Moving to Chicago from Finland.. (student loans, home, neighborhoods) - Illinois (IL) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

marothisu · 07-23-2013, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marijohanna

Ok.. so that was a little low. But how about $165k? Can I get something with that? I have my condo here in Finland, and I wasn't gonna sell it, I thougt about renting it to get some extra cash monthly.. But what if I sold it? It would give about $90k more to my funds. Would I manage to get a HOUSE with that? Always dreamed of a house..

ar

1) Let me re-state kind of what I just said. Most people here don't buy their houses 100% right away. They make a down payment with a fraction of the cost of the property they're buying, and then use a loan to finance the rest. So what I meant was that $75K could get you something decent, but you would have to use it as a down payment on property. However, you are not from the US and probably don't have credit established in the US so I don't know how that would work.

2) If you move here, IMO you should probably rent first anyway. You are basically trying to move blind to a place you've never been before. What if you move and don't like your area? You are kind of stuck with that.

WIth renting, you can live somewhere for a year, and explore areas and probably manage finding something if you truly want to buy..

3) For $165K, the houses you could afford would be in either not so great neighborhoods or in the suburbs... A condo, you may be able to afford a decent 1 bedroom condo in a decent neighborhood in Chicago for $165K.

marijohanna · 07-23-2013, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marothisu

ar

1) Let me re-state kind of what I just said. Most people here don't buy their houses 100% right away. They make a down payment with a fraction of the cost of the property they're buying, and then use a loan to finance the rest. So what I meant was that $75K could get you something decent, but you would have to use it as a down payment on property. However, you are not from the US and probably don't have credit established in the US so I don't know how that would work.

2) If you move here, IMO you should probably rent first anyway. You are basically trying to move blind to a place you've never been before. What if you move and don't like your area? You are kind of stuck with that.

WIth renting, you can live somewhere for a year, and explore areas and probably manage finding something if you truly want to buy..

3) For $165K, the houses you could afford would be in either not so great neighborhoods or in the suburbs... A condo, you may be able to afford a decent 1 bedroom condo in a decent neighborhood in Chicago for $165K.

Thank you for your aswers! Things are soo very different there.. but yeah you are right, I should think about renting first. It's just that I'm so exited and just want to make my dream come true as fast as possible. But thank you!

thefallensrvnge · 07-23-2013, 09:43 AM

I agree with what some of the other posters are saying. Take a tour around Chicago, and find what neighborhood suites you best. Who knows, maybe you'll like The Back of the Yards. Are you going to finish your degree in Chicago? If so, which school interests you? It may help in finding a location for you to live.

Out of curiosity, what attracted you to the Windy City? It's a good choice.

Ace Rothstein · 07-23-2013, 09:55 AM

Back of the Yards is a hellhole. I wouldn't recommend anyone to live there.

Canaryville is meh. You can do a lot better and a lot worse.

marijohanna · 07-23-2013, 10:13 AM

I'm not quite sure if I'm gonna finish my degree here or there. Would there be any advantages finishing there? Other than getting the student visa ofc..I don't know much about the schools in Chicago yet, I'll have to get some more information on them.

Well, I fell in love with the city almost immedeately when as a child I had a penpal named Charlie from Chicago. He sent me a lot of pictures of his family, their neighbourhood and all kinds of places around the city. I was sold! Sadly my parents house burned down four years ago and most of the pics and letters were distroyed. I've sometimes been smiling at the idea of maybe coming across this Charlie when I move to the Windy City! I can' t remember his surname or really anything useful, exept that he lived with his granny in South Lawndale.. and that was 12-13 years ago.

would be cool to find him someday tho.

marothisu · 07-23-2013, 10:17 AM

There are a lot of schools in Chicago, and two of them are very highly ranked. The University of Chicago is ranked as the 8th best university in the entire world, and Northwestern (which is in Evanston, the city directly north of Chicago) is ranked 27th in the world. There are many other schools though that are not necessarily as hard to gain attendance to as the previous two, such as Illinois-Chicago, DePaul, Loyola, etc.

Sorry to hear about your parent's home. South Lawndale is an interesting neighborhood. It is mainly Mexican and there are some stretches where there is nothing but Spanish on the streets. There are some gangs there and such though, but it's not the most dangerous neighborhood in town - but also not the safest.

oakparkdude · 07-23-2013, 10:40 AM

Are you fully aware of the obstacles for a foreigner to get into a US medical school?

Ace Rothstein · 07-23-2013, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Are you fully aware of the obstacles for a foreigner to get into a US medical school?

Let alone the tuition.

marothisu · 07-23-2013, 10:51 AM

^ Which is why most foreign students in the US who are here without a full ride scholarship or close to it come from wealthy families.

marijohanna · 07-23-2013, 11:53 AM

I suppose it would be wiser to finish the degree back here in Finland, also because here its completely free. I'd save a lot of money. Then after my craduation I'll just have to find a way to get employed in Chicago. Also I've been planning to maybe go and study my self to be a surgeon.