Young Prof Relo to Chicago - job in Barrington

[tbone105]

Check out this website that will tell you what areas are a 30 minute commute via public transit from any point in Chicagoland: mapnificent.org (.com?, .net? perhaps) then you can use livebytransit.com to search for apartments within walking distance of metra and CTA stations. Good luck!

[sp0705]

foodie_girl... I am kinda in the same position as you right now. I work in Schaumburg and I am currently looking to move to the city and take the NW Metra train out to the Arlington Park stop for work. I grew up here and have lived in Schaumburg, Palatine, and Buffalo Grove (all very close to the areas you brought up - aside from Irving Park).

There is nothing that is going to stop me from moving to the city right now. I am tired of the burbs. So, I am currently looking around West Loop, South Loop, and River North in the city near the Ogilvie station. I have a friend that lives a 10 minute walk from the Clybourn stop, and he takes the train into Arlington Park also. Personally, I think it is the way to go. Especially if you are not from here, the city will be much easier for you to meet new people. But of course, that depends if you are willing to do that commute. My advice, don't even make your car a consideration if you move to the city.

If you are not willing to make that commute, I highly recommend Downtown Arlington Heights. It is not a very large area, but there is a lot more to do there than the surrounding areas. Plus, being right by the train makes it easy to go into the city when you want.

Feel free to send me a message to talk more about this. I know AH and the surrounding area like the back of my hand.

[NeighborhoodWatch65]

Originally Posted by marothisu

If you want a place where you can *walk* to grocery stores, gyms, restaurants, bars, etc..then the suburbs are not for you at all. Barrington is pretty far away from Chicago, or at least some of the neighborhoods you might want to try out.

Schaumburg has a ton of crap in it, but it's far from the "i can walk to that" or "i can hop on a train for that" mentality of much of Chicago. It's a suburb. All of those places are suburbs, except for Irving Park which is a neighborhood of Chicago. Thing is that even though Irving Park isn't too far from O'Hare, to get to Barrington, it would still take 40-45 minutes in light traffic from there just driving. If you wanted to live in Lakeview, which has much more going on, then it's easily 55 minutes in light traffic. Heavy traffic? Easily over an hour right? Even if you lived in Evanston, which is a suburb, but has Northwestern and is certainly more urban than most suburbs, it would take around the same time to drive it.

The metra train ride from Bucktown to Barrington is just under an hour, but if you don't live near the metra, then you have to take a bus trip. If you lived in Lakeview for example, then it would probably take you 30 minutes by bus to get to the metra and the total ride would be 90 minutes to Barrington. If you lived in Lincoln Park, then it might be 75 or 80 minutes.

The good thing about the train is that they're comfortable and you can do work on them, watch movies, listen to music, whatever. If you're driving, you can't do any of that. The downside is what do you do if you ride the train to Barrington and your office is not that close to the station?


I really have 3 recommendations for you:
1) Think about taking the train and realize that it might be an hour or so each way, and more depending on where you live, but taking the train is different than driving. You can actually work on stuff while riding the train. If you want to live in a walkable young professional area of Chicago.

2) Increase your driving commute time if you want to live in a young professional, walkable area of Chicago.

3) Give up your hopes of living in a young professional oasis that's walkable in Chicago and look to the suburbs. There are young professionals in the burbs no doubt, like in Schaumburg, but it's not the walkable urban areas that you are probably hoping for.

[NeighborhoodWatch65]

You are absolutely correct about Schuamburg. To add, it is not the friendliest place either. As a young person, the train WILL work best for you. As an older person who is active (it's okay). Belmont and Sheridan area near Lake Shore Drive is also an awesome area to live in.

Although, I lived there from 1993-1999. It began to change around 1995 (over populated by the yuppie group which then became over priced). I lived at 500 W. Belmont and it was central to every thing. It is pretty safe and fun. There is every type of transportation to select, taxis, buses, trains. There are a number of buses to shoot you right into Michigan Avenue life.

There are coffee shops (Intelligensia), A very cool record shop (Reckless Records), plenty of eateries and if that doesn't grab you there is ALL of Lincoln Park to choose from. For me, when I was younger, I really enjoyed living there because everything is around the corner. Walgreens, and other small shops. Very nice and yet very busy.

It was a best kept secret from the 1980s-1995 until all of these people from other states got wind of it and changed it around a bit ( but I am a stickler to "what was"). I still venture to this area (from Barrington and it is a heck of a long commute because it has the best doctors there, that I could not part with them and so it is worth it for me).

Also, the stops along the Brown Line are very hip and there are so many pockets of them venturing further North. There is Wicker Park, Irving Park, Bucktown...I can't name all of the stops, but there are so many cute "walk about" places even in those areas. Tons of them.

There are parts that are true neighborhoods where folks actually can raise their families and still come out non-dysfunctional (but seriously) as a young person, these are areas to highly consider if you are interested in the North Chicago areas. You cannot beat this. This is a great focus and there are place that were "up and coming" and now are up and running. Lots of nice looking fellows along the way. Everything a single gal could want and you can pretty much go to work in record time now that the CTA is building 40 person buses now. So, there is always a way to get to work and on time.

