Single, 40, straight male considering Chi. Neighborhood suggestions?

[dcistheplace2b]

How about south Lincoln Park near Old Town or north Lincoln Park within walking distance to the movie theatre at Clark/Diversey? One bedrooms can be found for $1200. Close/in Old Town doesn't feel as infested with the college aged crowd.

[Telzey]

Originally Posted by chrisk1975

Hey everyone, thanks in advance for the help.

I grew up in Milwaukee, but have been in a small college town in Alabama (Auburn) since I was 20. As the years have gone by, my social life has become more and more limited & boring in a town full of students of breeders (people who move here to raise their kids).

After working 7 days a week for many years in the student housing business, I'm totally burned out. I am planning to sell all of my properties in 2015 and move out of town to a bigger city. My educational background is Construction Mgmt as an undergrad, and City Planning for my Masters. If I sell my apartment & condo holdings for reasonable prices, I should be OK with not working anywhere for a while, maybe as long as a year or more. Eventually, I expect to end up back in the Real Estate investing world, but in a new place and with a different role, possibly working from home as a silent investor in local developments or as a consultant/advisor/commercial site selection guy.

I mention all of that because I want you all to know that I don't expect a commute to be a factor, although I will probably always have a car or truck, even if I have to pay extra to park it. And an apartment with 2 br's or a 1 br with a sunroom/dining room (for a home office) will be fine for this 1-3 year interim period while I figure out what's next.

As of today, I am planning to relocate to Chicago for these reasons: 1) close to family in MKE, but not too close, 2) history of great architecture & planning, 3) rabid sports fans, 4) world class public space (parks, museums, neighborhood streets), 5) affordable urban neighborhoods, unlike NY, SF, or Boston.

OK, so where should I be looking to live in Chicago? I am not too fancy, but not an ironic hipster either. I will be 40 by Labor Day 2015, and I have lived in a neighborhood full of college kids & college bars for many years. I am ready for something different. I am usuallly single, and I don't drink. I would prefer to live near folks with at least an undergrad, but not in any specific field. That preference may be related to my recent surroundings, but my smarter neighbors tended to be better neighbors as well - less noise, less mess in common areas, etc

I would like to live where I can walk to a park, & to a movie theater if possible, maybe even a small office space (200-400sf) if needed. If not walking distance, transit is ok, too. Mostly, I want to have peers again - male and female - that aren't consumed with raising their kids or funneling beers after class. People to watch a game with, go to eat with, go to a movie, a museum, a play or a comedy club with... basically professional people in the city, singles ideally. Not a lot of that in a small southern town, as you may imagine.

Lastly, my budget will probably be around $1,000-$1,200/mo, including parking, but it can stretch a little if needed. I don't need a dishwasher or an in-unit laundry setup, in-building laundry will be good enough for now. I like the look of courtyard bldgs, but walk ups are fine too. Not a huge fan of high-rises.

Any suggestions on neighborhoods to focus on? And ones to avoid?

Thanks!

Not sure why you felt you needed to specify "straight". That seems a bit paranoid. CHicago, at least on the Northside, has only a handful of safe, yuppie-friendly neighborhoods, and so they have "always" been mixed straight/gay. You'll just have to live with that. So take that requirment out of your equation, and you'll have a better chance of success.

[UC18]

Originally Posted by MassVt

I agree--the OP should gravitate toward a neighborhood where he would feel comfortable, and not feeling like a pioneer..

Unless you have a time machine, you're a bit late to feel like a pioneer in any of those neighborhoods.

[NealIRC]

Originally Posted by dcistheplace2b

How about south Lincoln Park near Old Town or north Lincoln Park within walking distance to the movie theatre at Clark/Diversey? One bedrooms can be found for $1200. Close/in Old Town doesn't feel as infested with the college aged crowd.

I can't tell if you're answering or asking. The fact that you have 3 posts made it seem like you were asking.

It amazes me how all these White people in this forum are rich. I currently work a $15/hour job, but part-time.

My rent is $300/month. I spend about as much as I make. Well I make a little more than what I spend, because I still get some $$ from my parents per month.

