Why is Chicago's real estate market so affordable?? (safe, move)

[Allan Trafton]

Chicago is a great city and if the housing is more affordable good for the residents. It's great a young person or whoever can live in a beautiful urban neighborhood for a reasonable price, not NYC or San Fran prices.

As far as the posts slamming Chicago concerning crime. Crime is more neighborhood based, no matter where you go. There is plenty of crime in the booming south and west. Most of the decent neighborhoods in Chicago are safe as long as you use common sense, like anywhere.

People believe what they want to believe no matter how you present the facts. They hate Chicago and get some sick joy tearing the place down. In my view it's one of the greatest cities in America, second only to New York and many times better than all sun belt cities by far.

[usamathman]

Originally Posted by Allan Trafton

Chicago is a great city and if the housing is more affordable good for the residents. It's great a young person or whoever can live in a beautiful urban neighborhood for a reasonable price, not NYC or San Fran prices.

As far as the posts slamming Chicago concerning crime. Crime is more neighborhood based, no matter where you go. There is plenty of crime in the booming south and west. Most of the decent neighborhoods in Chicago are safe as long as you use common sense, like anywhere.

People believe what they want to believe no matter how you present the facts. They hate Chicago and get some sick joy tearing the place down. In my view it's one of the greatest cities in America, second only to New York and many times better than all sun belt cities by far.

Great post. Couldn't agree more.

[flamadiddle]

It's not crime. There's also a lot of affordable housing in the burbs where there's little to no crime. It's one of the reasons we moved back. In addition to loving the midwest, you get a great bang for your buck here. Oh wait, maybe "bang" was a bad choice of words.

[hulburt1]

When you have someone who is shot every 4 hrs. That's going to make more housing. Smart people would not move or live there.

[pannierpacker]

What I didn't like about Chicago was how frequently impoverished people came up and asked me for money. The amount of begging that happens in Chicago is significantly higher than the MSP area. You couldn't go out to eat or do much of anything without being approached. I did manage to make it to the grocery store a few times without being approached. Maybe people have more respect for that sort of thing or maybe because it was because the grocery stores were nowhere near the L stations?

I also didn't like how impersonal people were. It definitely seems like the Chicago population takes awhile to warm up to people. The constant rain for 2 out of the 4 days I was there was also hard to deal with. Parking and traffic were difficult to deal with as well.

I loved the rest of Chicago. All of the little nooks, alleyways, tightly squeezed buildings, architecture, restaurants, and coffee shops give the city a lot of character. The lakeshore bike path and excellent transit service were great to use as well. I could easily see myself going there again and trying out the rest of the city. Maybe if I met some good people there it would convince me to stick around a little longer.

[mwj119]

People have this misperception that housing value is synonymous with desirability. Wrong.

There’s more supply in Chicago than most major cities, specifically the ones with higher COL. High rises abound, seemingly very little zoning, vast neighborhoods, and competitive housing stock. It’s actually a great buyers market, and will continue to be a buyers market unless an influx of foreign money starts to inflate costs like it has on the coasts- SF, NY, Vancouver, Boston.

Lower COL is reason to celebrate, so long as housing maintains its value. I know that many neighborhoods/suburbs have yet to reach their prerecession prices, which is a bit concerning. That’s the long term question, but in the interim, it’s a great value. Incredible city

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by prhill

Why is it that the population keeps dropping in the city because people are leaving as crime is getting worse?

The crime situation is greatly improving in Chicago. Just check the City-data crime stats. Chicago had a crime index of 746 back in 2002. It has fallen to 425. This is a huge improvement and the crime stats show a steady downtrend.

Many other big cities have much worse crime stats than Chicago. Just look at its neighbor to the north. Milwaukee has a much higher crime index of 677.

//www.city-data.com/crime/crime...Wisconsin.html

Indianapolis is also more dangerous than Chicago with a crime index of 615.

Here is an example of a truly dangerous city. Oakland has a crime index of 818. Even across the bay San Francisco has a higher crime index of 491 which is higher than Chicago's 425.

//www.city-data.com/crime/crime...alifornia.html

//www.city-data.com/crime/crime...alifornia.html

[prhill]

Originally Posted by damba

LOL

Because he already spanked you silly, dude.

No not even close quite the opposite in fact.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by prhill

No not even close quite the opposite in fact.

Nope, you were schooled. And still don't get it. That's the bizarre part.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by capoeira

The crime situation is greatly improving in Chicago. Just check the City-data crime stats. Chicago had a crime index of 746 back in 2002. It has fallen to 425. This is a huge improvement and the crime stats show a steady downtrend.

Many other big cities have much worse crime stats than Chicago. Just look at its neighbor to the north. Milwaukee has a much higher crime index of 677.

//www.city-data.com/crime/crime...Wisconsin.html

Indianapolis is also more dangerous than Chicago with a crime index of 615.

Here is an example of a truly dangerous city. Oakland has a crime index of 818. Even across the bay San Francisco has a higher crime index of 491 which is higher than Chicago's 425.

//www.city-data.com/crime/crime...alifornia.html

//www.city-data.com/crime/crime...alifornia.html

Exactly