Schaumburg is not the cup of tea that it used to be. The diversity is great, but there are ugly things about that suburb that I would not recommend, at all. Too much of a social disconnect and alcoholism through the roof. It is insane. Don't let the seemingly or appearance of "quiet" or even "Safe" fool you. The young folks are too young, like immature dummies. It's unbelievable, it's like a cross between "Green Acres" and "Twilight Zone" (see how far I had to go back just to describe the situation).

Now, Hoffman Estates and South Barrington are decent, but again, stay away from complex living. Please do not go for the "bargains" of complex lifestyle, everything they advertise is a lie and you will want to relocate faster than the day that you sign the lease.

I really liked Barrington, but this is true, it is not anything like the Belmont/ Lincoln Park areas where the walkability is very polar opposites. Barrington is quiet and there leaves no loitering of jerks, which is safer for you, but I know that you want "thriving" and this is very understandable for a young person. Barrington has better Police Officers who truly do their job and whom you get to know.

Barrington is for folks like me in their early 40s (but still hip inside and married w/out kids) but at the same time there are a lot of families as well and this makes it like home (or where ever you grew up). The metra train runs right in the middle and not far from Main Street (yes there is a "Main Street"). Beautiful little community, well kept, very friendly people (some can be on the greedy side--as long as they get their money for their justifiable reasons why you should overpay---which is a can of malarky).

Like that Journey song "anyway you want it , that's the way I need it".......The cons of living in Chicago is if you have a car, the parking is insane. For instance, if you want to live in a quaint and charming walk up or any building (built after 1965) or any age, they will charge you like no one's business for the parking. Even along Sheridan Rd. nearest Loyola. Last that was charged (and this was in 2002, was 185.00 to park your car in ADDITION to your monthly rent) and it just doesn't compute when the parking is a part of where you live.

Working on stuff on the train is fun and Metra is a peaceful ride and runs regularly as scheduled. CTA trains can be hit or miss, but they run, and yet they are crammed with young and middle aged folks during the week.

1). Schaumburg really sucks on top of the nerve not being a walkable area. You'll be miserable
2). Most of the Northwest Suburbs are drive-only or Metra available.
3). Always take the extra time to research exactly what will work for you and where you will see (or can imagine yourself "coming home" to at the end of the day.
4). Go to the Metra website and study the stops and where they take you and how long it will take to get to work. Studying the stops also helps so that you can list a potential area that you would like to live in and research through this website and through wikipedia (yes, this is true, wikipedia goes into detail of any town or community in all of Chicago and through out ALL of Illinois).
5). The Reader (a Northside newspaper which can be as thick as the Chicago Sun-Times Sunday paper) is a free paper and has some very good resources of apartments and apartment services that are advertised to help you locate a place which is truly designed for you (20s and up)
6). Always think about winter time and how long it will take you to get to work. Folks forget about the snow and the micro temps for waiting for public transportation in the summer/spring time. Believe me, you'll thank me when the snow arrives and you live in some isolated, but hip or trendy area and the buses are late or run off schedule.

7). Be selective and please avoid living in those super mega complexes. Any thing that begins with "The" Something or other may sound fantastic, but is truly a pot luck of behavioral nightmare. I am not exaggerating. They tend to brag about "oh we have great security" but what that means is that the security tends to be seasonal and tends to be non-existant w/ some wild excuse about why it isn't there. The crime has increased in complex buildings with 20-30+ units. The reason has nothing to do with what bone heads tend to blame it on either. Across the board, you must consider the alcohol binging, the loud yelping and animal sounds (note that I wrote "animal" and not "pet"). The under ground pot exchanges and jerks running in and out of their apartments or stalking or sudden "deaths" in the nice duck ponds. Comples living does not like to give back security deposits either as they are operated by even supersized companies and multiple building owners in other states. Believe me, avoid this at all costs. It will make you bitter and don't sign leases that contain over 3 pages.

Too much litigation and no responsibility for your rights or safety. These places take no precautions for young single women and their safety needs when returning home from work. Also, there are a lot of latchkey or no key or what ever the heck teens running in crowds (across the board) who are so icky, that it isn't worth trying to save the money. You get what you pay for.

The areas that I suggested are pretty decent. Palentine is a come or go , and/or take or leave it. Not too impressed and I haven't seen an easy route for the Metra. There are nice and quiet pockets of Palentine, but you really need to take the time to drive around and be sure that this is what you want for who you are. Always check out the places at night time because it tells you the truth about an area. Schaumburg is just a bad place all the way around and please stay FAR away from Places like "Treehouse Apartments" or "International Apartments". People have been attacked , killed, burglarized, arsoned, found dead in the yard...I am not kiddding and they lie like hell on their "apartment ratings" websites.

The Property managers sneak in your apartment with out your authorization and you will end up victimized. These are very bad places. Do not believe in any of the ads or what the property managers say because they have been know to write their own reviews. Bad reviews are true reviews. Reviews that over glow are written by the Property manager (you can also tell by the style of writing).

Also, check out Craigslist as well (a lot of places are best kept secrets there and most do not think of going there to look for a nice home, quiet, near metra and has walkability. Use your mapquest and Google Maps. They are the best and will give you an excellent street view of the neighborhood.

I think I have covered what I do know. I hope it helps. ;-)