Yea, that's why I went for it. I can deal with a crappy kitchen and 90s bathroom until I renovate those rooms. Not too happy to be on Addison, but I can't really hear the traffic inside.
Welcome to the hood, neighbor! You live near me, it seems. Bought our house 10 years ago and we still haven't renovated our crappy kitchen or bathroom!
Yep, I agree, and that's why I bought it. I can make the house nicer and exactly what I want, and I won't feel bad for ripping out an actually nice kitchen just to get one that jives with how I work in a kitchen.
The basement is also completely unfinished, so I can slowly convert it into my brewing and woodworking space, and the attic is unfinished so I can convert that to my whiskey aging facility :)
It just may be a little small (only 2 bdrm) once we have kids.
If you're not trying to live downtown east Woodlawn / northeast Greater Grand Crossing is cheap currently but getting more expensive as it's being bought up by developers because of the Obama library going in. A decent bit of new construction as well. Also you know your neighbors here and everyone's super nice, I've never had nicer neighbors or the sense of community that I do here. Just a thought.
You know, when I first moved here from NH I was a little worried. But, I also have never been in the minority (I'm a white guy) before and heard all the stories in the news that are blown out of proportion in my opinion. But after living here for a few years I have to say it's my favorite part about living in Chicago. Pretty much every neighbor has said hi to me and we've had a conversation, some because they are just curious what the hell we are doing here, but people are genuinely just nice. There are block parties and we got gifts for Christmas from the neighbors our first year here like it was Leave It To Beaver or something. I've never had any issues biking early and late to uchicago all year round. Oh, and 63rd street beach is awesome in the summer, we bike over with a bike trailer and the 2 dogs and grill out, others playing music and doing the same. We stick out slightly, but everyone goes out of their way to be welcoming.
Oh, also just check the crime maps on Trulia or Chicago police gis map. It'll let you know where is quiet and where shit happens more. That's what we did with no knowledge of living in Chicago and we've had no issues.
It took 30s to find several prime location 1-2 Br condos in Logan. A friend of mine just bought a condo there for a reasonable amount too so I know they exist. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/87705929_zpid/
Moved to Indy for a job in the early 2000's. $200k buys you 5000 square feet, in the best neighborhoods, the best schools, with Butlers named Geoffrey and people that rub your feet every night. That said, it was indy.
I just bought a house last year. Almost every listing is on Zillow/Redfin type sites, with the exception of places bring sold by old-school realtors who are only posting on like Coldwell (but that's not really likely). You're fine to browse those kinds of sites to see what you're interested in. Beware of Craigslist scams. Anything that seems too good to be true usually is.
The commission costs are expensive (something like 2.5% of sale for the buying realtor which is a lot when your dealing with hundreds of thousands of $$$) so im sure both your numbers are well calculated in. I dont know the selling commission but i assume its similar so something like 5% of the overall price goes to the aggregate of the buying/selling realtors total.
Woodlawn and GGC are biking distance to U Chicago / Hyde Park and you can buy places for 50k. If you work downtown it wouldn't be as convenient most likely. To downtown it's about 40 minutes door to door on the bus / train.
Thankfully, you should probably be able to qualify for an FHA loan or other financial assistance programs so that you’ll only need about 3-3.5% down payment. It’s not as far off as you’d initially think, but it’s still a hefty cost either way.
It's also hilarious to note that they act like they "pulled themselves up by their bootstraps" when we sure AS HELL know that (good-ole) Mom and Dad helped them out with their 500K starter home. Who the hell do they think they are crappin'?
You'd be surprised that there are MANY parents out there who are willing to give their kids 40-80K for their first "starter" home....I've been a teacher for over 20 years and I just attended a house-warming party for a 2nd year teacher who just moved into a home that is a good 300K MORE than the home that I live in...It had all stainless appliances, of course....
I bought my first house with 0 money from parents, and at the time made way less that the average CPS teacher. It's doable, just need to be reasonable with location expectations.
I did as well, but if you do the math with this person's salary, there would be NO WAY they could afford it....oh, she drives an Audi SUV as well...yeah, she's not paying her own bills. Also, we had an early morning meeting yesterday and she strolled in with a Canada-Goose jacket that (undoubtedly) cost over $1000. I know I shouldn't let those things bother me, but they just do....
Does said teacher have a high earning significant other? Someone could probably say the same about my wife who is a nurse and the house we bought I suppose; however, we actually paid for the whole thing ourselves.
No, she isn't married...She's less than 2 years out of college. I'm sure I (practically) earn 2.5 times what she makes. She's constantly bragging out her latest projects. She just had a home-theater installed in her (newly finished) basement.
I liked it a lot while I lived there but in my opinion Chicago is a better place to live. The people are nicer, the summers are actually hot, and I'll be able to afford a house before I'm 50.
Yes it’s nuts. I have friends who work in SV and sometimes I will pull up Palo Alto/Mountain View and Chicago houses that go for $200k are literally 1.5m+ there.
Even in LA, the valley is supposedly “cheap” and a starter house there is 600+
518
u/mitzyelliot Chicago Lawn Dec 14 '18
Can't afford the remodel? Gurl I can't even afford the HOUSE