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Old 06-07-2012, 10:33 AM
 
1 posts, read 1,031 times
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This coming fall three of my friends and I are looking to move into Chicago for school and such. We are looking for a 3 bedroom apartment, where heat and water are included. We have an 80pound Great Pyrenees, very well trained and well mannered. The highest we can go for our budget is $1500, maybe $1600. We don't need to be IN the city, in fact we'd prefer a safe neighborhood just outside the city with either the CTA or metra easily available as transportation.

I've been told that the neighborhoods more up north from Chicago are safer, like Evanston, Rodgers Park, Lakeview, etc.
I also found Oak Park is a very good neighborhood however i hear the CTA going from there to chicago goes through one of the worst getto's in IL which doesn't sit with me too well.

But I guess if anyone could help with suggestions on any apartments that would fit I would b very great full!
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Old 06-07-2012, 10:45 AM
 
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
15,331 posts, read 23,764,559 times
Reputation: 7419
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLAWEFA View Post
This coming fall three of my friends and I are looking to move into Chicago for school and such. We are looking for a 3 bedroom apartment, where heat and water are included. We have an 80pound Great Pyrenees, very well trained and well mannered. The highest we can go for our budget is $1500, maybe $1600. We don't need to be IN the city, in fact we'd prefer a safe neighborhood just outside the city with either the CTA or metra easily available as transportation.

I've been told that the neighborhoods more up north from Chicago are safer, like Evanston, Rodgers Park, Lakeview, etc.
I also found Oak Park is a very good neighborhood however i hear the CTA going from there to chicago goes through one of the worst getto's in IL which doesn't sit with me too well.

But I guess if anyone could help with suggestions on any apartments that would fit I would b very great full!
1) Where will you be going to school and how much time do you want to spend commuting to school if you have to commute?

2) Not sure why you wouldn't want to live IN the city. Now, you might have to get pushed out further closer to the burbs, but there's many safe neighborhoods of Chicago. Also, Evanston is its own city not part of Chicago just so you know.

3) Green Line going to Oak Park...yeah it goes through a few bad parts but Garfield Park and Austin are not the worst areas of Chicago, although they can be bad.

4) What types of things do you like i.e. entertainment, food, bars, etc?
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Old 06-07-2012, 11:12 AM
 
Location: Chicago
3,869 posts, read 6,775,125 times
Reputation: 5423
Water is included in every part of the city. You pay for it in taxes. Heat included may be hard to find when your in a small apartment. High rise / Condo living usually has heat included. So, lets say you find a place that does NOT have heat included for 1400. Is that doable? I think turning down lower rent because heat isn't included is pretty goofy.

With that being said, your budget is still pretty small. I would recommend rogers park, uptown, evanston, logan square, or lincoln square. The dog issue will be different from apartment to apartment, not really neighborhood to neighborhood.
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Old 06-07-2012, 01:47 PM
 
Location: Chicago
6,025 posts, read 15,291,269 times
Reputation: 8152
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChiGuy2.5 View Post
Water is included in every part of the city. You pay for it in taxes. Heat included may be hard to find when your in a small apartment. High rise / Condo living usually has heat included. So, lets say you find a place that does NOT have heat included for 1400. Is that doable? I think turning down lower rent because heat isn't included is pretty goofy.

With that being said, your budget is still pretty small. I would recommend rogers park, uptown, evanston, logan square, or lincoln square. The dog issue will be different from apartment to apartment, not really neighborhood to neighborhood.
What he said. The thing about places with heat included is that it doesn't automatically equal a good deal. Our current apartment is heat included and it HORRIBLE! The apartment is drafty, the radiators finicky (one room was an icebox, the other a sauna), and you sometimes have little control over the heat. This past winter was downright balmy, but our sauna was still on. We're grateful of course since had this past winter been a typical Chicago winter, at least one of us would have frozen to death! In many buildings, there are set dates regarding when the heat will be turned on or off, actual weather be damned.

Not to say having heat included isn't a good thing, but I wouldn't completely disregard a listing just because heat isn't included. You may find that with a well maintained, updated apartment, paying for heat would be cheaper than paying an extra premium for the perceived value of having heat included. If you plan on sticking w/ a "heat included" apartment, check the windows to make sure they're fairly new and ask questions regarding when the heat comes on/off and how much control you have over heating your own apartment.
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