[Nirvanagurl]

Ok I posted here before but I want to get a little more specific about what I am looking for and hopefully get more answers!

I have been reading through the posts on these areas, but I need to get a more clear idea of some things.

Ok my family... me , my husband, 2 kids (ages 7 & 12 )
are looking at transfering to that area from Carson City, NV , for his work.

I do not drive ( long story..phobia..ect, I might someday but not right now)

So my first priorities are school bus stops and public transportation
I would also really like to finish school, some of that I could do online but atleast a community college or public transportation, even if its a long ride , to a community college would be great!

My second big need is to feel safe, I dont want to live in the middle of gang wars and drug deals and a total ghetto, ..but at the same time, I do not have to live in a fancy white picket fence area either, I dont mind diversity, I just dont like drug lords and violence. I am a adverage Jane, my husband a adverage Joe techinically we are probabbly lower middle class, blue collar, think the Roseanne Barr show kind of people. We have no problems with blue collar neighborhoods, but like I said I do have a issue with living in the middle of a ghetto/high crime/violent area espically with my children.

I do not need their school system to be the best in the country, my kids are smart and I teach them alot myself, I do need them to be around other good hearted kids and a safe bus ride/walk to school.

I would like to move into apartments/townhomes/condo, I do not want to come right down and move into a house right off the bat, And I would like the apartment complex/Condo area to be pretty, I am a nature loving person and I love trees and that has to be the thing about Nevada I hate the most is the lack of green and trees, its literally started to drive me insane, I am orginally from central IL and I miss parks and trees and flowers so much I could cry sometimes!
But it dosnt have to be a giant apartment complex, infact for me I prefer small complexs.
I dont need it to be gated either, I live in a gated one now and I am not impressed.
Having a washer and dryer hook up would be nice and we would need a 3 bedroom no more then 1200 a month.
But the lower the better for sure.
Swimming Pool would be great, but isnt the end of the world if we dont have one.

My husbands main jobs will be out of Daytona, but where we live now he is all over NV and CA so he is very used to driving up to a hour or more back and forth from work, so we do not need to be smack dab in Daytona
But because I do need some sort of public transportation and school bus and all that I am not sure where to look because I am not sure how rural some of these other areas are, But I am trying to research the ones I hear the most about, Flagler Beach, Ormond, Port Orange, Palm Coast, New Smyria Beach, ect ect
I think St. Augustine might be a bit too far to start off at, but I could be wrong about that.
If its got what I need then I would look into it, just not sure how far of a drive that is for sure in the mornings during work traffic.

Mostly it is the public transportation that worries me and finding a apartment complex near it and with a bus stop.

So I would be totally grateful for tips and ideas and any information on any of this at all

meanwhile I will be studying the other threads still!

Thank you so much!
I am so grateful for the internet!

[john1963]

i moved here to port orange from downtown atlanta and downtown nashville. I don't drive either, i prefer to live downtown and save the money. I also wanted a crime free area as it was getting pretty dangerous walking around in those cities. After extensive research i decided to move to port orange cause it is one of the safest cities in florida according to the crime stats. It is also a very clean and beautiful small town.
After looking at many apartments, i moved into park at countryside on village trail because the #17 bus stops at the front door and then goes 3 miles east to the beach, then goes along the beachside for 6 miles to the main bus terminal. Unlike the other bus routes, the #17 runs very frequently as it is the main bus along the beach. I can be at the beach in 10 minutes or at the main bus terminal in central daytona beach in 30 minutes.
There are 2 other apt complexes on this route, one is victoria gardens which i would not reccomend, and the other is club at sugar mill which is very nice, but it is rent controlled and you can not make more than like 28-32,000 yearly to live there...it depends on how many people live in the apt...but the rent is very cheap...like 600 for a brand new luxury 2 bedroom apt. The elementary school is practically across the street.
Anyway, after extensive research, that is what i did and it worked out great...i'm in a small beautiful crime free town with quick bus access to the beach and transportation hub.
good luck

[john1963]

apartmentguide.com has info on club at sugar mill...a 3 bedroom/2 bath is 624.
They don't allow dogs, cats only.

parkatcountryside.com is my apt complex.

[RedWingsFan]

When we first moved to the area we moved to Ormond Beach and lived in an apartment. While there we looked around for where we wanted to buy. We really liked Port Orange, so we bought our house in Port Orange. It's a nice, clean, friendly town with low crime, great schools, quick access to the beach and Daytona. The community college is also not far away. If you are interested in finishing a degree there are also degrees you can earn through Florida colleges online, here's the link: http://www.flbog.org/asa/dlflorida.asp (broken link)

And those aren't through strange schools you've never heard of. Those are Florida universities. There's also a community college in Daytona Beach that even serves as a satellite campus for some universities so you can work on a bachelor's there.

I would skip Flagler and Palm Coast for sure. They are quite rural and there's much around there.

When it comes to housing Port Orange and Ormond Beach are similar in cost. Ormond Beach taxes are just slightly lower than Port Orange. You can't go wrong with either place. New Smyrna Beach I believe to be a little cheaper than both. It's still nice as well.

[soccermamaof3kids]

We first moved to St. Augustine. Nice but getting around is terrible A!A backs up. Then we moved to palm Coast to buy a house. Stay away from there and Flagler (a city Bunnel where they still live in the 1800's) Ormond beach is nice. Not real sure about the bus system though. I know that Palm Coast did not have it when we were there.

[Nirvanagurl]

Thank you soo much for the info on port orange and the bus system! That was very helpful, and yeah we cant qualifiy for the tax credit properties, I actually used to be a property manager at the really nice rent controlled place here in Nevada, It was a beautiful complex but we couldnt live either because we couldnt qualify! But some of them are really nice sometimes!

But this Park one sounds good! and Port Orange sounds good and knowing I can get to atleast the community college sounds really good!

Thank you so much for this information!

[Nirvanagurl]

I wanted to ask , before reading here I had found a apartment complex on my own and want to see if anyone has heard anything about it, its in Daytona, by the big Mall , Its called Lake Forrest Apartments, the photos of it are just so gorgous, I wonder if anyone ever had a friend or family live there that has any stories about it or information

I am still looking at Port Orange though, so far the problem is unless the websites just arnt updated, so far I am not seeing any 3 bedrooms!

[john1963]

Here is 2 more places in port orange on the 17 busline...both are listed at rent.com
pierpoint apartments were apts. turned condo turned back to apts..they only have 2 bedrooms and unlike park at countryside you do not get free water and cable but the rent is the same. I also heard the plumbing is shared so the water bill can be very expensive.
Anothe palce i didn't mention cause it is mostly new expensive condos is Villaggio on The Lakes. They have 3 bedroom with 2 bath but it is 1200 a month. The place is brand new and very nice. It is an excellent location, you are across the street from 2 strip malls with many grocery stores, banks, blockbuster video, restaurants etc. Sounds like that would be a better choice due to the grocery stores.
apartmentratings.com has reviews of many apartments.

[john1963]

villaggioonthelakes.com and villaggioonthelakes.org is homeowners asso.

[john1963]

i had another quick thought. Many of these condos are investor owned, so you might get a better deal by going trough the owner rather than the management office. I have seen many ads for these condos at floridapennysavers.com which is a local classified ad newspaper.