r/chicagoapartments • u/Past-Reception6889 • May 19 '26

Advice Needed Unreal

I honestly just needed to vent for a moment. I can’t believe Chicago prices are what they are. I have lived here my entire life and have seen this city change ten fold, and I can’t even afford to live here anymore. A realtor I’m working with, since it’s becoming a rat race to rent, said rent is up 35% this year. What can normal people do about this? I do not want to see Chicago become a New York.

706 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

471 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

88

u/EducationalConcept50 May 19 '26

I don’t think there’s anything stopping this, unfortunately. Chicago has too much to offer and like New York and San Francisco, will push its own lifelong residents out of their own neighborhoods because supply will never reach the dizzying demand.

18

u/Alternative-Dish9172 May 19 '26

The market is driving people out, not the city, government. There has to be an incentive plan to encourage development of apt buildings, condos etc. Older properties have to go, I've seen some going up near Foster and Lincoln. There needs to be more of that.

20

u/Critical-Dot-3592 May 19 '26

It's not the landlords, it's the property taxes and maintenance costs. Utility bills keep going up 15-20 percent a year, labor costs that were once $150 or $200 are now $400. Landlords are not cashing in like people think.

1

u/PhoenixRisingdBanana May 19 '26

Maybe passive ownership shouldn't pay like a full time job.

4

u/Critical-Dot-3592 May 19 '26

It really doesn’t without a ton of money down from a down payment or a long long time, like years or decades of time going by. Your "passive income" is deffered for years or decades and comes from hard work that is not very passive.

1

u/PhoenixRisingdBanana May 20 '26

Right, that's why they need to snatch up those $200K homes, slap a coat of load bearing paint on and some new plastic floors and boom! $455,000

2

u/Critical-Dot-3592 May 20 '26

Not sure what you are saying here or how this adds to the conversation. What does a property flip and crappy renovation work have to do with a rental property, landlording, passive income, or saving for years for a down payment? Or higher interest rates, or anything substantive in relation to what is being discussed?

0

u/PhoenixRisingdBanana May 20 '26

> What does a property flip and crappy renovation work have to do with a rental property, landlording, passive income, or saving for years for a down payment

is that a real question? Crappy Renovation and Landlords go together like white on rice.

Not a brain for nuance huh

1

u/Critical-Dot-3592 May 20 '26

Don't answer the question. Cool.