# Buying an Apartment in Chicago

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-an-apartment-in-chicago/811163>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 25, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-an-apartment-in-chicago/811163 "2018-03-25T16:37:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-an-apartment-in-chicago/811163/21 "2018-03-30T18:18:06Z")

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IMO, the potential hassles of buying/renting/reselling outweigh the relatively minimal benefits from the $ amounts/time periods involved.

OP doesn’t say why they are considering Hyde Park. If attending UofC or working in HP, I’d recommend renting much cheaper in an area w/ a convenient public transit commute to HP.

Or, if working someplace else in the city, I don’t see the special appeal of HP (if on a relatively strict budget.)

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**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-an-apartment-in-chicago/811163/22 "2018-03-30T20:08:03Z")

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> [@StGermain](#):
>
> For screening tenants, I used a service called MySmartMove, which allows you to put in the parameters you want

Man, I wish there were a way to screen property managers… 🙂

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**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-an-apartment-in-chicago/811163/23 "2018-03-30T22:40:28Z")

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> [@molten](#):
>
> Mortgage:
> 
> - Can I get a mortgage for 5, 8, or 10 years? or are the only choices 15 or 30 years?
> - How likely am I to get approved with about 20% upfront (~$16,000), a FICO of ~700, and Vantage scores of ~725? I will not have any cosigners and I am buying initially to live.
> - Sometimes they ask if you are a veteran. I am one, but not a US veteran. Am I supposed to mention that, just say yes, or no?

1. I’m sure there are lenders that do under ten, but in general most retail lenders will do anywhere from 10 to 30. No that pricing is usually set up at 10, 15, 20, and 30. So if you get say, a 13 year loan, you’re gonna get the 15 year interest rate.
2. You probably won’t have an issue, but the biggest factor not mentioned here is your debt to income ratio. If you’re under 43%, you won’t have to worry.
3. The question is really about the VA loan program. Since you wouldn’t qualify, I would say no just to avoid confusion and getting offered a product you can’t use.

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