Finding an apartment in Chicago to start school! (Lincoln, Irving: apartments, rentals)

[luckyducky87]

I am moving to Chicago in August with my boyfriend to start school! I will be at the Northwestern Medical School campus (Feinberg) and he will be at the University of Chicago campus. Can anyone recommend good neighborhoods to look into to find an apartment??

Things that will be important to us are (1) safety of the neighborhood, (2) distance from each of the schools, and (3) general price range...

Would you recommend making appointments with as many realtors as we can in the appropriate neighborhoods? What kind of rent price range can we expect for a "spacious" 1-bedroom (obviously not looking for luxury, but don't want it to feel crammed for 2 occupants)? Lastly, is there a "typical" lease start date in the city of Chicago? (i.e. I am moving from Boston, and here most 12-mth rents start Sept 1 and is tricky to find a lease at other times of the year... anything similar in Chicago?)

[Kevin J]

The typical lease start dates in Chicago are May 1 and October 1. But there are plenty of apartments available for immediate rental at any part of the year. If you start a lease in August, the landlord may make it a 14-month lease to get back on the October 1 cycle.

There's no neighborhood perfectly in the between those two locations. The best you could do to try to even out share the travel burden for both of you is the South Loop. It's a very safe neighborhood, full of young professionals, and has plenty of neighborhood amenities. Most of the apartments in this area are newer construction and may be pricier than you're looking to pay as students. But in this market, there are surely bargains to be had, particularly if you rent directly from an absentee condo owner.

Besides the South Loop, your only other options realistically are to live in one of the neighborhoods where each of you is attending school. Streeterville where Northwestern Medical School is located will be the more expensive of those two options by far. Streeterville is a very upscale downtown neighborhood full of highrises. The cost of living in general is higher in this neigborhood too.

Hyde Park will be much cheaper. Although it is perfectly liveable and has most of the typical amenities you'll expect in a neighborhood, it's isolated from other places in the city you might want to spend time. Not that you'll have a lot of spare time in medical/graduate school, but Hyde Park doesn't even have a first-run movie theater, for example, and the nearest one is in the South Loop, five miles away. Hyde Park also has a higher crime rate than Streeterville. Not that Hyde Park is a war zone or anything, but the fact that it's a middle-to-upper class neighborhood surrounded by poorer neighborhoods means that it is a magnet for some crime. Generally, sticking to sound big-city common sense will keep you safe, though: no walking alone on at night, especially for a woman, not flashing valuables, etc.

For what it's worth, I went to law school at Northwestern's Streeterville campus and I had several classmates who lived in Hyde Park. One person I knew was in the same situation you're in: one spouse in school at Northwestern in Streeterville and the other at the U of C in Hyde Park. I think they chose to live in Hyde Park for the cheaper rent. Not to be overlooked either is that if you live in one of the two neighborhoods where either of you is attending school, you eliminate commuting expenses for one of you. If you tried to split the difference in the South Loop, both of you would be paying to commute, whether by car or on public transportation. Living where one of you can walk to school could save you hundreds of dollars a year.

[hindukid]

I'd concentrate more on the UofC student as Northwestern is easily accessible from anywhere.

First question to ask is whether you will have a car or not. My wife went to law school at UofC and drove there. Almost all her classmates either drove or walked. Public transportation to the UofC is pretty lousy.

In your case I wouldn't really suggest living in Hyde Park because transportation is bad and you will have a tough time getting downtown.

When my wife was in law school we actually lived in Lakeview. Its clear on the opposite side of the city but it actually worked really well. It was because we lived right next to lakeshore and UofC is very close to lakeshore. So it was 12 miles but it was all highway and it generally took her under 20 minutes. We lived 2 blocks from the lake on Irving Park and it took her under 2 minutes 2 get on lakeshore. Actually I suggest you look at our old building as its pretty well priced and perfectly situated for you.

We used to live across the street from this building which is operated by the same company. Our building would have odd numbers in the 700's on Irving Park.
https://dimensions.appfolio.com/list...0-df88b9c63aa2 This 1 bed is $875 so its pretty reasonable. We paid $1295 for a 2 bed in 2009.

Keep in mind that traffic on the north side city streets is slow so every block you live west of the lake will add up. Also living close to the entrances at Irving Park, Belmont, Fullerton or North will help.

Another plus of Lincoln park and lakeview is that they are great neighborhoods with tons going on and tons of people in your age group. Also much cheaper than living in River North/Gold coast/downtown. Your commute will be easy as there is all sorts of transportation to Northwestern.

I would avoid River North/Gold coast/downtown. They are right next to Northwestern, but a pain by public transport to UC. Also they will be a lot more expensive and parking will be way harder.

Other neighborhoods to consider would be Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village and Pilsen. Ukrainian Village will be easy to get to NW as 66 bus goes straight there. The drive along dan ryan to UC can have a lot of traffic and its probably 7 or 8 miles. At off times though its easy. Pilsen will involve a change of trains for you but a shorter less congested drive to UofC.

