For some suburbanites, when the kids head off to college, it's time to consider a move to the city.
The Chicago Tribune recently profiled several couples who've made the choice not to "age in place", but to swap their suburban homes for full time residences in the city.
What some of these older transplants are finding is that the city market is so hot that even down-sizing can mean a higher mortgage payment.
"I find a lot of sticker shock," Urban Real Estate's Matt Silver, president-elect of the Chicago Association of Realtors told the Tribune. "Lots of people living in the suburbs are sick of home maintenance, sick of shoveling the driveway. They want an easier way of living."
"Rents are the highest they've been in years," Silver says. "Spaces are smaller, prices are higher."
But that doesn't mean they aren't making the choice to move; the city gives them access to amenities they didn't have in the 'burbs.
"City living is so exciting," one transplant, Charlene Zimmerman, who moved with her husband, Jack, in 1999 from Elmhurst to a loft-style condo in the West Loop told the Tribune. "When I lived in the suburbs, the last thing I wanted to do when I got back from work was drive downtown to do something. And now I go places all the time, and I think it's the most wonderful change."