Lakeview’s rent prices are notoriously high, but still climbing

Renters looking for Lakeview apartments should be prepared to run into all kinds of prices - except for the low kind.

"I see [one-bedrooms] starting from $800 a month to... the sky's the limit, really," said Steven Sanchez, a leasing agent with Chicago Apartment Finders in Lakeview. "In my experience, you get the nicer units from $900 and up."

Two-bedroom apartments in the desirable North Side area are similarly pricey, according to Sanchez. "Two-bedrooms start at about $1100. Nice ones would start around $1300."

The Washington, D.C.-based National Multi Housing Council places the national average rent for a two-bedroom apartment at $799 a month - hundreds of dollars a month lower than most Lakeview two-bedroom prices.

Maurice Ortiz, the marketing director for the Chicago apartment-finder service Apartment People, said his company's data shows a spike in rent prices over the past year.

"There was a 13 percent increase in prices for the downtown Chicago market this year," he said. "That's one of the biggest increases we've ever seen. In Lakeview and Lincoln Park, it was maybe 5 to 7 percent."

Ortiz said the average annual increase in Chicago is 3 or 4 percent. He believes that soaring housing prices over the past few years have affected the rental market and that the trend will continue through 2007.

"There are a lot more people looking [to rent] than there is inventory," he said. "There are a lot more people in the market now who were looking to buy but maybe now can't afford to."

But Sanchez said it is still possible to find good deals. "They're out there," he said. "You can get them at a good price, it just depends how far in advance you start. The ones that are really nice rent right away."

Sanchez recommends that renters start the apartment search six weeks before the anticipated move-in date and that they don't wait too long to sign the lease, lest another renter beats them to it. "Lakeview apartments usually turn around within two weeks."

Both Sanchez and Ortiz say that winter is the best time to rent because there aren't as many people in the market for apartments.

"This time of year, prices tend to drop a little bit, especially now that we're moving into the holidays," Ortiz said. "If someone has a vacant apartment, they try to get it rented right away, so usually people will be quick to negotiate on the rent."
If all else fails, Sanchez encourages renters to look beyond Lakeview to areas like Uptown and Logan Square, where they will still be close to downtown but can get more for their money.

"If I can't find them a place in Lakeview, I'll find them a place in Buena Park, or in a neighborhood over " one that's not so popular."