Where do tree hugging, vegetarian liberals belong in north Chicago? (Evanston: lease, hotel)

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Anthera

wishing you good luck and sending you good karma!

Thanks Anthera, I feel a little better knowing I have some of you behind me. Any assistance in finding a rental asap would be greatly appreciated!

Also, my husband's co-worker said that there isn't a train that goes from Evanston to Mettawa. That would be a problem since we only have one car.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

So we had high hopes for our day in Lake Bluff, but alas, it is not the place for these liberal tree huggers. I have no doubt that we could have a very uncomplicated, safe life there and meet lots of friendly people who we don't have anything in common with other than the color of our skin. But that isn't what we are about. We need to get ourselves down to Evanston and make ourselves comfortable with the urban aspects of it. If we are going to live here, like all of you have said, Evanston is where we belong. All of you knew, it just took us a little longer to see for ourselves. So now we search for a short term rental in Evanston... Wish us luck!

I am not going to judge. I will say that LOTS of time I have been at a social / civic event and felt that the other people there must not even have same color blood I do, but I generally don't let it bug me. The money I get paid with and spend is definitely the same color as theirs. I have said before that, while still respecting the emotional component, purchasing a home is ultimately an economic decision. If things make sense in the dollar & cents it can leave a lot of options for how / where you invest your TIME, but if it does not work out in the economic value it will almost certainly stamp out any ability to make things work in the values of the heart.

My gut tells me that if you went to the Evanston Parade there is a good chance that you would have been put-off by the legalistic, dare I say totalitarian attitude exhibited by the police / official representative of Evanston toward the simple placement of folding chairs: City of Evanston - News (http://www.cityofevanston.org/enjoy/july_parade.shtml - broken link)

If you find a rental, great, that might help you to see some of the aspects of Evanston. If, OTotherH, you still find a great home at an attractive price in ANY other town that you have been looking at, THAT CAN WORK OUT TOO!

The Chicago Reader is a weekly 'alternative' paper that I know PLENTY of people pick up in ALL the suburbs. Similarly there is a "hard core" crystals and yoga monthly journal of alternative living that I see at all the all the various hand out locations. While it might be great to have people with identical intrests right next door, it is possible to make connections with people anywhere, maybe even through an internet forum...

[Calidreemer]

HI Jay, sorry you didn't feel as comfortable with LB as you thought you might. This is why I think that renting for a bit would be a good idea. I think that even though it's a huge pain to pack and unpack, the flexibility would be a wonderful thing to have considering the various experiences you have had with these communities.

While Chet has pointed out the Evanston police enforcement of people not putting their chairs on private property three days prior to the parade (my parents live on the parade route and have seen people decide that what's yours is mine during this time) I did attend the parade and saw the wide range of floats and parade participants and let me tell you, they were varied and were representing some pretty far left agendas. I would bet that LB didn't have a pro-choice group or a let's end the war group, or a line of cars running on vegetable oil and electricity proclaiming let's not be dependant on oil.

I still think you should give Evanston a chance, but find a rental to see if you can deal with the economic and culteral diversity Evanston has.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Calidreemer

While Chet has pointed out the Evanston police enforcement of people not putting their chairs on private property three days prior to the parade (my parents live on the parade route and have seen people decide that what's yours is mine during this time) I did attend the parade and saw the wide range of floats and parade participants and let me tell you, they were varied and were representing some pretty far left agendas. I would bet that LB didn't have a pro-choice group or a let's end the war group, or a line of cars running on vegetable oil and electricity proclaiming let's not be dependant on oil. I still think you should give Evanston a chance, but find a rental to see if you can deal with the economic and culteral diversity Evanston has.

Thanks for the vote of confidence on Evanston Calidreemer. I think the Evanston police are completely justified in their requests. I don't think the guidelines they set were at all unreasonable. People do live there for goodness sake. I wouldn't want chairs and blankets all over outside of my house.

In LB, there were only pro-life messages and capitalistic messages even on the parade entries that were supposed to be celebrating the freedom we enjoy in our country. "Freedom to invest with Northern Trust" was one of the signs being carried along with others citing "Freedom of Speech", "Right to Vote" etc... We really wanted to like LB since we loved the house, but it was so obvious to us that we aren't meant to be there. I can picture buying that house and being completely regretful about our decision to do so and then being stuck. There is no question that we need to rent first. Now we need to find a rental that is going to allow us to go month to month which seems to be no easy task in Evanston.

[Anthera]

Jay,

Why do you need a month to month rental? A six month or 1 year with an escape clause would be much easier to find. Honestly, I would never rent a condo or house out on a month to month basis becuase of all the work involved. It just wouldn't be worth it for a month to month.

[jaynetarzana]

What is an escape clause? I didn't know they existed. We want a month to month in case we find that we really love Evanston and a great house comes on the market in our price range. I don't think it will take us more than a month to figure out whether or not Evanston is going to work for us long term. I know it is going to be difficult to find a month to month. If I owned something I wouldn't want to do it either. I did find one apartment to look at today though that allows pets and month to month and it is in the good area near downtown. It sounds perfect! I haven't seen any pictures of it yet though. With all of that going for it, the place would have to be pretty bad for us not to rent it. I think we're going to leave everything in storage (except for our beds) and just buy a few things off craigslist and cheap dishes at Ikea.

[Calidreemer]

That's great Jay - I am wondering if it is on Hinman and Main if the apartment is in Evanston. Good luck!

[jaynetarzana]

$8K a month! No, we're looking in the $1000-$2000 range. We don't need anything fancy, just in a nice area.

[Anthera]

Jay, an escape clause is an agreed upon amount of money to change a 1 year lease into a 30 day notice. Usually its one month's rent.

Nysee, The MLS shows only one home in Evanston on Sheridan on the market and it is under contract. Nothing in Evanston goes for $8000/mo as a rental.

[Calidreemer]

I think month to month leases are going to be difficult to find. I have not heard of an escape clause, but I would guess you can try to negotiate anything into a lease. I'm not saying they don't exist (maybe Chet knows some others since he had property which I think he rented) but it seems more likely you will have to take a sublease or sign a full term lease and possibly sublease to someone.

Month to month rentals are far more common in California then they are here. I don't know if you will find a high quality rental that offers month to month unless it's executive housing and then you are back to the hotel thing. You may want to consider looking for coach houses - those are nice and private. A lot of NS homes have and rent out coach houses. It's another option and sinse it's usually with an owner on the premisis they may be more willing to work with you, especially if they are only taking renters for some extra income rather than counting on it to pay the mortgage.