Relocating to Chicago Looking for Advice (Naperville, Arlington Heights: sales, for rent, buy)

[drbackler]

Hello all,
I am a 23 year old male, I just got a job in Medical Sales and my territory is Chicago-outside of the downtown loop. I am unfamiliar with the area and am looking for advice on where two 23-25 year old single males would be comfortable living. I am looking for an area with fun night life for a young professional of my age, and where a weekend night in downtown Chicago is an option. Living expense would need to be under $1,800/month for rent (2bedroom). I would prefer to stay North of the city as my potential roomate works in Deerfield but location isn't a huge issue as I will not have an office and will be traveling to hospitals all around the area. With that said, I would imagine traffic is going to be awful no matter where I am.

Any help/advice would be helpful. Thanks!!!!

[chet everett]

Straight?

[chirack]

Originally Posted by drbackler

Hello all,
I am a 23 year old male, I just got a job in Medical Sales and my territory is Chicago-outside of the downtown loop. I am unfamiliar with the area and am looking for advice on where two 23-25 year old single males would be comfortable living. I am looking for an area with fun night life for a young professional of my age, and where a weekend night in downtown Chicago is an option. Living expense would need to be under $1,800/month for rent (2bedroom). I would prefer to stay North of the city as my potential roomate works in Deerfield but location isn't a huge issue as I will not have an office and will be traveling to hospitals all around the area. With that said, I would imagine traffic is going to be awful no matter where I am.

Any help/advice would be helpful. Thanks!!!!

I would pin down the location of your sales territory a little more. Outside the downtown loop is still one huge area and deerfield is kinda distant from Chicago in terms of driving.

[drbackler]

yes I am straight. My territory is very large, that is mainly why I don't know where to live.

[linicx]

Congrats to you and your best friend! Here is some food for thought.

The area "outside of the downtown" is roughly 850 square miles of Cook County and 4-5M residents. Most of it is sandwiched somewhere in between the Wi Border and I-80. This of course does not include any adjoining counties such as Lake or Grundy, or states such as WI or IN.

To know Chicago is to know it's hoods, and have a very strong and very loud security system installed on your car unless all you carry is catalogs. Chicago's 1000 'hoods do not include any Cook County suburbs.

Suburb is not Chicago. County is not City. Given your work area and your friend's fixed work location, it is a smart idea to begin your new life in Deerfield or very nearby. By this time next year you will have a better perspective of your territory, and where you would actually like to live. Living in the city is cool until you discover the train and bus routes are no where near your friend's work.

When two are involved, TIME and travel distance is why residents suggest you live not too far from where one of the two works. As you experience the suburbs, you may well like horsey Arlington Heights, trendy Oak Park, tail gate party Evanston, or even Naperville where the lady cops rule, as a potential place to live. But, nine months from now you will better understand the work related trade-offs to do so.

That place called "Chicago" is very demanding of personal time. One thing you can do now is buy a map of Cook County suburbs and pinpoint the hospitals. I know you can find hospitals in Oak Park and Maywood, but not if there is one in nearby Berwyn or River Forest. I don't know for a fact that every suburb has its own hospital, or even a need for one. Naperville with its 150,000 residents certainly does, but what about Homewood?

County lines blur, so do city boundaries. Naperville, I think is located in two counties. If the hospital is not in Cook County, it may not be in your service area.

Good luck!

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by drbackler

yes I am straight. My territory is very large, that is mainly why I don't know where to live.

That's OK, if you could give us the boundaries, even roughly, of your territory it would help. Also, what time do you need to be at your first sales call by?

[Glad2bHere!]

Two options that immediately come to mind are Evanston, on the North side and Oak Park on the West side. With what little you have shared each of these would have their strengthes and weaknesses. Given your demographic networking through any of the many institutions of higher learning in the Chicago area and being guided by where their student population finding housing may be an option. In the Chicago area, sometimes the challenge is less about identifying an optimal area as simply avoiding areas which are problematic. Chicago is a fantastic place to find just about anything you would care to have. The issue that you will find is that the word "co-location" does not come up very often, hence people are always commuting to somewhere else in the Chicago area to get what they want; living here, working there and playing someplace else.

FWIW.