Big move to Chicago (Lincoln, Irving: apartment, rent, condo)

[toddytime]

Hey everyone, looking for some advice. Myself and 2 friends of mine will be moving to Chicago within the next year. We own 2 businesses that are on the rise and looking into the bigger market to help them grow. None of us are in any debt and 2 of us own vehicles. Ideally, we would like to live in a 2-3 bedroom, 2 bathroom town home or duplex of some sort. Apartment living is last on our list actually.

SO... we are wanting something relatively affordable in a safe-ish neighborhood. Probably looking at around $2000-$2500 a month in total bills.

Some points about us as well:
-we like the night life, bars specifically
-attend sporting events
-looking to find a good coffee shop
-go to the movies
etc

What do you guys think? Is there a certain amount each of us will need to have saved prior to the move?

[rparz]

Buy or rent?

Just because it isn't an apartment doesn't mean you can't rent a townhouse or duplex.

If it's buy and you're self employed, save a minimum of 20% down as documenting income will be dicey at best.

[marothisu]

Congrats on the business thing. Where are you originally from? Your concerns are obviously valid. I am going to say that there's pretty much bars everywhere in Chicago and tons of coffee shops. You can pretty much find that in any legitimate neighborhood. What kind of bars and restaurants do you like?

Your other points about sporting events and movies.. Realize that Chicago is a very big city, and things will dictate where you live (i.e. budget and what you like). Not every neighborhood has sporting events like NFL, MLB, NCAA basketball or football in it if that's what you mean, and same as movies. FORTUNATELY, the public transit system here is very, very large and there's cabs everywhere. Yes, if you plan on going to the Cubs and you don't live in the neighborhood, it's faster to take public transit instead of driving there if it's within a certain distance.

I'm not an expert on duplexes or townhomes' price ranges, but if it's similar to apartment pricing if you're going to be renting one out..then there's a few areas I could maybe suggest you look in. Most areas in Chicago have them except maybe the Loop downtown and River North. Gold Coast has them, but it's probably way out of your price range. For you guys, maybe look at Lakeview, Lincoln Square, Andersonville, Uptown, Wicker Park (maybe), Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, Irving Park..

I would save some money before too of course since you own your own business. Not everything in Chicago is cheap so it's good to have a backup living here in case anything happens to you. If you want to actually buy the condo/townhome/whatever then you're going to need to save a good amount of money beforehand for a down payment.

[toddytime]

For sure renting... if things progress well, we'll buy.

Also, do many areas with town homes and duplexes have decent parking? (meaning, aside from street and garage)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by toddytime

For sure renting... if things progress well, we'll buy.

Also, do many areas with town homes and duplexes have decent parking? (meaning, aside from street and garage)

Everything is on the street, meaning you have to get zone parking ($25/year). You have to show proof you live there, and you get a parking pass near your home's "zone." This means mostly parallel parking and you aren't guaranteed a spot infront of your place, but maybe. Whoever gets there first really...

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Now you just have to weigh how many cars you actually want to keep. No idea where you're coming from, but again Chicago is pretty similar to NYC in terms of driving and public transit (although Chicago is more car friendly than NYC for sure).

[toddytime]

Yeah sorry, coming from Wichita, Kansas.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by toddytime

Yeah sorry, coming from Wichita, Kansas.

Yes, so Chicago will be much, much different than Wichita. My suggestion is to find something close-ish to the train or a bus (look in Lakeview especially, maybe Lincoln Square, Wicker Park maybe, West Town like Ukrainian Village). The train and bus systems are huge here and very popular, and depending on where you're going, can be faster (as well as way cheaper) than driving there. I know tons of people here with cars and they only drive a handful of times/month.

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by marothisu

EChicago is pretty similar to NYC in terms of driving and public transit

Not really. Not even close, actually.

Originally Posted by marothisu

Chicago is more car friendly than NYC for sure).

Exactly.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Plzeň

Not really. Not even close, actually.

What I meant was that the most similar city in terms of public transit to NYC is probably Chicago and the fact that many people don't own cars in the city in many neighborhoods. It's a better comparison than than Boston and NYC, DC and NYC, and of course LA and NYC even though DC and Boston have a pretty good train system (though I think technically DC has slightly more riders per day on the train system than Chicago..if you factor in the bus system then it's more for Chicago I'm fairly certain). They both have heavy public transit systems that many people use (relatively of course), but Chicago is more car friendly than NYC by far as we all known.

It of course depends on what area of town you live in.......Anyway, it's good to live near some sort of public transit. That's really the point here..

[hindukid]

How old are you? If under 30 I would suggest Lakeview.