Looking to relocate from Jersey to Norfolk, VA (Chesapeake, Hampton: 2010, rent)

[Myasonie]

I am contemplating making a move form Jersey City, NJ to The Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Viginia Beach area the begining of 2010. From read I've read so far, Norfolk seems to get a bad rap as far as the neighborhoods are concerned (slums, ghetto and urban are a few adjectives I've read describing the city). Since I am coming from a pretty "urban" area, i don't think this bothers me much. I can't afford Ghent or Larchmont, but I don't want to live in a neighborhood where there are home invasions, rapes, shootings, robberies in great numbers. I'm a single mom. I'll be attending Grad school and I'm looking to pay about $600-950 in rent for a two bedroom. Diversity in the school system is important to me as well as neighborhoods that are kid friendly. Any sugestions on neighborhoods would be a great help. If you need more info about me to help suggest an area, feel free to ask.

[rtandc]

Yeah stay in NJ.....I know that is not what you want to hear but even in the bad areas of Norfolk you would have a hard time finding a 2bd room apt for those prices and if schools are important to you then forget Norfolk because it has the worst public school system in the Hampton Roads area......If you were not needing good public schools you might do ok but to get into the better school zones you would need to live either in Chesapeake or Va Bch ......Housing is very high in the Hampton Roads area and even though it has dropped alot it is still well above what most people expect....dont get me wrong I like HR's but I dont think this area would be your best bet based on what you are looking for in regards to what you want to spend every month for housing.....FYI average rent for a 1 bd rm apt in Va Bch is just under a grand a month, 2bd rm apt about 1100-1200 a month and those prices are down several hundred a month then what they were just a few months ago......Will they drop any more? That is the question everyone likes to ask, hard to say but you can bet they will increase again asap

[Myasonie]

Thanks for the advice!