To live with roommates or not? (Chicago, Lincoln: apartments, rent, house)

[Johnny2910]

Hi,

I'm moving to Chicago at the beginning of August from London and wanted to ask peoples opinions on whether to get my own place or to look at living with room mates.

Living in London it is quite common to live in a shared house which I have done for the past 4 years and some of my good friends are largely through who I've lived with.

Chicago is significantly cheaper than London in terms of rent so I've been tempted to look for studio/1 bed apartments (my budget is $1500-$2000).

The concern I have is that I won't know anyone before I move out there, given this, would you recommend that I look to live with roommates (obviously there are the standard risks of not getting people you quite match with)?

Or is it fairly easy to meet people even if you live alone? I would be looking at highrise/apartments in the River North to Lincoln Park areas if that makes any difference, I'm 26, pretty social, enjoy drinking, sports, running etc.

If I was to go down the roommate route what sites (other than craigslist) would you recommend?

Cheers.

[marothisu]

How you meet people depends on yourself. People may come up and talk to you, but of course it's easier if you initiate it. If you're the type of person where you never approach anybody, then maybe going with roommates is better, but if you don't have a problem with that then you can. I wouldn't expect to meet people instantly, friends wise, but yeah. Look for meetup groups (meetup.com) for common interests and go from there. Many (but not all) Midwestern people can be reserved - meaning they may not approach you 100% but if you talked to them first they'd probably talk to you. There's still a lot of outgoing people all around.

Your budget will afford you a 1 bedroom in pretty much any neighborhood of Chicago and if you don't care about being in the trendiest area, that $2000/month could even afford you a 3 or 4 bedroom place in some areas.

[wickedripeplum]

You can certainly afford to live alone in Chicago, but London to Chicago is a big move and having a roommate or two can help ease that transition emotionally as well as financially.

[Drover]

I'd never live with a roommate again for as long as I live unless my only other option was homelessness. And you can probably live almost as cheaply by yourself in Chicago as you can with a roommate in London.

Move to the USA even with the most hilljack Yorkshire accent, much less a London one, and you'll make friends almost before you even get off the plane. As long as you're approachable, you'll be approached from all directions.

[rzzz]

If you can, try to be roommates with two women, Three's Company style. You will meet way more people than you will on your own, or being roommates with other men. I did this in NYC and it was the fast track to meeting about 100 women and a handful of bros.

[jman07]

Get a roomie for sure. I would also recommend funding the euro soccer bars that are all around the city. Good way to meet people like yourself.

[ToriaT]

I would not get a roommate unless I could not afford to live alone or I knew the room mates as friends or friends of friends for some time. There are too many nuts around. There are adequate ways to meet people through work or other social venues.