Apt prices in Chicago (Naperville, Palatine: neighborhood, luxury, live in)

[greenlite]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Berwyn is not a bad suburb. I don't think many people on here would debate that. If it was Harvey or Maywood then there would be a debate.


In the end it depends on what your needs are, like where you'll be working. You could damn well be working in Hoffman Estates and Berwyn and a lot of other good neighborhoods in Chicago would just be bad advice. Chicago is a huge area and in physical area it's only about 2500 sq mi less than NYC's metro area.

I'd say to start by giving your requirements like what your commute requirements are if you have any (i.e. what suburb or part of Chicago you'll be working in), a budget, and all the stuff that matters to you (i.e. you want a walkable area, or you just don't care about walkability, nightlife, etc). Not a knock against Berwyn here, but if you ended up living there and working in another suburb that has to take you between about 8 different bottlenecks on the freeway system and takes 3 hours out of you in travel time everyday, you probably wouldn't be happy. Chicago area may not be as big as NYC area where you are now, but there's still 10 million people in the area here with some bad traffic and the area is not that much smaller than the NYC metro area.

i dont have any requirements, jus doing research

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by greenlite

there is no debate, im jus seekin information and u mentioned berwyn so might as well elaborate

I didn't mean any offense to you. Not sure how long you've observed the forum, but certain topics get derailed often.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by lycos679

Studios aside, just the basic 1 bedroom apartments will be pretty close to $1000 unless you are looking on the south side.

This is absolutely not true. If the OP is willing to look into closer suburbs (Forest Park, Oak Park, Berwyn) you can find one-bedrooms for $1,000. You can find two-bedrooms for that price in FP, and sometimes a 3-bedroom in Berwyn. Like I said, looking online is not the best way to get deals. Many online postings are for management companies. Single owners will have better rates.

There are also neighborhoods like Ukrainian Village and Humboldt Park where you can find gems.

[treemoni]

Oh yeah, if you're factoring the in-unit w/d then yes, that will up the price.

[greenlite]

Originally Posted by treemoni

I didn't mean any offense to you. Not sure how long you've observed the forum, but certain topics get derailed often.

There is no offense, Im just saying, anyway feel free to PM me about it then

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by greenlite

i dont have any requirements, jus doing research

Gotcha. Well, the basic information is that in the city, in unit w/d are more rare than communal style, unless it's a private residence or newer building, or the more expensive older condo buildings. Anything with in unit w/d will be more expensive than places without it usually, unless you find a great deal where the landlord is being nice about it.

Suburbs with older housing stock will be the same deal probably but the price cheaper for regular apartments by a little bit. Some suburbs, like Evanston (where Northwestern U is) are still not cheap on average because they're still very desirable (i.e. some good restaurants, venues, and nightlife, city train goes to them instead of just commuter train, etc). A place like Berwyn is fine, but it might be less because it has less "cool" places to hang out and the city train doesn't go there unlike Evanston, Oak Park, Forest Park, and Skokie. They have a commuter train line instead (Metra).

And it's not true that all suburbs will be $1000+ for just a regular 1 bedroom. I have a friend who until recently lived in a decent NW suburb (Palatine) and his 1 bedroom was $900/month for like 900 sq ft and it was not bad at all on the interior. He didn't have in-unit w/d but his apartment "complex" was pretty small. The distance which he had to go to do his laundry wasn't far and there was hardly ever demand for it at any given time. Of course too, his parking was free.

[greenlite]

Originally Posted by treemoni

This is absolutely not true. If the OP is willing to look into closer suburbs (Forest Park, Oak Park, Berwyn) you can find one-bedrooms for $1,000. You can find two-bedrooms for that price in FP, and sometimes a 3-bedroom in Berwyn. Like I said, looking online is not the best way to get deals. Many online postings are for management companies. Single owners will have better rates.

There are also neighborhoods like Ukrainian Village and Humboldt Park where you can find gems.

isnt humboldt park a shady area?

[greenlite]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Gotcha. Well, the basic information is that in the city, in unit w/d are more rare than communal style, unless it's a private residence or newer building, or the more expensive older condo buildings. Anything with in unit w/d will be more expensive than places without it usually, unless you find a great deal where the landlord is being nice about it.

Suburbs with older housing stock will be the same deal probably but the price cheaper for regular apartments by a little bit. Some suburbs, like Evanston (where Northwestern U is) are still not cheap on average because they're still very desirable (i.e. some good restaurants, venues, and nightlife, city train goes to them instead of just commuter train, etc). A place like Berwyn is fine, but it might be less because it has less "cool" places to hang out and the city train doesn't go there unlike Evanston, Oak Park, Forest Park, and Skokie. They have a commuter train line instead (Metra).

And it's not true that all suburbs will be $1000+ for just a regular 1 bedroom. I have a friend who until recently lived in a decent NW suburb (Palatine) and his 1 bedroom was $900/month for like 900 sq ft and it was not bad at all on the interior. He didn't have in-unit w/d but his apartment "complex" was pretty small. The distance which he had to go to do his laundry wasn't far and there was hardly ever demand for it at any given time. Of course too, his parking was free.

Yea, thats why I said nearby suburbs, Palatine is too far. The fact that his laundry was close and available is irrelevant because it's still not inside the unit.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by greenlite

isnt humboldt park a shady area?

Some parts of it are. It is gentrifying, so it will be like any gentrifying neighborhood (think of NYC areas that are changing). There are very few really dangerous Chicago neighborhoods. All one needs is common sense. A friend of mine lived in a garden apartment in Humboldt Park for two years; she's white and never had any problems. I am mentioning race because that is a huge factor in what neighborhoods people will tell you to avoid. Berwyn, for example, is mostly Mexican. I am in Berwyn regularly and have never had or seen any problems. It's made up of working people who are trying to take care of their families. Those are more representative of what Chicago is about than the popular neighborhoods that people try to entice transplants to.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by greenlite

isnt humboldt park a shady area?

Some areas of it, but not everywhere. The area east of the park (i.e. east of California Ave) is less shady than the part west of the park (i.e. west of Kedzie) IMO. Even still, you are probably at risk of home theft/robbery in parts of the Eastern area if you live in an older building and there are posters on here who actually live in that area which will attest to this as it's been discussed in other threads.

The area between about Western, Augusta, Chicago, and Francisco has become a little bit hipster. There's some new construction starting up there again too so I wouldn't be surprised to see the prices rise a little bit soon just west of Western Ave. That area is definitely gentrifying. One of the best sushi places in the city is in that area, as well as some hip spots that aren't very old.