Park if you wanted. Townhomes are a bit harder than apartments to find and will cost more it looks like. We have pretty large apartments here though so don't worry.

Also, excellent choice. People may not like to admit it, but Chicago is definitely the only city in contention for the title of "less expensive largecity alternative to New York". I think you'll find we have an awful lot going for us.

*As for 5/6 bdrm places you guys might feel a bit limited in your choices as I am not seeing too many. There is a cluster by the Sheridan red line stop, but the others look pretty scattered. If you haven't already give padmapper.com a try.

[CoolSocks]

old post people