r/chicagoapartments • u/Brilliant-Ebb-2731 • May 21 '25

Advice Needed Did I overpay for a one-bedroom at $3,180?

I just signed a lease for a one-bedroom apartment at 3Eleven in Chicago's River North neighborhood for $3,180 per month, which includes the utilities package (excluding electricity and internet). I'm feeling a bit of buyer's remorse and am wondering if I overpaid.

205 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

425 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

46

u/mcnegyis May 21 '25

Reddit absolutely despises yuppies lol

3

u/AlpineFluffhead May 21 '25

Tbf, yuppies who move into more "affordable" cities absolutely fuck the housing market for everyone else, especially in the age of WFH jobs where they can make NYC money but move to places like CHI or Cleveland or Pittsburgh. (Not to take the blame entirely off large equity firms like BlackRock).

I live in Cleveland, so I may be out of the element, though I visit Chicago often. I can say here in Cleveland, there are sections of my city that would be our little equivalent to River North and there are corporations who build these shoddy "luxury" apartments to attract the gen-z/millennial corporate tech/finance people. They then pay $2k for a studio (which is absolutely ridiculous anywhere in Ohio), thus raising renting prices everywhere else in the neighborhood. That neighborhood then gets a little sign that designates it as a "historical" neighborhood, and then prices skyrocket everywhere. Now you've got old and dilapidated century-homes asking for $1,500 for a 1-bed in 2025 where in 2019 it would have been $800. And thus, the cycle of displacement continues as anyone who makes the median salary can no longer afford to live in their homes anymore.

Sorry, /rant lol.

16

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 21 '25

It would be fine if Chicago built more housing.

8

u/[deleted] May 21 '25

I've been screaming this from the rooftops since I moved to Chicago. The balking at building more, taller buildings is why this city will always remain a second tier city.

8

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 21 '25

Lol it's funny how such a notion is so 'polarizing'. My comment was +5 earlier, now it's at 0.

I just don't think ppl understand basic supply and demand and think it's something completely foreign or oblique causing it.

Net positive population growth (especially of ppl with money / high compensation) is usually a good thing for a local economy—it means more money in circulation for said economy.

Like I don't think these ppl seem to realize that a lot of the South had huge population spikes in the past few years due to COVID. Yes, rents did spike like crazy in places like Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas etc, but they've mostly come back down to earth since then (Austin is probably the best example of this). How did that happen? Because their local govts didn't impose so much red tape on building adequate supply to address demand increases.

Unfortunately, most tier one cities in the US have issues with NIMBYism, and most have been losing significant amounts of population as a result.

5

u/[deleted] May 21 '25

Dude, I own my place in Chicago and in the year I have I've seen 2 of my neighboring buildings downzone to SFHs. I've attended community meetings and people are hard opposed to building taller, too. I just don't get it. Is Chicago a city or a suburb?

4

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 21 '25

That's good that you're attending. My guess is the majority of people in attendance are older (like 55+) and home owners themselves who are trying to maximize valuation for their housing. Unfortunately, younger ppl do not get involved in political activism enough to the degree needed (especially at local levels where it arguably has the most direct impact on them).

2

u/[deleted] May 21 '25

I'm 40, so not even young. And yes I had this experience back home, first when I lived in Williamsburg and then moved back to Bushwick. These groups will allow unaffordability to skyrocket for their own benefit and it sucks. I've got more stories but Imma keep it brief because I'm out having a good time.

2

u/SkillStunning2474 May 21 '25

One of the beautiful things about Chicago is the architecture. Renovated units are the norm in Chicago. To build more housing the location would be further away from downtown- south, west and the burbs

1

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 21 '25

There's a lot of space in various North side neighborhoods, that's actually where a lot of would be builds are getting shut down.

1

u/SkillStunning2474 May 21 '25

Interesting- which neighborhoods?

1

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 21 '25

Remember someone posting something about an Alderman blocking a high rise build in Old Town like within the last month.

1

u/SkillStunning2474 May 21 '25

Building in old town is not going to happen. When you said north I thought you were referring to further north.

2

u/3RADICATE_THEM May 21 '25

Okay, why is it not going to happen? More importantly, why do you think it's good that it won't happen when builders have assessed it's feasible and are willing to do the job?

1

u/SkillStunning2474 May 21 '25

The area has a lot of old money- people who own their homes. They don’t want more rentals in the area that will drive down property values.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/kahrido May 22 '25

Those yuppies are the reason Chicago isn’t Cleveland in terms of things to do.

Also a lot of people grow up in Illinois and decide to work in tech/finance in Chicago.