Moving to Chicago from South Bend (Lincoln: apartments, condos, houses)

[IrishZoidberg]

Hello folks,

I'm a recent college graduate who is moving to Chicago with my girlfriend and my dog. Few months ago, I accepted a job with a company located on 161 N. Clark. So that you guys have a better idea, here's a little background info:

-We know nothing about the neighborhoods in Chicago
-Move-in date is 7/1 or ASAP
-We have 1 car
-We're in our early 20s
-The dog is a friendly golden retriever and weighs around 70 lbs
-Our budget is around 1500-1700 per month
-We prefer to stay away from the highrises
-We're looking for a nice 1Br or a decent 2Br condo/apartment
-I prefer to bike to work (< 5 miles would be ideal). Public transportation is just fine as well
-We are looking for a safe, peaceful community

We have been talking to a realtor and saw a few properties in Lakeview/Wrigleyville and in Lincoln Park. We really like the neighborhood feel to it, especially given our dog. We found a nice 2Br condo in Lakeview for 1500 with all utilities included and applied. Sadly, there were plenty of other applicants, and we were not picked. It must have been a great deal.

Other than that, we've just been looking at craigslist and rent.com for properties. As lovely as some of these units look, we have no idea if they are in good neighborhoods/streets, if the price is right, etc., hence the realtor route.

If anyone has any suggestions for us (neighborhoods, realtors, apartments/condos, or anything else to help the search), we would greatly appreciate it.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by IrishZoidberg

Hello folks,

I'm a recent college graduate who is moving to Chicago with my girlfriend and my dog. Few months ago, I accepted a job with a company located on 161 N. Clark. So that you guys have a better idea, here's a little background info:

-We know nothing about the neighborhoods in Chicago
-Move-in date is 7/1 or ASAP
-We have 1 car
-We're in our early 20s
-The dog is a friendly golden retriever and weighs around 70 lbs
-Our budget is around 1500-1700 per month
-We prefer to stay away from the highrises
-We're looking for a nice 1Br or a decent 2Br condo/apartment
-I prefer to bike to work (< 5 miles would be ideal). Public transportation is just fine as well
-We are looking for a safe, peaceful community

We have been talking to a realtor and saw a few properties in Lakeview/Wrigleyville and in Lincoln Park. We really like the neighborhood feel to it, especially given our dog. We found a nice 2Br condo in Lakeview for 1500 with all utilities included and applied. Sadly, there were plenty of other applicants, and we were not picked. It must have been a great deal.

Other than that, we've just been looking at craigslist and rent.com for properties. As lovely as some of these units look, we have no idea if they are in good neighborhoods/streets, if the price is right, etc., hence the realtor route.

If anyone has any suggestions for us (neighborhoods, realtors, apartments/condos, or anything else to help the search), we would greatly appreciate it.

Congrats on the college thing and the job

So really, with your budget you can pretty much live in any neighborhood in Chicago you want, especially for 1 bedroom. To give you a little info, the area of Lincoln Park is very popular with recent college grads who have now become young professionals. Lakeview is the same as well, but not every area is. If you want to stay low-rise, you can pretty much find that in every neighborhood except for maybe the Loop. Even Gold Coast has low rises (may or may not be expensive though). River North may only have a few.


As far as where you work and public transit goes, it's near the Clark/Lake and Lake (Red Line) stop. Clark/Lake is serviced by tons of stops, so you could live in a ton of areas. Your work location is really great for public transit. If you want to bike, then yeah you could still do that from many areas within 5 miles. Might want to make sure there's bike stuff infront of your building though (there should be).

Based on the city you're coming from and your user name, I'm just going to assume you're a Notre Dame grad. There's a number of Notre Dame bars in both Lincoln Park and Lakeview, and a few in River North. Since you aren't familiar with Chicago, I'll just let you know that it's very, very walkable and if you live in an area like Lakeview or Lincoln Park, there will be tons out your front door and within walking distance. If not that, then the public transit in Chicago is very large. I'm telling you this because you might want to weigh getting rid of your car, especially if you do not outright own this car and have car payments of any kind.

My suggestion though is to look in Lakeview or Lincoln Park within walking distance to the train or a train. While both areas have high rises, they're mostly made up of houses and low rise apartments. Many people in your age and situation live there (new-ish college grads with professional jobs) and seriously, in many areas of Chicago it seems like there's a bar on every corner. The ones in Lincoln Park are more pub-like on average, and also in certain areas of Lakeview of course. There's more of a mix I'd say in Lakeview though for that kind of thing.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Once you dial into an area your interested

I would suggest you bike your new commute and also take public transportation.

Great idea to do this at the exact times you would be commuting to your new job on Clark.

Not sure where your coming from originally?
It will not take long to adjust but its worlds away from South Bend, IN


Congrats on your new position.

[rparz]

padmapper.com is your friend.

Start your search at el stops and branch out from there.


If you think you've found somethign you like but still aren't sure, you're close enough and the weather is nice enough to go check out the area on a weekend night, you'll get a good feel for what its like there.