Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-09-2010, 01:20 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 84,971,395 times
Reputation: 18725

Advertisements

Rents for two bedrooms vary greatly. As noted, Cicero has probably the lowest rates for a suburb to the west of Chicago, and the quality is not particularly impressive. Rougher parts of Chicago itsleft might be a little lower, but might also have more crime issues.

Nicer parts of Chicago could easily command double, triple or MORE for a two bedroom depending on just how good a location / nice a building you want. Similarly the most desirable suburbs tend to have a pretty small number of desirable apartments and finding something that compares to something in a more affordable part of country could be a challenge. A one bedroom tends to be ill suited to even a single parent with a school age child and can be had for far less than something that is more desired by those that may want to have access to schools...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-09-2010, 02:56 PM
 
644 posts, read 1,181,840 times
Reputation: 532
While this certainly isn't the best way to look for housing, I recommend using Google Maps' real estate feature. I don't think you can filter for SFH, but you could try manipulating the square footage. This will give you an idea of prices in the area. Also, when using this, make sure to set a minimum price to filter out rentals that are incorrectly listed as for sale.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2010, 09:26 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
10,244 posts, read 16,286,499 times
Reputation: 5303
So going back to Chicago neighborhoods, how are the ones west and southwest of the loop? We spent some time in Little Village and I actually liked it alot, I felt like I was back in Mexico. However, at the same time I would prefer to be able to find a house or apartment in an area where the buildings and housing stock are in relatively decent shape, and from the little I saw in that area it was a pretty questionable (think W 26th St). Going back to my criteria, I don't mind at all being in a Mexican neighborhood, looking for convenient location pretty close to the loop and very affordable. Anybody on here live in places like Little Village, Pilsen, Lawndale, Garfield Park, McKinley Park, Brighton Park and Archer Heights? What is your feedback on those areas?

I also spent some time playing with rental prices and home prices in some of those neighborhoods on google maps and some of the areas had reasonable prices. I found a totally remodeled house in Little Village 3 bed, 2 bath for $170,000...not bad at all.

Last edited by Cruz Azul Guy; 08-10-2010 at 09:52 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2010, 09:56 AM
 
1 posts, read 887 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slig View Post
So going back to Chicago neighborhoods, how are the ones west and southwest of the loop? We spent some time in Little Village and I actually liked it alot, I felt like I was back in Mexico. However, at the same time I would prefer to be able to find a house or apartment in an area where the buildings and housing stock are in relatively decent shape, and from the little I saw in that area it was a pretty questionable (think W 26th St). Going back to my criteria, I don't mind at all being in a Mexican neighborhood, looking for convenient location pretty close to the loop and very affordable. Anybody on here live in places like Little Village, Pilsen, Lawndale, Garfield Park, McKinley Park, Brighton Park and Archer Heights? What is your feedback on those areas?

I also spent some time playing with rental prices and home prices in some of those neighborhoods and some of the areas had reasonable prices. I found a totally remodeled house in Little Village 3 bed, 2 bath for $170,000...not bad at all.
You could probably find one in Little Village now for under $130,000. Housing stock in most of LV is unimpressive. If you don't mind living in a Mexican area and want to be closer to downtown, I'd look at Pilsen, though the prices are considerably higher than in LV. Lawndale and Garfield are pretty close to downtown, but are poor Black areas and are only for diehard urban pioneers or guys that aren't afraid of anyone. McKinley Park, Brighton Park are further away, Archer Heights is close to the outskirts of the city, pretty far from downtown. All three areas are in decline and will be much worse in 10 years. McKinley Park actually might have a chance, but it's future hangs in the balance.

Last edited by JohnnyLydon; 08-10-2010 at 10:18 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2010, 10:00 AM
 
774 posts, read 2,488,782 times
Reputation: 737
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slig View Post
So going back to Chicago neighborhoods, how are the ones west and southwest of the loop? We spent some time in Little Village and I actually liked it alot, I felt like I was back in Mexico. However, at the same time I would prefer to be able to find a house or apartment in an area where the buildings and housing stock are in relatively decent shape, and from the little I saw in that area it was a pretty questionable (think W 26th St). Going back to my criteria, I don't mind at all being in a Mexican neighborhood, looking for convenient location pretty close to the loop and very affordable. Anybody on here live in places like Little Village, Pilsen, Lawndale, Garfield Park, McKinley Park, Brighton Park and Archer Heights? What is your feedback on those areas?
Pilsen is perpetually on the list of "up and coming neighborhoods" due to its close-in location, but once again, that "up and coming status" is priced into the real estate prices.

