Moving to Chicago Next Month, Plan of Attack (Des Plaines, Washington: fit in, leasing agent)

[Vlajos]

Leases of less than a year are rare here.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Leases of less than a year are rare here.

The pattern of college kids that are from out of state and attending school in/ around Chicago as well as kids that go to school in neighboring areas and then move into Chicago's desirable areas drive a sizeable part of the rental market.

Additionally our weather patterns, with a pleasant spring / early summer, followed by often extreme heat and then a pleasant autumn before a frigid winter have conditioned smart landlords to have leases expire when the moving is easy.

There is some demand for short term leases but since much of that is tied to relocation the specialized "corporate housing" firms mostly benefit from having a small number of high priced fully furnished units...

The illegal rental markets promoted by AirBnB seem to be gaining popularity especially among folks stuck with underwater condos and forced into the accidental landlord category...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Some posters have blinders on and seem to take every opportunity to suggest that Wicker Park is the be-all-end-all of residential experience in Chicago. The diffculty that comes from living in a very popular area is that rents are high and selling prices are even higher and if the situation for the OP expecting a transfer falls through they will be alone in a very party oriented place. Not good.

I don't see why an area like Wicker Park, Bucktown, or Ukrainian Village is bad. It fits the neighborhood description for what the OP and his wife are looking for, and even if the transfer does not go through, getting to Union Station from there is extremely easy. The OP's wife is not commuting daily to Union Station, it's once a week and back. They don't need to live right next door to it and can live in many other neighborhoods. that have easy access to it. The West Loop is certainly not bad, but there is more going on in other parts of town.

I see this as no different than a consultant flying out of O'Hare or Midway once a week. While there are no CTA stops directly next to Union Station, there is one about 1-2 city blocks away, another one is about 3 blocks away, and there are a few bus routes that drop off near or right at Union Station.

I also agree with the sentiment to not buy yet. Make sure your wife gets a transfer, and then figure out whether you actually like Chicago or not before you consider buying.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I don't see why an area like Wicker Park, Bucktown, or Ukrainian Village is bad. It fits the neighborhood description for what the OP and his wife are looking for, and even if the transfer does not go through, getting to Union Station from there is extremely easy. The OP's wife is not commuting daily to Union Station, it's once a day and back. They don't need to live right next door to it and can live in many other neighborhoods. that have easy access to it. The West Loop is certainly not bad, but there is more going on in other parts of town.

I see this as no different than a consultant flying out of O'Hare or Midway once a week. While there are no CTA stops directly next to Union Station, there is one about 1-2 city blocks away, another one is about 3 blocks away, and there are a few bus routes that drop off near or right at Union Station.

I also agree with the sentiment to not buy yet. Make sure your wife gets a transfer, and then figure out whether you actually like Chicago or not before you consider buying.

I agree, especially with the last statement. So many move , and then find out that the new place isn't quite as grand as they thought. I do suspect , though, that they will find ways to amke it work, and that might include holding off on buying until everything is set up properly...

[marothisu]

^ I also meant "once a week" not "once a day." I think if she was commuting to Milwaukee every single day, then West Loop would be even more attractive. Otherwise, it's no different than thousands of consultants out there who travel out of airports Tuesday - Friday who live in many, many neighborhoods of town.

[ToriaT]

I think the plans you are making have a great chance of not being successful. I suggest renting for a year and seeing what happens. Do not buy anything quickly. Too much can go wrong with plans. What makes you think you would want to be away from your fiancé for most of the week? She may not get a job in Chicago...commuting is a nightmare here and she would be facing 3 to four hours a day to commute. From leaving her house in Wicker park, it will take at least 45 min to get to Union station when you count everything in. They traveling up to Milw, then to the job. Its a nightmare. Okay maybe you can do it for a while. How about when the switches are frozen and she does not get home until after ten pm. My friends got home at 8 recently and they live here.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

From leaving her house in Wicker park, it will take at least 45 min to get to Union station when you count everything in.

How do you figure that? It depends on where you live in relation to the train stop, and 45 minutes isn't a realistic time for most of that area even if you have to walk 7 minutes to your station.

