Our Chicago Apartment

Gil here. I love New York City. There is nothing in the world like being a New York City attorney. Working on the 34th floor of 30 Rockefeller Center with a solid mahogany office and awesome skyline views was fantastic. The people I met in New York City were so awesome. I have never been surrounded with such dynamic, charismatic, and hard-working people. People who are attracted to New York City are incredible.

But there is an extremely high cost associated with living in such a vibrant city. First and foremost, apartments. Many of you know that I had sort of had a hard time with our last apartment. At 630 square feet, with one bedroom we shared with Charlie, and windows which looked into a brick wall a few feet away one would think you wouldn't pay that much. We paid a fortune. I am sure we could have purchased an island somewhere for the same price we paid in rent. I should tell you that Marin loved this apartment more than anything we had ever lived in. And I should also give a plug for our Lincoln Center location (favorite area in the city and a 14 minute walk to work). But with such a small place we couldn't ever keep it from looking super-cluttered and stressful.

When we went apartment hunting in Chicago I had certain things that I wanted to see in the apartment. First, windows which invited light into the apartment. Second, construction after 1917 would be nice. Third, a second bedroom. Anything else would be fantastic and welcome, but not necessarily essential.

Because of my constant [insert word close to complaining here] Marin let me lead the way with this apartment search. We had gone through seven or eight places when our apartment broker Dave from apartmentsavvy.com (awesome broker by the way) led us to an apartment that blew my mind.

Of course, we took it. This apartment has all windows, 1100 square feet, two full bathroom, two full bedrooms, and we are paying less than half of what we paid in Manhattan. We are right next to the lake, in a neighborhood between Lakeview and Uptown, very close to Lincoln Park. There is a pool, full court basketball court, tennis court, covered and heated parking, a doorman, dry-cleaning delivery service, a grocery store at the bottom of the building, a gym in the building, a business center with free printing and faxing, and a bike room. We are also a five minute walk to the "El" train which goes directly to my building downtown, and there are tons of express bus stops nearby. The only downside is the Chicago winter.

It was so difficult to leave New York City. Finding the perfect apartment in Chicago helped ease the pain a little bit.

Here are pictures of the apartment. They are mixed between views of the neighborhoods and pictures of the actual apartment.