22 year old searching for a place to live (Chicago, Lincoln: apartments, rentals)

[JKHOSU]

Hi all,

I am a 22 year old single male planning to move to Chicago this December and I will be looking for a place to rent.

What I am looking for:

-$300-$500 dollars per month, including heat/electric/internet
-A parking spot for my car
-1 bedroom with a bed.
-Access to a bathroom, some sort of a kitchen with a stove and a refrigerator.
-Roommates (if any) that are quiet and not into drugs.
-Preferably near the Lincoln Park downtown area, but not in a dangerous location.

Is this a realistic situation to be looking for? Do you know of any neighborhoods that might have housing like this?

Thanks a lot,
Joe

[chet everett]

I doubt you can find anything with a parking spot even split 3 ways that would be $300. OTOH if you could find somebody who is willing to kick about $400 to your $500 and they don't need a parking space I could see that working.

Rentals get whacky as the year nears an end -- some kids that fail out of their fall semester head home in same and their former roommates have to scramble to get a replacement and landlords get nervous that they won't have any tenants all winter long. You can get a good deal if you are local and can check out such situations around UIC, DePaul's Lincoln Park campus and parts of Rogers Park close to Loyola.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by JKHOSU

Hi all,

I am a 22 year old single male planning to move to Chicago this December and I will be looking for a place to rent.

What I am looking for:

-$300-$500 dollars per month, including heat/electric/internet
-A parking spot for my car
-1 bedroom with a bed.
-Access to a bathroom, some sort of a kitchen with a stove and a refrigerator.
-Roommates (if any) that are quiet and not into drugs.
-Preferably near the Lincoln Park downtown area, but not in a dangerous location.

Is this a realistic situation to be looking for? Do you know of any neighborhoods that might have housing like this?

Thanks a lot,
Joe

Sorry to burst your bubble, but you aren't going to get anywhere near Lincoln Park or downtown on that budget, not to mention about parking and what not. $300-$500 including heat/electric/internet is almost unheard of here in a non dangerous neighborhood. Even up north near Loyola, IL university, the cheapest units, studios, are like $500/month before utilities for even apartments geared towards students.

You are going to have to probably find a 3 or 4 bedroom in an area like Pilsen, Bridgeport. I've heard of people paying $400/month in areas of Humboldt Park, but most (not ALL, but 90%) of HP is dangerous. One of the worst neighborhoods in town. I would say you might want to look in Logan Square too, and you might get lucky, but then again if you find that it might be in a sketch part of Logan Square too.

In short, $300-$500/month after everything near downtown or lincoln park is not realistic

[JKHOSU]

Thanks a bunch for these tips. I probably sound naive, but I am currently living on the West side of Columbus, OH, in a beautiful, quiet clean neighborhood, with all of the perks that I just listed, for less than $435/month total. The place I lived before that was under $400 total rent and utilities.

Pilsen and Bridgeport- I will check it out. It looks like about an 18 minute drive to downtown, which wouldn't be so bad. Humboldt Park I will stay away from- being dead is not in my immediate future plans.

It sounds like the Loyola campus area is ideal for what I'm looking for as well, provided I can get a good price.

The reason I wanted to be close to downtown (besides social scene) was because I'm also a church organist and a lounge pianist at hotels and clubs and things like that- I haven't really done an in-depth study of the music scene in Chicago yet, but I figured that a large part of it would be concentrated downtown.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by JKHOSU

Thanks a bunch for these tips. I probably sound naive, but I am currently living on the West side of Columbus, OH, in a beautiful, quiet clean neighborhood, with all of the perks that I just listed, for less than $435/month total. The place I lived before that was under $400 total rent and utilities.

Pilsen and Bridgeport- I will check it out. It looks like about an 18 minute drive to downtown, which wouldn't be so bad. Humboldt Park I will stay away from- being dead is not in my immediate future plans.

It sounds like the Loyola campus area is ideal for what I'm looking for as well, provided I can get a good price.

The reason I wanted to be close to downtown (besides social scene) was because I'm also a church organist and a lounge pianist at hotels and clubs and things like that- I haven't really done an in-depth study of the music scene in Chicago yet, but I figured that a large part of it would be concentrated downtown.

Chicago is affordable compared to NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington DC, but it's a completely different animal than a smaller city like Columbus for more reasons than one.