First I would really think about your car situation. IMO its way easier to get to UofC with a car. Plus its nice to have one per couple anyways. If your BF is willing to drive then you have lots of options. If not then you have no good options.

[luckyducky87]

Thanks for the info!

Yes, a detail I forgot to mention... no car. Neither of us has a car, and since we won't be rolling in spare cash any time soon, we won't be investing in one yet. I do get a monthly transport pass from NW, so any commute won't cost me any money whereas my bf will have to pay for his own commute, if there will be a need for him to commute.

[oakparkdude]

Perhaps its my bias as a doctor, but if you are going to be in medical school, you should live closer to Northwestern and let your boyfriend schlep to Hyde Park. (If he's in medical school too, then you're both kinda screwed.) With few exceptions, medical students will be spending more hours at school than any other kind of student, and can benefit the most from a short commute.

[hindukid]

Originally Posted by luckyducky87

Thanks for the info!

Yes, a detail I forgot to mention... no car. Neither of us has a car, and since we won't be rolling in spare cash any time soon, we won't be investing in one yet. I do get a monthly transport pass from NW, so any commute won't cost me any money whereas my bf will have to pay for his own commute, if there will be a need for him to commute.

Study the CTA website and look for other transport options into/out of Hyde park. Closest subway/el stop is Green Line at 63rd. Its still a hike, through a dangerous area though and not a very good option. I don't really think there is a very good CTA train option.

I am sure there are buses to hyde park so you might want to look into those. Any thing on the north side though is going to take forever and won't be a good option. I suppose you could live in Hyde park and ride bus north to NW, live downtown and he could ride bus south to UofC, or live in the middle and both ride the bus. Only good solution in the middle is south loop. Google estimates hyde park to NW at just over an hour so there will be some real commute time.

there is a metra station at 59th street. It goes to millenium station where you could transfer to the CTA. Its still going to take 45 minutes or longer to get from Hyde park to NW. You could live near millenium station but that will be really expensive.

Without a car, I think your best options are:

Live in Hyde park and you can commute about an hour each way or live in South loop and you commute 20 minutes and he commutes 40 minutes. You could live by NW and he would commute an hour but you will pay 50% more to live up there.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by luckyducky87

I am moving to Chicago in August with my boyfriend to start school! I will be at the Northwestern Medical School campus (Feinberg) and he will be at the University of Chicago campus. Can anyone recommend good neighborhoods to look into to find an apartment??

Things that will be important to us are (1) safety of the neighborhood, (2) distance from each of the schools, and (3) general price range...

Would you recommend making appointments with as many realtors as we can in the appropriate neighborhoods? What kind of rent price range can we expect for a "spacious" 1-bedroom (obviously not looking for luxury, but don't want it to feel crammed for 2 occupants)? Lastly, is there a "typical" lease start date in the city of Chicago? (i.e. I am moving from Boston, and here most 12-mth rents start Sept 1 and is tricky to find a lease at other times of the year... anything similar in Chicago?)

Best mid-way point between the two schools in a decent neighborhood would be South Loop. For a "spacious" one-bedroom in South Loop expect to start around $1,500/mo. There are apartment rental agencies that specifically handle rentals so realtors aren't really necessary. I wouldn't bother contacting more than 3 agencies; any more than that and their inventory tends to overlap as it's not unusual for landlords using rental agents to have their listings with more than one agency.

[oakparkdude]

BTW, the CTA runs express buses from the Loop to University of Chicago on rush hour schedules. It starts at Ogilvie Metra station with stops at Union Station and Roosevelt Rd CTA station, then non-stop to Hyde Park.

http://www.transitchicago.com/riding...px?RouteId=302

[sfcambridge]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

BTW, the CTA runs express buses from the Loop to University of Chicago on rush hour schedules. It starts at Ogilvie Metra station with stops at Union Station and Roosevelt Rd CTA station, then non-stop to Hyde Park.

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This is the best answer. Living in South Loop (something walking distance to the Roosevelt Rd stop), he can take the bus. But this will be very pricey, and may be hard for two students to afford. Probably the bus would also get you to Northwestern from there the quickest.

Agree that living in Hyde Park is not a good idea, with a more onerous commute for the person who may have the craziest hours. Also, it is not safe for a woman to commute to that green line train station in Hyde Park alone at all hours of the early morning/after dark at night. You will have many long days/late nights as a med student.

If I were you I would talk with some of the students there now to find out what they do, and how they manage. Most of them tend to live North of downtown, but this is not practical for your boyfriend.

[rparz]

Most practical and desirable would be for you to probably live on the north side, closer to Northwestern. Check out Uptown, Edgewater or Rogers Park to free up some cash for a car.
Tell the BF to suck it up, he's going to be driving to school. Bang down LSD to Hyde Park isn't that bad. Street parking around UofC is possible if he's willing to walk 2-3 blocks to school.