I stayed here for 4 weeks in April/May 2022. I had just moved to the US from the UK and wanted a safe, clean place to stay while I navigated finding a long term apartment and organising all the admin that goes with moving country!
Overall I was disappointed with the apartment and felt it was very bad value for the price I paid. I have given a detailed review of the good and bad points below.
GOOD
Excellent location for seeing the “real” Chicago, Roscoe Village is a lovely neighbourhood with lots of independent shops, bigger supermarkets and lots of restaurants. Nearby Lakeview and Ravenswood are also lovely. Addison and Paulina brown line L stops are about 10min walk away and it takes about 40-50 mins to get to the loop altogether.
The host was responsive and acted quickly when I told them about issues (see below). They resolved the issues quickly.
Bedding and towels were clean and good quality. The bed was comfortable. The kitchen was functional. The shower was good.
The apartment is quite big with a decent amount of storage space. The front lounge gets lots of light from the big windows and has a huge TV.
There is a lovely deck area at the back which gets the sun in the morning.
BAD
The apartment was a little grimy when I arrived. Not filthy but there was hair all up the wall in the shower and the surfaces and drawers were sticky / crumby. This meant I had to clean all the areas before I could unpack and relax. This was a big problem for me as I had traveled for hours with a lot of luggage and this was the last thing I wanted to do on arrival. When I told the host, they refunded the cleaning fee which was appreciated but I would have rather paid the money and had a clean apartment to settle in.
The sink in the bathroom is completely useless. I brushed my teeth and washed my face in the kitchen because there was no way it would be possible in that TINY sink. Even washing my hands carefully I always splashed some water on the floor because it’s just so small. Also when I arrived the pipe under the sink was leaking steadily creating a huge puddle under the sink. I told the host and they arranged a plumber to come the next day who successfully fixed the problem. However they also left the toilet full of brown water(?!)
There are no laundry facilities. And there are no coin laundry places nearby. Fine if you’re staying for a week but if you are staying longer term like me you have to pay for a “wash and fold” service. My recommendation is Avenue Cleaners which is 5min walk north along Damen. They charge $2/lb which is cheaper than the $3/lb I was quoted in other places but they do have a $20 minimum.
Expensive. I saw lots of similar or better places available for less money when I first looked on Airbnb. Unfortunately, by the time my visa was approved there was limited availability left which is why I chose this place.
There were some strange smells around the apartment. In the bathroom it smelled of gas although the boiler was in the kitchen. In the hallway there was an unidentifiable musty sort of smell. I sprayed air freshener every day but it persisted.
Lots of the channels on the TV don’t work and you need to log in to use Netflix or any of the other streaming services.
There is only seating to eat for 2 people unless you’re on the sofa which has no coffee table. Fine for us two but if you did have 4 guests you wouldn’t be able to sit down to a meal together:
There was only bedding enough for one set per bed. Fine for me as I was only using one bed but if you did have 4 guests and use all 3 beds as suggested in the listing then you’re stuck with the same sheets.
It is mentioned in the listing that the bathroom and kitchen need updating so I knew what I was getting but it did feel like being in student accommodation or your grandmas house with everything being so old and tired.