Can you offer any advice on moving to Chicago?

Hi - I am a young professional female moving to Chicago from the east coast. I will be working downtown. Any advice is greatly appreciated!





Specifically - I'd like to know if I will need a car, what area's I should look into / avoid, how I can find stellar roommates!





Thanks.Can you offer any advice on moving to Chicago?
Hi i am also in the collar counties. Choose a reasonable walking distance to ur work. Like if you work downtown mostly you will choose to live on LSD (Lake Shore Drive). Trust me don't buy anything in Chicago! Sales tax 10.5%, Parking stickers, and finally the traffic. The areas that are nice is Lake Front ,Lincoln Park, and Hyde Park. Those are nice places to like but pricey. So I will suggest go to the collar counties. It the collar counties are nice such as Dupage, Will, Lake, and Kane counties. I will suggest Dupage since that is one of the richest counties in the United States. If you live in the collar counties i will suggest a car. If in Chicago don't get a car since of the price of gas. It is over 4 dollars. Just take the CTA or just walk. Trust me Chicago is a nice city. Remember take caution of the south side. Welcome to Chicago!Can you offer any advice on moving to Chicago?
Welcome to Chicago. It's a great city for young professionals. Even though you're working downtown, you may still want a car depending on which neighborhood you decide to live in. Some have more amenities around them than others, so having a car can make your life a lot easier on the weekends sometimes.





Check out the Chicago Reader for apartment listings. When I moved to the city, I used a service called the Apartment People which was great. You basically tell them what you're looking for and they will take you out and show you available rentals in their database.





As for where to live, Lakeview and Lincoln Park tend to be the most popular with young professionals. I'd also check out Andersonville, which is a little further north and a little less expensive. If you want to be really close to downtown, the West Loop and South Loop are good choices. If you're kind of artsy or funky, you'd like Bucktown and Wicker Park.





There's a website called LiveHereChicago.com that has a lot of good information about moving to Chicago, neighborhoods, if you need a car, etc. You should check it out.
downtown your best bet is the goldcoast, its really expensive but you can find something ok and thats where everything is. stay away from the west and south sides. north sides great as well. you really wont need a car because theres public transportation everywhere and you can walk to everything. lincoln park even sounds good. its reasonable and a pretty sweet area. good luck.
Rooomates are hit or miss. You might want to find a month to month rent and not bring all your stuff out yet and maybe try to meet some people at work who may be looking for a roomate.





As for areas you could live in the city, you could also live in the burbs and take the train which is what I do.
You don't NEED a car, but it comes in handy. First off, will you have a placde to park it? That is, does the place where you will be staying have a garage or ample street parking? That is important. I mean, you could park it on the street, but that takes a lot of effort, driving around looking for an empty space, feeding the parking meter if you have to (they usually have to be paid up until 9 p.m. in most place), moving the car early in the morning if you parked in front of a meter overnight, moving your car off the street on street cleaning days, etc. Lots of stuff to consider. And then, as others have said, you have to have a license plate, a state license sticker and a city sticker. The state sticker and the city sticker will both run you more $70. If you have an out of state sticker or plates that are valid, you don't have to worry about the city stuff, But if your out of state sticker expires, they'll start piling the parking ticekts on there. Parking tickets can range from $25 and up and if you get three or more, they can slap a boot on your car. Then you have to pay to remove the boot, pay for whatever tickets you've piled up, pay the towing charge (if they tow your car before you pay to get the boot off) and pay for each day it's in the pound. Trust me, that can add up to A LOT. Oh, and you have to have insurance.





That being said, a car can still be handy. I have a car and other than the yearly city and state stickers, I just pay for insurance (Ok, as well as gas and the other regular up keep). I know when to move my car on street cleaning days, make sure my meter doesn't run out and make sure I move it in the morning before I go to work if it's parked in front of a meter. I have the option of indoor parking where I live and I'm thinking of that (it's an extra $100 a month), but as of now I'm fine.





The car comes in handy when you want to do things like go to the grocery store (if you have to go several blocks it's a pain in the a** to drag five or six bags back to your place in those plastic bags, especially in freezing winter!), when you have to go all the way across town and you know that you won't be home until late and the thought of riding a bus or the el train all the way back makes you ill, if you occasionally want to take a long drive on a nice summer weekend down Lake Shore Drive or a quick trip to a place like the Botanic Gardens in Glencoe; not really far away, but far enough away where taking a bus is a hassel; or picking up friends from the airport, train station etc.





There is another option if you need a car. We have a car sharing program here called iGo. It's sort of like car rental. There are spots around the city where iGo cars are stored. You put in a request for a car for a certain time and go pick it up. You set the amount of time you'll need it ahead of time. If you find you might need it longer, you can call and request extra time. It's convenient, but I personally like having my own car when I need it for as long as I need it.





Anyway, I guess it's up to you. Like I said, you don't need a car, but it can come in handy.





As far as areas, you're probably going to get steered into the Lakeview/Lincoln Park area. It's jammed with ';young professionals';, but I would advice you to explore a little further into areas like Edgewater and Andersonville, as well as Ravenswood, Roscoe Village and the St. Ben's area. They are a little further away from downtown but not hard to get there.





Can't really help you with roommates. Never had one.