thinking of moving from a house to a condo/apartment closer to work (Chicago: for sale)

[DonkeyKing78]

I'm a single male in my very early 30s.
Live in a small house on some land. I really like it except the commute is long (nearly an hour each way). Also there is not much to do in terms of fun and not too many singles my age around here. I thought about moving to an apartment (or buy a condo if I can swing it) closer to work. This would save me 30-40 minutes a day commuting (total), and I wouldn't be spending half my Saturday in the summer on yard work. Also it would be closer to town. I'm currently about 20 minutes from the nearest town. Is this something any of you would seriously consider if you were in my shoes? Has anyone made a similar move? I'd be interested in hearing how it turned out. I figure that I have my whole life to commute and do yard work. I feel like I'm missing out on fun (sports, more dating/social opportunities, etc)

[linicx]

If you have enough land for pasture, rent it. [A section of black loam will still cost $500.000.] If you don't care what happens to the house rent it. You can buy into a condo at a reasonable price, or rent an apartment or duplex. Yard mainenance should be the responsibility of the owner. What you might not be able to do is sell your house. If you put your house up for sale, you will need to leave minimum utilities on to prevent interal problems like mold - Illinois has a lot of it - that plagues empty houses with no utilities. I say this because mold costs 1000 times more than the cost of utilities to mitigate as it is a health hazzard. I looked at house with mold. The estimated cost to mitigate just the paneled, carpeted basement was $30-40k. The price included no part of the upper floors, or any other part of the house or garage. There is always much to consider whether you move 30 miles or 3000. Of cours, moving without children or pets is always less complicated.

[DonkeyKing78]

Originally Posted by linicx

If you have enough land for pasture, rent it. [A section of black loam will still cost $500.000.] If you don't care what happens to the house rent it. You can buy into a condo at a reasonable price, or rent an apartment or duplex. Yard mainenance should be the responsibility of the owner. What you might not be able to do is sell your house. If you put your house up for sale, you will need to leave minimum utilities on to prevent interal problems like mold - Illinois has a lot of it - that plagues empty houses with no utilities. I say this because mold costs 1000 times more than the cost of utilities to mitigate as it is a health hazzard. I looked at house with mold. The estimated cost to mitigate just the paneled, carpeted basement was $30-40k. The price included no part of the upper floors, or any other part of the house or garage. There is always much to consider whether you move 30 miles or 3000. Of cours, moving without children or pets is always less complicated.

I wouldn't sell the house but my mom has expressed an interest in renting it. Here are my choices on places to move:

1) There is a town where my job is at. There's a small downtown area but the buildings are all pretty old and rundown. But I'd have to drive 20-25 minutes to go to the gym, shopping, etc.

2) There are various medium sized cities/towns about 30-35 minutes away from work with affordable places to live. Everthing is convenient but there is not much to do there other than go to the gym.

3) Move to a big city (Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, etc). More of a social scene than the other two options but that would mean changing jobs though which I'm not really comfortable doing in this economy.

4) Stay where I'm at now. Close to family and like the house but few opportunities to meet singles my age.

With option 2, I'd only be saving 30 minutes total a day. I'm not sure that would make a big difference in my day to day life. Option 1 would give me a lot more free time, but that's about the only thing attractive about that option. I may just stay put because there seems to be trade offs either way.

I'm considering a move for a number of reasons: 1) less commute, 2) less yard work and lawn maintenance, 3) there are not too many singles my age where I'm at, 4) there is not much to do - very little nightlife or places to go.
I've never lived in an apartment before so I'm not sure how that would work out. Also considered a condo but heard stories on them that were not so good.

[linicx]

Let me mae a really *wild* suggestion. I do not know where you live. I do not need to know. Assuming you work M-F, let your grass grow one weekend and you can mow mine. LOL Of course I am joking. Let your grass grow and come visit Peoria for a weekend. There are many people your age group who live and work here. And there are many opportunities to meet singles your age besides in taverns. For instance the newly opened indie movie theater, and the Riverfront Plaza. Wherever guys your age hang out, there will be girls not far behind. Do not discount festivals, library, performing arts - we have a great summerstock theater - or the symphony or one of the museums. It might even meet your soul mate at the bank or the grocety store. I met mine at the Y when I wasn't even looking.

The point is you have to socialize to meet new people. And you can't do that if you do not go where people congregate. The other half of the equation is you have to change your schedule. It seems to me the grass could wait a couple a days as it has been too wet to mow anyway.