Moving to Chicago for school, neighborhood advice.. (Berwyn, Lincoln: real estate, apartment)

[colby11]

This July my boyfriend and I will be moving across the country to Chicago and I'm planning on attending Loyola in the fall. We're finding the Edgewater neighborhood appealing for its diversity, quiet neighborhood vibe, and distance to Loyola. We will have a car, but I would love to be able to walk to the Red line to commute to Loyola. We are primarily looking for places within a couple blocks of the Red line. I have heard that certain parts of Edgewater (like all neighborhoods) are a little sketchy, and I want to know which Red line stop (Granville, Thorndale, Bryn Mawr, or Berwyn) would be my best choice, or what areas of Edgewater you would recommend for a commuter like myself. If you would like to recommend another neighborhood please do, I am completely new to this city and going by what I know via blogs, reviews here, etc. Thanks so much.

[marothisu]

Welcome! I think it depends on what you are used to. I certainly don't find most of Edgewater sketchy (some people some people sometimes can be "meh." The thing is though, that's fine. There are even sketchy people who sometimes hang around my red line stop downtown. Not a big deal), but I can see if other people do in a few places.

There's a lot of good neighborhoods though and some others worth considering. However, it would help to know what your price range is (and also what type of place you're looking for), what type of neighborhood you're looking at (i.e. the types of places, people, restaurants, etc), what you guys like doing, etc.

Also, re: the car. It's certainly easier to own one here versus NYC, but in a number of neighborhoods, you will probably find yourself barely using it. Just some food for thought on that.

[Aleking]

Berwyn or Bryn Mawr are preferable, none of the above are bad.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Aleking

Berwyn or Bryn Mawr are preferable, none of the above are bad.

this is correct

[jgardener]

Most of Edgewater is walkable to Loyola, less so the further south and west you go, if you lived off the Thorndale or Granville stops it might even be faster to walk versus walking to/from the station and waiting for the train. Generally west of Broadway is a little nicer than east of Broadway, but east of Broadway has more rentals. There is usually more street parking west of Broadway (except for right around Senn High School).

[Aleking]

Also, get a bike

[colby11]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Welcome! I think it depends on what you are used to. I certainly don't find most of Edgewater sketchy (some people some people sometimes can be "meh." The thing is though, that's fine. There are even sketchy people who sometimes hang around my red line stop downtown. Not a big deal), but I can see if other people do in a few places.

There's a lot of good neighborhoods though and some others worth considering. However, it would help to know what your price range is (and also what type of place you're looking for), what type of neighborhood you're looking at (i.e. the types of places, people, restaurants, etc), what you guys like doing, etc.

Also, re: the car. It's certainly easier to own one here versus NYC, but in a number of neighborhoods, you will probably find yourself barely using it. Just some food for thought on that.

Well we are looking to buy a condo, but possibly rent the first year we're there. Our price range is 200k max and we would be willing to go up to $2000 a month all inclusive for rent. Coming from a much smaller city than Chicago, I feel like we would want a quieter place, and although nightlife is fun, we don't want it being right next door. As far as food goes - we love it. So any place with great food, if possible within walking distance - would be wonderful. Another important thing would be a place that is very LGBT friendly, although I'm not sure I've heard of anywhere on the North side not being very accepting.

I've read up on Rogers Park and we have our eye on a condo near the Howard station, which is a death trap according to reviewers on Yelp. So I don't know if I should trust the reviews, or just assume they are over-exhaggerating. People tend to do that.. I know I can't escape everything, but I'm just trying to find the best fit.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by colby11

Well we are looking to buy a condo, but possibly rent the first year we're there. Our price range is 200k max and we would be willing to go up to $2000 a month all inclusive for rent. Coming from a much smaller city than Chicago, I feel like we would want a quieter place, and although nightlife is fun, we don't want it being right next door. As far as food goes - we love it. So any place with great food, if possible within walking distance - would be wonderful. Another important thing would be a place that is very LGBT friendly, although I'm not sure I've heard of anywhere on the North side not being very accepting.

I've read up on Rogers Park and we have our eye on a condo near the Howard station, which is a death trap according to reviewers on Yelp. So I don't know if I should trust the reviews, or just assume they are over-exhaggerating. People tend to do that.. I know I can't escape everything, but I'm just trying to find the best fit.

Makes sense. I would probably recommend renting your first year only to discover what you want. Since Chicago is completely new to you, you probably don't want to make a mistake of buying right away and discovering you hate the area. A year will hopefully give you enough time to learn about various neighborhoods (Chicago is a big time neighborhood city).

For $2000/month, do you mean a 1 or 2 bedroom? I would probably recommend a few areas of the north side to you based on what you said. I would agree with you that most of the north side (most of the city really) is very accepting of LGBT community. Of course, the epicenter of this is Boystown in Lakeview but there's other areas. SO based off this, I recommend a few areas and should be in your range no matter if you want a 1 or 2 bedroom (some places might be at the upper range though, you'd have to look).

1) Andersonville. It's right next to Edgewater (technically part of it). The train doesn't go directly through it but it's a short walk or some buses might take you near there I believe. From the red line near there, it's not very far down. Has a number of LGBT couples living there, lot of good restaurants (middle eastern/Persian, a few southern, swedish, etc), shops, art stuff. I could blind fold you and take you here and you'd have no idea you were in the middle of a city of 3 million people. It's pretty laid back and yeah there's some bars there. It's also right near Argyle, which is Chicago's Little Vietnam and close to a bunch of other stuff.



2) Lincoln Square/Ravenswood/North Center areas. It's on the Brown Line a little west of Andersonville. Lincoln Square is a cool little area with a number of good restaurants and shops. The areas of Ravenswood and part of North Center have it in other areas too, very laid back. Very quiet. My girlfriend used to live in this area and I remember waking up in the summer just thinking about how quiet it was, but I could easily just get out and walk to some places nearby. If I wanted to go other places, I just hop on the brown line which can take me a bunch of other places and it was only about 25-30 minutes to my place Downtown. Kind of like above in Andersonville. Both these areas are pretty easy to get to "Little India" (Devon) too. Lincoln Square is more of a direct shot though.

If you want to get to Loyola, you ride the Brown Line a few stops to the "Belmont" stop, then you transfer from there to the Red Line and ride that up a little bit.






Rogers Park has a lot of good things going for it, but there's also some shady stuff happening (especially around Howard). It depends on what you're used to, but that is one station that has some of the most crime happening around it of any CTA station in the system.

[urbanlife78]

Edgewater would be your best bet, it is in walking distance to the college (which when I was in college in Oregon being able to walk to class was the best.) I would definitely aim for that neighborhood and the Red Line is right there so it will be easy to get to anywhere you want to go in Chicago.

Plus the rents in Edgewater are really good and you can get a pretty big apartment for the money.

[Bird4Prez]

Marothisu put up a good detailed post (not gonna copy it because it is sooooo long). So did everyone else. I just bought at the Granville stop and couldn't be happier. I think Edgewater is one of the most underrated neighborhoods in the city. You shouldn't have any problem finding a two bedroom condo for 150,000 to 200,000 depending on how close to the lake and red line. As for there being "sketchy" parts of Edgewater........I think that is relative. There will be panhandlers, drug addicts, and folks that are crazy walking around, but unfortunately that is the way Chicago and most big cities are. The neighborhood certainly isn't overrun by those folks and there is minimal street violence. Generally speaking, Edgewater is always in the top 15 safest areas of the city. I am not a real estate expert, but I would say that the neighborhood is trending upwards.
Chicago Crime -- ChicagoTribune.com