If you’re planning to move from your Chicago apartment to an apartment in the suburbs-or from the suburbs to the city-you should realize there are a lot of concrete differences between the two types of environments-besides concrete.
Fail to learn the pros and cons of each, and you might end up being surprised-and not so pleasantly-by your new community.
While few people mind the good surprises, Gaiel Eagle has seen the frustration attached to the latter scenario. She remembers the dismay of one elderly woman, for example, who moved from the city to an apartment in Woodridge only to find almost no convenient mass transportation-an important consideration because she didn’t drive.
“I think we have people who come from the city and they don’t realize we don’t have the mass transportation . . . and they get frustrated,” says Eagle, director of management for Realty & Mortgage Co. in Chicago, which manages 6,000 rental units in the city and suburbs.
The availability of convenient mass transportation is probably the most glaring difference between the city and suburbs, Eagle and other apartment experts say.
Mass transportation in the suburbs consists mainly of Metra commuter train routes into the city; taxis that have to be ordered by phone; special bus service for the elderly and disabled through community centers, retirement centers and municipalities; and Pace buses, which usually run every hour along one or two main roads within a community. Debra Garrett found that the buses near her Woodridge apartment complex stopped running at 6:30 p.m.
Expensive wheels
When she lived in the city, she didn’t need a car because there were buses running along most streets, elevated trains, Metra trains and a lot of taxis that cruise around looking for passengers. The buses and elevated trains typically run several times an hour on a 24-hour basis.
Not long after moving to an apartment in Westmont five years ago, Garrett realized that a car in the suburbs is a must and so shelled out $4,000 or $5,000 for a used car and $600 in auto insurance.
Add to that $20 to $80 a month in gas if you have a long commute to work, estimates Jim Heeren, president at Apartments Across America in Arlington Heights. A monthly Metra train pass from that community to Chicago costs $89.
Just think if the situation were reversed and you could get rid of the car and all of the attached expenses and instead spend $20 or so a week for buses or trains.
But what if you want to keep your car? That means finding and paying for parking, activities not required in many suburbs where apartment complexes often have large, free parking lots.
Finding street parking in many lakefront city neighborhoods can be a daunting task. Spaces in parking lots range from $45 to $140 a month, depending on their location and whether they’re covered and enclosed, says Donald Christiansen, a manager at Northside Apartment Rental Services in Chicago.
Belying the whole issue of transportation is a basic physical difference between the city and many suburbs: The city combines business and residential areas while the business districts in suburbs are more separated from living areas.
That means that in the city you may be able to rent a video, pick up your dry cleaning, buy some groceries and eat at a restaurant by walking no more than a few blocks, whereas in the suburbs you may have to walk a mile or drive to a shopping center to do the same things.
“Everything is more convenient,” says Kenny Munic, a former Lincolnwood resident who now lives in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.
Here are some other differences between the city and suburbs to think about:
– Tenant rights.
All tenants in Chicago are covered by the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which sets financial and other penalties for landlords who don’t comply with city building codes.
Although the state has laws regarding tenant rights, they don’t specify how people can exercise those rights, says Bob Roels, environmental health coordinator for the Village of Mt. Prospect, which is the only other suburb besides Evanston to have an ordinance similar to the city’s.
In some suburbs, tenants can’t complain about plumbing or other needed repairs because the local building codes only cover construction and not existing buildings, Roels says.
– Cost.
Garrett was surprised to find that she lives more cheaply in the suburbs than in the city. Food is less expensive, she says, and there are more discount movie theaters that charge only $1 or $1.50 for a ticket instead of full price.
Her two-bedroom apartment costs $610 a month, which is $60 more than what her two-bedroom cost in the city. But her current apartment has a dishwasher, on-site laundry room, free parking and access to a swimming pool and tennis courts, amenities that she didn’t have in Chicago.
Comparing rents between the city and suburbs is confusing, to say the least: A Rogers Park studio can rent for $350 a month; average rent in Forest Park is between $450 and $499; a nice two-bedroom in Lincoln Park is $1,000, while the same thing in Arlington Heights may go for $800.
Another difference is that Chicago’s 8.75 percent sales tax is higher than in any suburb.
When it comes to insurance, the general rule is that the farther you live from the city, the lower your renter’s and car insurance will be, says Mark Curi, a State Farm agent. Technically, however, rates are based on ZIP codes, he adds. That means if you move within a ZIP code area-whether suburban or city-where the insurance company has experienced a higher severity and incidence of loss, your insurance rates will go up, though by how much is tough to say.
– Apartment style.
The city has more varieties of apartments than do the suburbs, Heeren says. There are Victorian brick walkup buildings with ornate woodwork, lofts, units in big homes, high-rises and other apartments with views of Lake Michigan.
Many suburban apartment buildings have been constructed within the last 40 years and are rectangular six-unit buildings that are clustered together in complexes. Pine Ridge Apartments in Woodridge, for example, has 12 two-story buildings.
Such complexes often have pools, basketball courts, elevators and other features that many city apartments don’t have due to lack of space or age of the building, says Eagle, who grew up in Hyde Park and now lives in Woodridge.
– Scenery.
“It just seems (there is) more hustle and bustle (in the city). It just seems there are more people (in the city),” says Laurie Kokenes, executive director of the Forest Park Chamber of Commerce.
That’s because there are more people within a smaller area. So to accommodate everyone, city apartment buildings are taller or at least closer together than in the suburbs, where buildings reach 15 stories or less and are more spread out.
Suburban apartment buildings also tend to have more grass, trees and open space nearby. The Timber Creek Apartments in Woodridge, for example, consists of six buildings on 13 acres of land, Eagle says. “It’s just so beautiful out here. It’s not like walking down a city street.”
City resident Munic says he would love a back yard like he had in Lincolnwood. That way he could just let his dog out instead of getting dressed and walking the canine.
– Atmosphere.
When suburbanites describe their communities, you’ll often hear the phrases “family-oriented,” “small town feeling” and “quaint.”
“It’s quaintness, a small-town atmosphere we’re trying to maintain,” says Sharon Ewing, executive director of the Algonquin Chamber of Commerce.
The city is described by residents as the exact opposite; a hopping, noisy place especially suited for single people or couples who don’t have or have already reared their children.
“(The city’s) a lot of energy,” says Stuart Miller of The Apartment Source in Chicago.
“It’s definitely a fact that things are livelier in the city,” Munic agrees. “There’s not much of a (night) scene in Lincolnwood to go to.”
– People.
Although many suburbs are experiencing an increase in their minority populations, U.S. Census figures show that in most cases, most of Chicago’s suburbs are not as racially or ethnically diverse as the city.
Garrett, who is African-American, says she didn’t realize there would be so few other African-Americans in her community to socialize with. “I really feel like a minority out here. I’ve never had any incidents of racial (prejudice). I can feel it sometimes, though; very subtle.”
– Personal business.
“If you’ve got a good doctor or dentist, you’re going to go to them unless it’s an outrageous drive,” Christiansen says.
In terms of banking, many suburbs have at least one branch of a national or regional bank, meaning you may not have to close your account when moving either out of or into the city.
The only rule when making such a move is that you will have to re-register to vote, according to the Cook County Department of Elections.
Voter registration, transportation, doctors, culture-it’s a lot to think about. But just remember that weighing these factors may make the transition from city to suburban life, or vice versa, that much easier.