Let me say this, as a caution to you wanting to drive. Chicago is very public transit oriented. I don't even own a car here, and many people don't, kind of like how many people don't in NYC. It's not that I can't afford it, it's just in convenient to me with where I travel to and the public transit that's available. If you live within a certain sphere, you don't have to. You mention driving downtown, but let me tell you, you aren't going to want to if you live in an area with a train or a good bus route. You could just hop on the train for a few dollars and be there in the same amount of time. Not only that, but parking downtown is very expensive. Like $30 for 8-24 hours expensive on average, and sometimes more. I think the cheapest I've ever seen it was $15. There's 8 train lines and probably 125 bus lines. It's the second most extensive public transit in the US behind NYC. Most people who work downtown don't even drive. They take the CTA (Chicago Transit) or the Metra (commuter trains from the suburbs), or they walk or bike it. The people who drive downtown to work are the ones who are high up enough that their company actually pays for their parking.

Which brings me to my next point. Most people outside of this city who aren't very familiar think that downtown is kind of the center of everything. Not the case really. There's a lot going on downtown, but it's hardly the one center for everything. Chicago has almost 3 million people, and almost 10 million in the area. There are many centers for everything. The music scene is not centered downtown really, especially for churches. If you want to play in churches, you could be anywhere. For regular music, most of the best venues are in other parts of town (i.e. Uptown, Wicker Park, Logan Square). The House of Blues is downtown and there's theaters downtown, but with the public transit that exists here, you don't have to live near there necessarily. There are a ton of hotels downtown though, yes. But the music scene is not centered downtown. It's spread out.

To put it into perspective, here's some neighborhoods and their populations:

Lakeview - 94,000
Near North Side (part of downtown, not all of this is considered downtown though) - 80,000
Logan Square - 73,000
West Ridge - 72,000
Lincoln Park - 64,000
Edgewater - 56,000
Near West Side - 55,000
Rogers Park (where Loyola is) - 55,000
Uptown - 55,000
Irving Park - 53,000
Albany Park - 51,000
Lincoln Square - 40,000
The Loop (Central Business District. "Downtown") - 29,000


Chicago is not what it seems in this case. To the tourist, everything is like "downtown!" but in reality not even close to the truth. There's a ton of areas here with stuff going on. For nightlife, go to Lakeview or Wicker Park and you'll see just as many if not more people there than downtown or out in Lincoln Park.

[Vlajos]

An inexpensive tip, don't drive downtown. Use cta.

[emathias]

You can theoretically park on the street in Lincoln Park, but it's usually difficult and time-consuming. And unless you're meticulously careful, you'll probably get parking tickets, just a few of which will blow your budget up.

I've lived in Chicago for most of the past 17 years and only had a car here a total of 8 months. For normal living, much of the city is fine without a car. At 22, many of the people you meet will also not be using a car. I'm 38 and some of my friends still don't own cars and many who do only use them once a week or less.

Columbus is MUCH more spread out than Chicago. The average population density in Columbus is about 1/4 of that in Chicago. Your densest zip code has a density of about 11,000 people per square mile. That's lower than the *average* population density for all of Chicago, and Chicago's densest neighborhood is nearly 4 times as dense as Columbus' densest neighborhood, and most of the popular areas in Chicago are about 2.5 - 3 times as dense as Columbus densest area. That means walking or taking transit in Chicago is much more efficient and realistic than it is in Columbus.

Now, if you *know* that you'll be working in a job that requires a car, then you'll obviously have to bring one. If that's the case, it will actually save you money to live somewhere less popular and just drive or take transit to popular areas when you want to go out. There are plenty of areas in Chicago that are less fashionable but still pretty walkable and easier to live in with a car and much less expensive.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by marothisu

In short, $300-$500/month after everything near downtown or lincoln park is not realistic

With a couple of roommates, $500/mo rent may be possible.

Agree w/everyone else on the car advice, though.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

With a couple of roommates, $500/mo rent may be possible.

Agree w/everyone else on the car advice, though.

Well, the OP specified AFTER utilities AND internet.Not going to find that after everything. The cheapest with roommates I've ever found in/around Lincoln Park and downtown was $750/month. That was a 3 bedroom above a bar in an old building my girlfriend toured this summer.

The closest you will come is Pilsen IMO.

[ChiGuy2.5]

I pay $600 after utilities with under L parking in Lincoln Park. The catch? I have 5 roommates and live in a **** hole. The free parking is a little up in the air now though since they recently sold it to that parking company.

Anyway, I agree with others, DO NOT BRING THE CAR! You have no clue right now, but there is absolutely no need for it. Plus then you can afford a place that is closer to downtown. If you want to ever travel home back to Columbus take the Megabus. They offer wifi, bathrooms, and cheap fares.

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