Jeremy's Stories and Musings
Apartment Hunting in ChicagoJeremy's Home Jeremy's Stories and Musings
Apartment Hunting in Chicago
March 28th, 1997
Note: I lot interest in finishing this boring little tale. You're invited to read what is here, though...
This week is (was) supposed to be my Spring Break. My LAST Spring Break of my College career (unless I end up going back to school someday). Did I make one last voyage to the sunny beaches of Florida to soak up some Sun and relax? Noooooo. I decided it'd be best to drive myself to Chicago and hunt for my new home--since I am starting my new job in early June, and it just happens to be in downtown Chicago.
"Find an apartment." That sounds pretty straightforward, right? I've done it twice before (and interestingly ended up without a roommate 1/2 way through the year both times, but that's another story). Anyway, I started several weeks in advance with a copy of the Relcon Apartment Guide. According to the Guide, I should "expect to spend" about $900/month on my new abode. "Ok,' I thought, "that's a bit high, but I'll be making a decent wage."
As I browsed the Guide, I noticed that there were a lot of places available for well under that $900 price, so I figured I'd be safe in significantly lowering that figure. I also decided that I wouldn't need gobs and gobs of space, so I should focus on apartment which are classified as "studios" or "one bedroom" apartments.
I knew my price range (oh, I began in roughly the $500 - $600 range), type of apartment, and mostly what I wanted (carpeting, allow cats, etc.). This only left one thing: location. In talking with folks who have lived in Chicago (or know others who have), the impression I got is that I "really want to live in the city," mainly because (1) I'll be working in the Loop area downtown, and (2) it's cool to live in the city.
Fair enough. I had what I needed to know to get started.
As the time for my trip (this week) drew nearer and nearer, I managed to force myself to get serious and make a list of the specific realty companies and properties that I was interested in. Due to popular recommendation, I focused in on the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. After a few hours, I had a list of about four companies which had numerous properties in the area. I jotted down their locations, names, phone numbers, and so on. I got out my trusty Chicago area map (thanks, AAA) and highlighted the locations of their offices as well as the locations of their properties.
At this point, I was virtually good to go.
Oh, somewhere along the line, a friend of mine offered me a place to stay while I conducted my search. Troy (the friend, duh) lives in Lombard, a suburb west of Chicago. So, the plan was to get up on Monday morning, do the typical "morning things," put stuff in my car, and drive to the Lincoln Park area to begin searching. Then, in the evening, I'd head over to Troy's place and sort stuff out, sleep, etc.
I managed to hit the road a bit later than I wanted (like 10:13am, to be exact), but thanks to the timezone change in Indiana I wasn't too late. The ride out was decent. There was little traffic on the highways, and I had my newly made 80's tapes with me. For some reason, I figured it would be "fun" to keep track of the times when certain things happened along the trip (pay tolls, stop for gas, discover alien life) and some of the details. So I kept a little pad of paper near me in the car and attempted to jot these things down--sometimes while driving.
Eventually I got bored with this little record keeping idea of mine, but while it lasted I gathered something that looked like this: (don't mind the yellow--it's for effect. I used a yellow tablet to write on.)
| 10:13am | Leave BG Gas at Speedway - $13.47 (included two bottles of water) MidAm ATM - took out $160.00 "just in case" |
| 10:35am | Turnpike entrance 4A in Toledo. |
| 11:40am | Indiana. Paid $2.10 to Ohio on the way out. |
| 12:40am | Rest stop near exit 89 in Indiana. $4.64 on gas to top off tank. $4.74 at the Arby's for lunch. |
| 1:10pm | Piss and get back on the road. |
| 1:37pm | Cross into CST zone. Still using EST to record so I don't get confused after the trip. |
| 2:12pm | Toll $4.15 (?) out of Indiana. Discovered 97.9 FM - The LUP (Loop) Good Music. |
| 2:33pm | $0.50 toll to Chicago Skyway. |
| 2:38pm | $2.00 skyway toll. |
| 2:39pm | This note-taking is stupid. I'm stopping. |
See? I said it was dumb. More dumb is the fact that I just re-typed it in an effort to prove that it was dumb. Sigh.
Sometime after 2:39pm, I arrived in the general vicinity of downtown Chicago. I think it was near 3:00pm. It was around this time that I realized how difficult it is to read a map and navigate the downtown area. It took me two tries just to find the first realty office. It took me two more to find a place to park. During the course of these four trips around a very large block, I got lost twice by thinking I could find a "shorter" way to where I wanted to go. Bad idea. Both times.
The one thing I was happy about is that my timing paid off. I wanted to arrive in downtown at an off-time so that I would have to deal with a shitload of traffic as well as my unfamiliarity with the area. Since I arrived at about 2:00pm local time, it wasn't bad at all.
I managed to find a parking spot about 4 blocks from the realty office. I considered this an accomplishment and happily walked myself to the realty office.
The office of Realty & Mortgage Co. was very nice on the inside. The receptionist was nice, too. She explained to me that I could have a copy of their current vacancies (for the month of May) and their master book with pictures and descriptions of all the locations. She further explained that I should use those two items to find the places I was interested in and then call the building manager (or whatever they're called) to arrange an appointment.
"Great." I thought, "I have to make a whole bunch of phone calls to people who probably aren't home and tell them that I'll try back later because there's no phone number I can give them to try calling me at." I did happen to have my Mom's cellular phone with me (thanks, Mom!), but it seemed kind of absurd.
The nice receptionist person further explained that I could sit in the little waiting area by their front window and use the phone there to make any calls I needed. "Thank, god." I thought. "It sure is warm in here."
So, I took of my coat, sat down, and got to work.
Aside from the little driving "experience," things had been going too smoothly up to this point. That's probably why I had some difficulty contacting anyone on the phone. I tried calling several of the numbers on the paper and the phone kept making a strange noise at me. After a moment, it occurred to me that I may need to do something special to get a line from which I can dial placed other than the office where was sitting.
So, I walked all the way back to the receptionist (about 10 feet) and asked, "Uhm. Is there something special I need to do--like dial "9"--to get an outside line?" She promptly replied, "Oh, yes. You need to dial "9" to get an outside line." Immediately I felt dumb to figuring out how to solve the problem but not trying before I opened my big mouth and asked. Oh, well.
I managed to get a hold of most of the people I wanted to. Several times I got cut off part way through the conversation. After the first few times, I realized that a few of the building manger people had published their cellular phone numbers so that they could still get the call if they were not at home. Makes sense. But they either had shitty phones, shitty batteries, or just plain don't understand how to use cellular phones. How unprofessional. That just pissed me off. So I didn't call them anymore.
Having made all the calls I wanted to make, I used my handy, color map of the downtown area to head out and explore the neighborhoods that I had decided I should live in. I had about an hour before my first appointment.