Buying vs Renting in Downtown Chicago 

Came here to say just this. You can't compare a luxury high rise all amenity building to this condo and say she saved $800 a month. You have to compare to a similar age/style/amenity building. Also in the context of an eventual investment property you can't assume she can easily rent it out in the future. Studios have less demand than 1bd, especially with no in unit laundry which is a deal breaker for a lot of people (including me) as well as an electric stove (personal deal breaker for me). She also didn't include home owner's insurance costs in the all in. My per month condo cost ALL IN with home insurance is $2550 which includes a garage parking space, huge storage room, decent gym, in-unit washer dryer, individually controlled AC/Heat for a 950 sqft 1 bd 1.5 ba with walk in closet. Not to mention I live within a 2-3 min walk to the redline and numerous bus routes

I believe she said the $1650 amount includes hoa, property taxes, mortgage, and insurance. I live in rivernorth as well! I think it’s a great location and you could rent out a studio in central RN with all those amenities for $1900 easy.

@@SOccerisgodable Again, you can always go cheaper. The point is comparing apples to apples on age, etc. I could buy something similar in like Edgewater and save even more but it doesn't make it "better".

@@Chicago_JayhawkThis specific unit and building look and are highly comparable to any apartment building in rivernorth. It is still a high amenity building, while HOA’s are low. Demand for rivernorth will always be high.

@@SOccerisgodable There are a gazillion 1970s built condos all over the city with similar HOAs. The point is you can't use a full amenity building brand new and compare it to a building from the 1970s. It's apples and oranges.

That I can understand I lived in a very small studio condo My neighbor use to always say she wished she rented I got out and found a comfortable peaceful place and honestly based on the price and less space was not worth it....