But imagine $15/hour full-time. That would be double what I pay. I'd be able to even out at $700/month rent. $15/hour 40-hours/week is only $31,000 a year.

I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry, with a minor in computer science, from NEIU, and still lookin.

[NealIRC]

Originally Posted by Telzey

Not sure why you felt you needed to specify "straight". That seems a bit paranoid. CHicago, at least on the Northside, has only a handful of safe, yuppie-friendly neighborhoods, and so they have "always" been mixed straight/gay. You'll just have to live with that. So take that requirment out of your equation, and you'll have a better chance of success.

You'd be a little surprised about how men get discriminated for being shirtless. This would be from the male half.

[CharlesMcintyre]

Originally Posted by NealIRC

I can't tell if you're answering or asking. The fact that you have 3 posts made it seem like you were asking.

It amazes me how all these White people in this forum are rich. I currently work a $15/hour job, but part-time.

My rent is $300/month. I spend about as much as I make. Well I make a little more than what I spend, because I still get some $$ from my parents per month.

But imagine $15/hour full-time. That would be double what I pay. I'd be able to even out at $700/month rent. $15/hour 40-hours/week is only $31,000 a year.

I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry, with a minor in computer science, from NEIU, and still lookin.

It is because they were lucky to find a qualified job after college. The median salary for a public school teacher in Chicago is 74,839 (2012). Once upon a time a college degree would be a ticket for a good job. Today, a college degree is for many not worth more than the paper it is written on. Instead all these college graduates are forced to work non-skilled jobs making minimum-salary, clerk/administrative jobs or have short temporary employment. If you are one of those lucky who actually didn’t end up on McDonalds, in a help-desk or jump from temporary to temporary position but ended up getting permanent and full-time entry-level corporate or government professional job with a start with 40K a year and within a few years you will earn 50K which is enough for having a small but nice flat in a upper-middle class area in Chicago.

People go to college in hope of finding a professional jobs but a growing number fail to find such employment and so they will have the same salary increase like the guy who dropped out of high school. In the same time those who actually got a professional jobs receive higher and higher salaries although jobs are getting fewer and fewer. Some of the more bright ones went to trading school and became an electricians and start out at 30K but within few years make 50k. Sure, they will not make much more than 60K a year on their height of their career (working 20+ years) if they don’t become a supervisor, get into the right field or open their own business but they still make significantly more than the guy who went for social science or economic degrees and never find employment after college. When the Iron curtain fell in 1991 plenty of academics holding good jobs within the communist governments lost everything. They ended up begging on the streets of Moscow, Budapest, Prague, Kiev and Belgrade. Those who held a useful skill like carpeting, plumbing and electricians – had a much easier way of surviving. They were able to open their own shops and sell something which someone actually needed.

What you see know in United States, Canada, Northern and Western Europe is the same thing you saw after the failure of communism in Europe. People obtained skills which are not needed anymore. Jobs have been rationalized away, cut, replaced by cheap immigrant labor or by machines or just sent abroad. For example, the personal computer has killed lower administrative jobs like secretaries, once hold by working-class women. Internet has killed the reason to send regular mails which makes mailmen unemployed. This is what hyper-globalization; financial speculation and developments in human-capital management and technology do to regular people. It once affects the non-skilled working class, mostly people of color. It also affected industrial workers with ones good salaries. It is now affecting college graduates – mostly people below 35 years of age. In Spain about 700,000 people have left (many college educated) for greener pastures elsewhere. Many actually move to Latin-America where there is lack of skilled workers. It is a fact that Western education and working-culture is far superior when it comes to commercial output. They make less than in Spain but they progress much faster up the corporate ladder. Australia and New Zealand are also popular for many because there is still some demand although mostly for people which hold certain professional degrees.

Look what is going on Western politics and you understand that we are heading for extremely polarized times. In the age of industrialism in Europe the farmers was able to move to the colony when they was not able to run their farm anymore. United States and Canada wanted colonialists. Today, Western Europeans have nowhere to go because there is no “land ought to be discovered and cultivated” anymore. What we have no is a situation where half of the population will live a better life than ever and the other half in poverty or close to poverty.