I Need Help On Where to Live in Chicago (Lincoln: apartment, condo)

[jyore]

Hey guys...I know you get a million of these posts, but I am currently at a loss and would appreciate any help.

Scenario - My girlfriend and I will be moving to Chicago soon and are having a lot of trouble figuring out where to live. I will be working downtown in the Loop, and she currently is working for a company out in Lincoln Park (telecommuting currently), but she may be looking to change jobs soon. We need a place to live, that is not too bad of a commute.

What type of place we want - I would be ok with something in the Northern Neighborhoods, but she feels like those places are too claustrophobic, will be too busy, and too loud. We both would enjoy having at least some sort of a yard and garage.

Where does this leave us - From my frantic searching that has been consuming my life lately, I have found, as expected, the suburbs will get us the house that we want. However, I have found the commutes become very long, very quickly. It seems that especially for her in Lincoln Park, that the commutes become very long, as there is less transits that go out there. Is there a suburb that we could/should look? Are we stuck with the Northern Neighborhoods? Is there somewhere along the red or brown lines that is more spreadout and has more yardspace?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[chirack]

The problem here is how much time is too far to commute and what is your budget. Metra runs to downtown, so that makes locating you easy. However where is she planning to work--that makes a huge difference. You could also get to a quiter part of the city like Jefferson Park and Edison Park.

[knitgirl]

What's your budget? No point giving you recommendations of suburbs you can't afford. Your comment about your girlfriend finding the northern suburbs claustrophobic does throw me a bit - where are you moving from?

You mentioned the brown line - have you looked at Ravenswood Manor? It's small, but it definitely feels like an oasis of suburbia in the city. It's just west of the Chicago river between Montrose and Lawrence. I love it, but I tend to prefer more urban suburbs to the car-centric type that developed after WWII.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by knitgirl

What's your budget? No point giving you recommendations of suburbs you can't afford. Your comment about your girlfriend finding the northern suburbs claustrophobic does throw me a bit - where are you moving from?

You mentioned the brown line - have you looked at Ravenswood Manor? It's small, but it definitely feels like an oasis of suburbia in the city. It's just west of the Chicago river between Montrose and Lawrence. I love it, but I tend to prefer more urban suburbs to the car-centric type that developed after WWII.

Budget would help. And Ravenswood Manor is a great suggestion. Shouldn't this be in the City forum?

[linicx]

The City of Chicago probably has at least 1000 neighborhoods and 6,000 restaurants. It is an old town with many small bungalows, situated on small lots in compact areas. And it may feel too busy, too loud and too confining One of the solutions that worked for me was to be above the ground level several floors in a condo, or near many parks in a suburb like Oak park. I ultimately moved to a very rural area. If you do that it is at least an hour drive into the city when the streets are dry and the sun is shining. You can double (and sometimes triple) the travel time in bad weather.

This is live in a very big city. But it is worse in LA and NYC.

[jyore]

The target budget is <= $2000/mo. An ideal commute I would say is 30 minutes or less. 45 minutes or less is ok. 1 hr or less may be manageable but not preferable. Anything over that is not going to work.

[jyore]

Also forgot to answer, we are moving from the Atlanta area...I'm currently in a condo in midtown, which is about 10 minutes from downtown. It is fairly urban and is a "live/work/play" type community. She is about 20 miles out of the city in an apartment community that has a wooded area behind the complex.