Housing in/around Joliet (Chicago, Naperville: apartments, rentals, condos) - Chicago Suburbs - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

JennyLane · 03-01-2010, 08:02 PM

Hello! My fiance and I will be relocating to Joliet in the very near future and need to find an apartment/condo fairly quickly. Since we don't need to necessarily live right in Joliet (although we can), we are open to northern areas (no further than Naperville) and eastern areas (no further than Oak Forest). We're looking at $1,000 max rent. The most important aspect is safety as he may be traveling and I will be alone sometimes. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, thanks!

MannheimMadman · 03-01-2010, 08:26 PM

That is a wildly varying range. From your post, it seems like you both will be working in Joliet?

Do you guys have any kids? Plans for kids?

I went to college in Joliet and lived there for an entire year after I graduated. While I will fondly recall my time there, I would not want to raise a family there. The schools are pretty awful for the most part (I student taught and eventually worked as a sub there) and crime in some parts is somewhat high.

With that being said, you can definitely find cheap housing there. If you plan on renting, I don't think you'll be very impressed with the choices. I lived in a complex that was sorely outdated, but cheap. You could get a good sized 1 bedroom for $700 or so. If you're looking for a 2bed, you'll find stuff well under $1000.

Honestly, you may want to check nearby Plainfield and Romeoville. Rentals will be much more expensive there, but are much nicer. In Plainfield and Romeoville, you'll be looking at $875-900 for a 1br and 1100-1200 for a 2br.

JennyLane · 03-01-2010, 08:30 PM

We don't plan on starting our family for at least a few years, and will most likely move back home to St. Louis when we do. I (unfortunately) haven't heard the best things about Joliet since I've started looking. He is the one who got a new job, so I will need to find one myself (ahh!). Romeoville & Plainfield can most definitely be options. First time we've made such a drastic move, kinda scary!

jamaicabound60565 · 03-01-2010, 08:48 PM

Joliet has decent parts, I personally am not crazy about the city. Mancow used to Jokingly call it Joilet as in Joliet and Toilet as the things its known for is a prison and a garget dump.

Plainfield has nice affordable housing. A little further out but Shorewood has some really cheap housing and is just starting to be a real suburb, personally I think of it as what Oswego used to be 5 or 10 years ago.

MannheimMadman · 03-01-2010, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JennyLane

We don't plan on starting our family for at least a few years, and will most likely move back home to St. Louis when we do. I (unfortunately) haven't heard the best things about Joliet since I've started looking. He is the one who got a new job, so I will need to find one myself (ahh!). Romeoville & Plainfield can most definitely be options. First time we've made such a drastic move, kinda scary!

Unfortunately, Joliet probably has more negative aspects than positive. As a single person or a DINK, it could prove to be pretty awesome if you like old industrial towns and the cool stuff that goes with it. I've always had this dream of purchasing one of the late nineteenth century homes in the historic upper bluff for a pittance, just to say I have owned a victorian home.

However, if that sort of thing doesn't suit you (and believe me, it doesn't for many), you should heed the advice of JamaicaBound and check the nearby areas like Shorewood and Plainfield. There is much more commerce in Plainfield and Naperville for jobs and such (if the do exist) but again, the area will be much more expensive.

GolfLover2 · 03-02-2010, 02:21 PM

JennyLane: Depending on what you are looking for in surroundings, you have a wide range of choices surrounding Joliet, especially with no children of school age in the mix. There are areas of Joliet itself that are safe, clean, affordable, and close to main highway arteries .. and in your price range. If you go directly east on I-80 or Rte. 30 .. you can go into the New Lenox/Mokena area and find something very nice. They are up and coming villages that are expanding their offerings of franchise shops and restaurants. There is a huge variety of homes, prices, styles to choose from including apartments, condos, townhomes. It is more "city-like" in flavor and has hook-ups to the city and western suburbs via I-355. Hospitals are close by, with New Lenox now building a new campus for Silver Cross Hospital and the Women's Clinic off of Rte. 6. Frankfort (a little further to the east, but still on Rte. 30 and I-80 corridor) is a beautiful historic town, but is definitely more costly in terms of housing. Manhattan to the south is more rural in nature, but is still close enough to Joliet for easy commuting. All of these villages have train commuting to the city. Rentals and housing in Manhattan would be less costly than the other villages mentioned (all of which are in the Lincoln-Way High School District, a highly respected IL high school). Shorewood (just to the west of Joliet) and Plainfield have many newly built single-family residences and townhomes, some of which may be available for rental given the current housing market. Living along and commuting via Rte. 59 will have its challenges during specific times of the day. It's in need of widening and traffic can be extremely slow and heavy. Just a "heads-up" about that.
If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to write. I'll answer whatever I can to help you. Best of luck!

JennyLane · 03-02-2010, 06:25 PM

Thanks for the replies! I assume that I will most likely (and hopefully) find work that is closer to the city. So therefore, I'd still like to find a place that's north or northeast. It's quite overwhelming trying to find apartments/condos/townhomes when you have no idea what the area is like.

GolfLover2: You may definitely become a great source of info for me - thanks!!

MannheimMadman · 03-02-2010, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JennyLane

Thanks for the replies! I assume that I will most likely (and hopefully) find work that is closer to the city. So therefore, I'd still like to find a place that's north or northeast. It's quite overwhelming trying to find apartments/condos/townhomes when you have no idea what the area is like.

GolfLover2: You may definitely become a great source of info for me - thanks!!

When you say closer to the city, do you mean the city of Chicago? Or, the city of Joliet?

I don't think I'd want to do a realistic commute from the far reaching SW suburbs to Chicago. Unless you work within walking distance an office downtown (and taking the metra to get there) life would suck.

The thing that sucks about trying to choose housing before a job comes is that it bites you in the butt. I did this when I moved to the city of Chicago. I chose a great neighborhood on the south side, but when I found a job, it was on the far northside. Luckily, I was able to get out of my lease and into a north side apartment.

Where will your fiance be working? If there is absolutely no reason to be in the SW suburbs, I could think of other (more distance neutral) places I'd rather be.

JennyLane · 03-03-2010, 12:21 PM

Ideally I would want to be closer to downtown Chicago (well, within reason - NO way we could afford too close). My reasoning is that I'm in marketing and PR and feel the hub of that profession would be closer to the city, but of course, ya never know. He will be working right in Joliet. We're set to go up and visit the weekend of March 13th-14th, so hopefully we'll have a better idea. I'm trying to research, but again, I feel totally blind because I have no idea - ha!

Lavender3 · 03-03-2010, 02:41 PM

We did exactly what you're thinking of doing.... my husband (then fiance) found a job in Lockport just about a year ago.... so we moved to Joliet because the housing is really affordable (we have a really big 2 bedroom apartment with free heat for $775 a month... ridiculously cheap, I'd say... biggest benefit is that we're able to put a decent sum each month into savings). The neighborhood turned out to be just okay, and our neighbors in our building have been involved in drugs and violence, and our landlord is inexperienced and ineffectual when there are issues. Then I finished grad school and got a job... in downtown Chicago. My office is only a mile from Union Station, but my commute is nearly 2hrs each way. Not. Worth. It. We're moving as soon as the weather gets nicer. I wouldn't do it again.