Tallahassee new grad, new job: should I stay in the hood or move back to the eastside? (Oak Point: apartment complex)

[MGD]

Hi all, been peeping in on the threads for a few weeks while researching where I might live given the final rounds of interviews during the recruitment season.

I ended up getting the job I applied for in town, which actually doesn't bother me because this town has grown on me and is a great place to raise children and stretch the Florida level of pay to have a decent life.

However, I need advice (talking it over with family as well but the perspective of strangers has its good points):

I graduated in August and moved into a cheap $400/month apartment off Lake Bradford to save money while job-hunting (got extremely sick during spring recruitment so I was not able to line up a job before graduation).

I have a ton of bills piled up waiting on paydays to be paid off...

But I have discovered an apartment complex I have lived in before and liked (Oak Pointe off Capital Circle NE) is having a $99 down special with 3 bedrooms going for $650 as part of the special, AND they have ground floor units available for that price! Last time I lived there I had to do with the 3rd floor and I hate that.

I need to pay bills and I need to build up savings...BUT my son will have to transfer elementary schools at the end of the school year for sure, if they don't force the issue by the start of next semester, because I left him in the Ruediger Elementary/Raa school zone I moved from in September, since it is much better than the Fairview Elementary zone we are living in right now...and I would rather get him back into A and B school zones cause I am nearly fanatic about getting children the best education possible even if I can't afford private school!

I need to keep my fixed expenses as low as possible...BUT I can't stand the neighbourhood I live in, the type of men in it (mostly unemployed, underemployed, and illegally employed), the lack of ambition and cleanliness everywhere, the lack of educated people to talk to, and the fact that 3 of the people I hang out with the most live between East Mahan and Killearn Ctr. Blvd, and I hardly see them now because I live SO far away!

I like having cheap rent, especially as I have childcare expenses for 2 children (yes not the typical new grad)...BUT I like enjoying the complex and area I live in, and being proud to have people visit me instead of embarrassed by beer cans and cigarette butts by my front door when I don't even buy alcohol at the moment and don't smoke.

I don't even take my children outside unless we are leaving in the car...and we come in and stay inside...and right now we are all 3 in a one bedroom...we move to this place, I'll have to break the lease to take advantage of the special, but my son will be able to get on the school bus and go to a good school (Moore elementary) if my 11 year old car ever ends up in the shop or some other used-car issue (where, when that happened this semester, he was either really late or had to miss a day of school cause we live outside his zone)...and we can walk on the street over there without being begged, and because they actually have sidewalks...

Right now his afterschool is the boys and girls club on brevard, which is only $75/month. If we move, the b&g that picks up from Moore is WAY out in miccosukee, which is still $75 and the cheapest afterschool care for miles around, but requires a serious drive out east past the I-10 exit on Mahan every day after work...I would also likely have to change my daughter's daycare to something that is between my job downtown and the drive to pick my son up.

To keep him at something nearer would increase both rent and childcare costs by a lot...there's an afterschool down the street from the new apt. that also provides karate for about $65 a week...

I get paid once a month, so I have the opportunity to pay the $99 down on this place now before the special is over and then use the pay to move in by feb.

Should I wait out my lease, pay off some bills with the extra $250 I would save in rent, and hope to find a deal elsewhere by the start of next school year (cause they require their leases to start within 30 days of the end of the special, and guaranteed no special will be running at the hottest point of rental season which is when this lease ends), keeping in mind childcare is $475-$550 if I stay put, or around $575 total if I move, plus the jump in gas to go get my son...or should I go ahead and suck up the higher expense and move hassle now since I must transfer my son to whatever school I am zoned for once his current school year is out, and I DON'T like the zone we live in, nor where we live?

Long, but there are a lot of factors to consider...another minor factor is that people in the hood are like vultures, once they realize you have a new job that none of them would even qualify for (and my neighbour peeps out of her blinds nearly every morning when I leave to take my son to school, VERY shamelessly nosy type)...they will start finding excuses to ask you for money, even though they manage to drink themselves under the table and smoke enough to build a bonfire every night...plus me and my son can't make any friends we relate to here...there is one other college student in the complex and she keeps to herself as well cause she lent $3 once and was promptly begged again and didn't get that back...I've given diapers, wipes, tylenol, foil, and the woman and her daughter WORKED and received public assistance, I was the unemployed one!

(Let me take the time to disclaim that I am not against people using public assistance when they need the help, but it's suppose to be used to get on your feet, or back on your feet, and OFF it, not 3 generations on it with no ambitions to get themselves off! I have received public assistance, but I used it to finish a bachelor's degree with my 2 kids with a 3.3 GPA and get a great new job in my field (finance) that gets me off dependency on gov't charity and will now pay for my master's degree and help me build a good career going forward! So I don't think I'm in the same boat, but even if you think so, just help with the original question!)

Ok thanks for any help...