Someone earlier in this thread had a VERY good point: you need think of traveling to downtown in terms of time instead of miles. Miles might be a good barometer of travel times in Minneapolis because of its smaller size and 100% use of cars, but with the traffic and trains in Chicago, physical distance isn't as important as how close you are to the expressway or how fast the trains run from where you live. I spend about the same amount of time on the train commuting from Naperville today as I did living in Roscoe Village, even though Naperville is over 30 miles from the Loop and Roscoe Village was only about 5 miles.

I'm a strong believer that you get for what you pay for around here. Lookout Kid had the right formula: everyone in Chicago wants (1) proximity to the Loop, (2) affordability, and (3) safety. The vast majority of people can only get 2 out of those 3.

Note that poor neighborhoods around here are NOTHING like the poor neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. The class divisions are very stratified in the city of Chicago proper - there are a great number of expensive high income neighborhoods and a great number of extremely impoverished dangerous neighborhoods, with a continually shrinking middle. This goes into why a lot of people are having problems finding places that meet your criteria.

Personally, I could live in a cardboard box as long as it had a cable TV connection, but my wife has different standards. So, make sure that your WIFE feels comfortable walking around wherever you choose to live, not just you. This is just me, but safety is a massive deal. You don't want to live in a place where trouble is in your face on a daily basis.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2010, 10:32 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
10,244 posts, read 16,286,499 times
Reputation: 5303
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank the Tank View Post
Note that poor neighborhoods around here are NOTHING like the poor neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. The class divisions are very stratified in the city of Chicago proper - there are a great number of expensive high income neighborhoods and a great number of extremely impoverished dangerous neighborhoods, with a continually shrinking middle. This goes into why a lot of people are having problems finding places that meet your criteria.
This is my struggle because regardless of safety and perceived safety, I can't stand being around rich people or in cosmopolitan areas where people at least pretend their rich. A middle of the road place would be great but like you say, that seems to be a rare find in places like Chicago. I've spent enough time in the city to know that "Chicago-bad" is on a completely different level than "Minneapolis-bad." People in the Twin Cities complain about suburbs like Brooklyn Center and Richfield...those places are a walk in the park compared to Cicero, etc. I don't mind being in places that are perceived as worse than they actually are. Our current neighborhood in South Minneapolis is diverse and has some poverty issues and this leads to negative perceptions. However, in reality where we are really isn't that bad and kind of just surrounded by some worse areas. I'd love to be able to find something similar in Chicago.

Just for the sake of comparison, I took our current zip code and compared it to a Little Village zip code on the Sperlings Best Places website to see how the crime data compared, here is what I found:

55407 (South Minneapolis) violent crime = 9, property crime = 8.
60623 (Little Village) violent crime = 9, property crime = 6.

Ok, so this website obviously doesn't tell you the whole story....so basically if we moved there we'd be upgrading our safety? I have a feeling we'd be taking a dive on housing stock quality though.

Another comparison on this website just for fun:
Brooklyn Center, MN violent crime = 6, property crime = 9.
Cicero, IL violent crime = 5, property crime = 4.

Hmmm...I'm starting to question the validity of this website. Could it be true that the fact that these areas in Chicago look alot worse that it creates the perception that they are much more dangerous and crime-ridden than they actually are? Very interesting.

(data taken from Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed)

Last edited by Yac; 08-20-2010 at 06:01 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-10-2010, 11:22 AM
 
28,455 posts, read 84,971,395 times
Reputation: 18725
Default No, Chicago region is definitely in another league than Twin Cities...

The ranking sites generally are going on relative numbers, and if some neighborhood in StPaul has a couple of bars with loud drunks that brawl for fun over their Harleys is going to rank poorly compared to some polite neighborhood with fitness trails across town.

Chicago will have gang bangers that kill each other and across town you have some sick rapist that stalks people heading out for an early morning run.


Realtively speaking the rough part of St Paul is pretty crummy in comparison to the nice part, but the reality is that even the nicest suburb of Chicago you really are not going have organized cross county skiing and other stuff that you hardy souls up in the Land O Lakes do to cope with the cold

Even the way the parts of the twin cities gentrifying is more peaceful than down here. The numbers of hard core bad guys that dominate some parts of Chicago means that not even hardened cops will risk moving into a rough area, whereas in the twin cities the only thing wrong with some parts of town is that the mill jobs have dried up and now folks with web design skills and piercings can afford a house payment. The neighborhood goes from rot gut swillin' snowmobilers and fishermen to alt rock home brewers. All in all decent trade off on the peaceable hipsters scale...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top