Transplants in Chicago (Maywood, Greenwood: foreclosed, house, construction)

[Drover]

Such is the nature of a transient city.

[4eversearching]

All of the reasons listed make sense. I had lots of friends move to Chicago right after school, I think just because it was the closest big city, sounded exciting and people seem to have some romantic notion of life in the city. Most stayed for a few years, but left when they wanted to get married and settle down. Chicago is a tough place if you want to find someone to marry, it's more of a single people city (and even the singles scene here is awful). Also, it is expensive. People have their own reasons, but certainly none of the people I knew left because they were "afraid" of anything, that's ridiculous. I know I'll probably leave because of school, it's freezing and dating here is awful (too many women here).

[Lookout Kid]

Young grads move move in year after year. Some move on, and some stay. But the next year there will be another crop to replace them.

[aragx6]

Well as fun as deleting 3 pages of posts, let's try to stay on topic now.

There is no way I, or anybody else, can know the reasons why tens of thousands of people do anything, but I know why my 10-year plan includes leaving Chicago for my home town (St. Louis):

Cost, cost, cost. In Chicago, to stay in the city (and by city I mean a bustling city neighborhood not a far northwest corner hood that's indistinguishable from a suburb), I'm looking at 400k plus for a condo big enough to raise kids in. Add to that the heinous prices of child care and probably, eventually, private school and I started to realize that had I wanted to stay in Chicago, I should have picked a much more lucrative career.

So what's the other option? Move out to the suburbs where I can get a cheaper home and better schools, but I lose everything that I loved about Chicago in the first place?

Uh, no thank you. Instead, the plan is to move back to St. Louis, buy a 100 + year old beautiful, renovated home in Tower Grove Heights, just a short walk to the ethnic restaurants of the South Grand area, the gorgeous Tower Grove Park as well as the Missouri Botanical Gardens, and easy access to many other of the city's best neighborhoods. I can do that for 250k.

Add to that, the horrible state of the economy (meaning young college grads may have to head back to their cheaper home towns), the corruption in this city, and the really hard winters and you start to see why a place like Chicago makes a lot of sense for the young DINKS and singles and for the long-time residents with roots and family (and who are properly hardened to the winters!) but might not make that much long-term sense to young people from other Midwestern cities who are ready for a family.

To suggest it's because transplants can't get along with other ethnicities in Chicago is pretty absurd. It seems to me that if that does play any kind of factor it must certainly be a very small one.

[Chicagoland60426]

I didn't know you are consider a transplant being from a Chicago suburb. I think not

I don't think those transplants move away from Chicago just because of different nationalities, that is strange. If it was that reason, why move to Chicago in the first place. And plus, Chicago is not LP, LV, WP, Loop, and the Gold Coast only. If you want to see how old Chicago look, you have to venture out of the tourist areas. If you look on the far southside, there are affordable houses.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Chicagoland60426

I didn't know you are consider a transplant being from a Chicago suburb. I think not

IMO it depends on which suburb you moved from. If you moved to the city from Berwyn, Cicero, Lincolnwood, Calumet City, Harwood Heights, or other such inner-ring suburbs that are indistinguishable from the city neighborhoods they border and visited & did business in the city as a matter of course and not merely as a matter of recreation... I don't consider you a transplant. If you moved here from Hoffman Estates... yeah, then I think you count as a transplant.

[cdubs3201]

To the OP: I am currently a transplant, but I have family that grew up here and still lives here, so I've stayed a few years longer than the normal transplant, but I can see why people leave. Here's what I can tell you:

1.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by Drover

IMO it depends on which suburb you moved from. If you moved to the city from Berwyn, Cicero, Lincolnwood, Calumet City, Harwood Heights, or other such inner-ring suburbs that are indistinguishable from the city neighborhoods they border and visited & did business in the city as a matter of course and not merely as a matter of recreation... I don't consider you a transplant. If you moved here from Hoffman Estates... yeah, then I think you count as a transplant.

Hoffman Estates is still in Cook County from the map, but it is a little far out there though.

[Chi-town Native]

Anyone who moves to Chicago proper from the suburbs is a transplant, there's nothing wrong with that, it is what it is.

That said, I agree with Drover that in general, I consider the original grid-based suburbs to be pretty much Chicago. As a Chicagoan, I can tell you that I have nothing against people from the burbs, but, if you are not from Chicago, don't be telling me that you are, why on earth do people lie about this? Are they ashamed of being from the suburbs?

It's kind of a strange role-reversal, considering that we city folk are the ones who constantly hear about how much nicer it is in the burbs, how the schools are better, it's less crowded, less crime, etc.

[cdubs3201]

To the OP: I am currently a transplant, but I have family that grew up here and still lives here, so I've stayed a few years longer than the normal transplant, but I can see why people leave. Here's what I can tell you:

1. it's easier to live in LP, LV, OT, WP, BT because there are other people who are not from Chi. Chi is awesome because people who are from here actually are very nice and very open to including new people into their tight group of friends and family. However, this is NOT the case in the rest of the country. I'm from MN, and I can tell you that people there are not as open to letting transplants or new people into their circle of family/friends.

2. it's expensive to live here. I came here right out of college, bought into the words of a fortune 500 company with promise of growth, success, and high compensation. So far the compensation end hasn't lived up to expectations, still struggling to make rent.

3. public schools are terrible. Unless you can afford private schooling, no one is willing to stay in Chicago to pay the high mortgages and high cost of living for bad schooling for their kids. That one is a no brainer.

4. my friends keep moving away each year, it's hard to stay when everyone else is getting out.

5. Dating here does suck. For those who want to get married and have a family someday, we are prolonging it each year we remain in Chicago. The average male or female will not find their mate in this city. Online dating seems to be my only option at this point as many women around my age just aren't open to relationships or have expectations above my physical appearances and annual income.