The Damen-O'Hare stop to the Clinton stop is 9 stops, which takes 15 minutes usually, 20 minutes if there are a lot of people on the train. Trains are usually on time and when they aren't, the average delay is not more than a minute or two. It's easy to learn a schedule in the mornings for when trains come or use a transit track app for your smart phone so you aren't waiting randomly for 5+ minutes on a platform. I think people who just blindly go out to a train platform when they live in that area, or spend a lit of time there, without either learning the schedule or using a transit tracker app are slightly inept at using public transit.

If you live a 5-7 minute walk away (or bus ride) from that specific blue line station, and you learn the schedule and wait outside for 2 minutes, you'll be at the Clinton stop within a minimum of about 22-25 minutes and maximum more like 27-30. Then it's a 5 minute walk. You can easily make the entire trip door to door in under 30 minutes even if you live a good amount away from a stop. If you live very close to the stop, then you could make it door to door in probably 20 minutes.

Again to me, this is not much different than a consulting job requiring an airport, and consultants live all over the place in this city. She won't be doing this every single day. It's a once a week thing. If it was a once a day thing, I'd be more apt to agree with you that the commute could become slightly tiring. However, there's thousands of people who work in the Loop and commute more than 30-40 minutes each way per day. This is a once a week thing.

[dangr]

All good advice. I guess we are definitely eager to stop paying rent, finally. Back to the renting aspect of things, however... logistically, how do I find a place to live if I only have like a day and a half in Chicago? Should I contact an agent?

I'm noticing that some apartments are close to Metra. Is that a good option for the Fiancee to get to Union Station? That would maybe open up Neighborhoods like Avondale?

Oh...if heat is not included in rent... how much should I budget for the scary Chicago winters? $100? $200? (My thermostat is set between 60-70)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by dangr

All good advice. I guess we are definitely eager to stop paying rent, finally. Back to the renting aspect of things, however... logistically, how do I find a place to live if I only have like a day and a half in Chicago? Should I contact an agent?

My suggestion is to look on sites like Zillow, Domu.com, Rent.com, etc and create a list of places you want to see beforehand. Do your research and contact these places so they'll give you a showing when you're out here. Some places can go really fast too in the hotter neighborhoods.

There are rental agencies here, but some of them employ kind of shady tactics. if you aren't having much luck, then I'd recommend them kind of as a last resort.

I'm noticing that some apartments are close to Metra. Is that a good option for the Fiancee to get to Union Station? That would maybe open up Neighborhoods like Avondale?

Depends on the line - not all Metra lines go to Union Station, but usually they will drop off close to it if you're coming from the North or West part of town. There's another train center for Metra which is called Ogilvie a few blocks from Union Station. It is a little further away from Union Station than the Clinton Blue Line stop is, but depending on where you are in relation to the Metra stop, it could be faster to take it versus the CTA.

If you were to open up and look at places along there that go directly into Union Station, then I'd honestly take Ravenswood over Avondale. Avondale is okay, but it may be too up and coming for your wife. Pretty working class + slightly hipster neighborhood (and I think a lot of flight attendants may live there, apparently). There's some decent areas and some good food there - some of the activity from Logan Square has started to trickle in there slowly and some of the people.

The Union Station oriented trains that pick up near Avondale are near the freeway and personally, I'm not a huge fan of some of these areas. Some can be kind of sparse, former office type of stuff, or they don't have tons going on.

[Anne C M]

Originally Posted by dangr

All good advice. I guess we are definitely eager to stop paying rent, finally. Back to the renting aspect of things, however... logistically, how do I find a place to live if I only have like a day and a half in Chicago? Should I contact an agent?

I'm noticing that some apartments are close to Metra. Is that a good option for the Fiancee to get to Union Station? That would maybe open up Neighborhoods like Avondale?

Oh...if heat is not included in rent... how much should I budget for the scary Chicago winters? $100? $200? (My thermostat is set between 60-70)

If you only have a day and a half in the city, you need to go in with a plan and a checkbook. You’ll have to essentially apply on the spot. Short term leases are not common, so you need to filter for places that will allow for that beforehand. My advice is that on such a tight timeline, you’ll be better off working with 1 or 2 people who can show you all the places that meet your needs rather than appointments with 10 different people.

I just got my gas bill for the last month and it was $223 (1000ft2 but high ceilings). Summers are much less.

Many rental sites are full of lies. Sounds dramatic, but it’s true. Most of them have a lot of either blatantly incorrect or missing information as a way to get you interested and contact them.

I work in real estate in the city, primarily with buyers, but I may be able to help you and answer questions you have. Message me if you want to talk more.