Chicago and Yards - Closest I Can Get to Urban Living w/ Some Sort of Yard? (Oak Park: real estate, rental)

[mjefferson1980]

I've been considering a move to Chicago for a few years. About a year ago my girlfriend and I ended up taking in a (60-lb) rescue dog a friend was fostering, which adds a couple degrees of difficulty to urban living.

Our preferences pre-dog: Wicker Park or Bucktown or similar area. Within quarter mile of train station. We would rent at first but buying budget would be $250-300k. I fly a lot for work, so the easier I could get to O'Hare, the better. (My girlfriend, who works from home, stays with the dog.)

Now: We would need at least a small patch of a backyard. The dog would get walked twice a day. One of those would probably include some dog park time. However, the dog could not get walked every time it looks like it might need to go to the bathroom.

Question 1: Is some kind of condo with a small yard in Wicker Park or Bucktown feasible in that budget?
Question 2: How close to the denser parts of the city can we get a decent single family home with actual yard in that price range ($250-300k) for. I have a car, but would like to be somewhat close to O'Hare either by train or road.

[Alacran]

In that price range no.
But there are plenty of houses with yards even in the densest of areas.

For that price range you'd probably have to live in farther out neighborhoods. Not neighborhoods with on the rise real estate.

[kafka_on_the_shore]

Is most of your flying done domestically or internationally?

[chitownperson]

I would check out places like Irving Park. It's not as hip as wicker park, but you are pretty close to areas with entertainment, and you have the train and a reasonable commute to O'Hare. Plus it's closer to your budget. You may also consider the suburb Oak Park which has a more city feel compared to most suburbs, with entertainment and is close to O'Hare. Though Oak Park is a suburb, it's closer to the loop than a lot of nortaero and southern parts of the actual city. If you want to be in the city on you budget, you'll have to sacrifice location for space... You either choose a place closer to the center with more crime or a place further with less going on.

[hindukid]

There are plenty of 3 flats where you will share a small yard with two other people. There is a pretty nice single family home listed at 399K at 1810 W. Huron. That is probably as low as you are going to go in this area.

[Aleking]

single family home on that budget...not even close..like x5 for Wicker/Bucktown.

[mjefferson1980]

Thanks for the great responses. I wasn't very clear in asking 2 distinct questions:

1. Are there any condos or du/tri/quad-plexes in Wicker Park or Bucktown that have some sort of extremely small patches of grass, shared or not, so we don't have to walk a dog 5/x a day.

2. Knowing that single family homes in any of those areas out of our price range, are there any neighborhoods where such homes are in our budget that also have a denser, walkable feel, are train-accessible, and are convenient to O'Hare.

I fly only domestically, but a lot of the travel is to smaller cities. I guess I should check out Midway as well.

Conclusion: Looking at the housing stock and knowing why we're interested in Chicago (living in the dense, no-car-needed city part of a great American city), I think we probably either need to decide to live in a condo and just get off our lazy asses and walk the dog all the time, or we should decide to live somewhere else.

Because of our work, we can live anywhere so long as it's close to a decent airport. We would probably only be looking at houses in the other cities on our list.

[urbanlife78]

from what I have seen of Chicago, I will say the nice thing is that when you move outward from the city center, the neighborhood streets are all tree lined and have the grass patch that separates the road and the sidewalk. Much easier to deal with than a city like NYC where everything is concrete and grass is sacred.

If you go for that, then you will have no problem finding a place in your budget in Chicago.

[Attrill]

Once you get outside the Loop, or away from the lake a bit, it is typical for 2 or three flats to have a 25' X 25' lawn between the building and the garage. Finding something like that should be no problem in a rental or condo.

If you want a single family house in the price range you're talking about you'll probably find some in Logan Square or Avondale. In that price range they'll need a little work, and the further the house is from the L the more likely it is to fall in that price range. You could certainly find a condo in that price range in those neighborhoods. Once you get out towards Irving Park and closer to O'Hare the SFH homes start to get larger, and the prices start to go up. The further you get out on the Blue Line the less nightlife you'll find, but there's still plenty going on in Logan Square and into Avondale. Past Irving Park things begin to get more suburban, but it's still nowhere near as dead as typical suburbs.

You also might want to check along the Orange line. There are some safe neighborhoods between the Loop and Midway that are worth investigating if nightlife isn't a huge priority.

[snoylekim]

If your budget can swing it , and your dog(s) are socialized to it , there are a few very good dog walking/dog care services in the city..quite a few of my neighbors in my building and adjacent buildings use these services .. They can take care of the dog while you're working or away ..