Britney and Kyle had been living in Avondale for a combined five years when they decided it was time to buy a house. Recently engaged and fully committed to the city of Chicago, they knew they loved their neighborhood, but weren’t initially sure it was in their budget.

“We did start our home search looking in other neighborhoods because I didn’t think we could afford our current neighborhood,” explains Britney.

When considering similar neighborhoods like Logan Square and Irving Park, Britney knew exactly what she was looking for. “My commute was always at the center of my search and it was important to be able to continue my current lifestyle,” she says.

Her search started online where she “scoped out, tracked, loosely followed, somewhere over 50 homes.” Britney explained that it was during this preliminary search that Neighborhoods.com proved more useful than other online real estate resources. 

“On a lot of other sites, you’ll find a lot of homes listed in Wicker Park when they are really in Humboldt Park, or a listing in ‘West Wicker Park’ which doesn’t really exist,” she explains. “Neighborhoods.com has stuff in the right spot and shows the right neighborhood boundaries.”

Neighborhoods.com has stuff in the right spot and shows the right neighborhood boundaries.

Ultimately, Britney and Kyle connected with Neighborhoods.com real estate agent Luke Blahnik, who helped them realize that they could actually afford a home in their dream neighborhood. After looking at over 50 homes, Britney and Kyle only toured three. Once they found a home within their budget and in the neighborhood they loved, Luke was able to confirm the pricing and value of their potential new home.

“He explained that we could keep looking and find something comparable,” Britney shares, “but we weren’t going to find any knock-it-out-of-the-park deals that were better than this one.” Luke’s knowledge of the real estate market and confidence in the value of the home empowered Britney and Kyle to move forward with their purchase.

I love the neighborhood.

“It’s only three blocks from my old apartment!” Britney shares with a smirk. But she wouldn’t have it any other way: “I love the neighborhood. I know what it’s like to spend a Friday night or  Saturday morning there. And our new house has a backyard for our dog.”