(Kind of long) Newly Graduated Masters Student - Have Specific Needs (Franklin: low income, section 8)

[lacefishnets]

Hi all!

This is my first time posting, but I've been a lurker for YEARS! I was needing some specific advice. I am a 26-year-old, single female, graduating with my master's degree in counseling psychology this Wednesday! I currently live in Springfield, Missouri and have been here for most of my life other than a 2009-2010 stint in Oklahoma City.

Springfield is highly over-saturated with counselors, so if I don't have a job by June or July, I am considering moving to a bigger town within Missouri or surrounding states. I *LOVE* Nashville. I've been four times now, most recently just last month.

I need some specific advice though. Due to being born with cerebral palsy, I've been approved to have 69,000 dollars worth of student loans forgiven by the government. It seriously brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it!!! The only stipulation is, I cannot make over ~$15,500 (not counting my SSI payments) for the next three years...which (believe it or not) as a counselor who is required to be supervised for my first 3,000 hours, I probably won't have to worry about making over that limit anyway.

I've been looking on Craigslist, and rent prices in Nashville seem to be about $200 - $300 higher for what you would pay for something comparable here. In this order I would hope for:

1) Safety!!! As a small, disabled young lady I would not be able to run away very quickly if I were assaulted, or burglarized or something (although I do have a pretty awesome taser, LOL).
2) Price ($1,000 per month would be my absolute MAX)
3) I have two Pomeranians, so I would like a little bit of a yard where I don't have to be right there with them--I'm in a duplex in a neighborhood right now.
4) I like newer-looking places. I tend to judge how interested I am according to how "new" the kitchen cabinets look? LOL. Just being honest.
5) I'd say within 15 miles of Nashville--I don't mind the suburbs at all.

So if you could suggest areas, that would be great!

Also, I have lived in low-income housing before, and am not against doing it again; the ones I lived in were not section 8, but were under the LIHTC program...they were actual family homes built in 2005 or so, in normal enough neighborhoods. You wouldn't even know they were low-income. In Nashville, places like Preston Taylor, J. Henry Hale Apartments, Levy Place, Napier Place, and Parkwood Terrace look like they'd be up to my standards of living, but are they really? How are the areas?

Thanks!

[CountryGirl2b=]

Not sure about low income housing here. $1000 is probably doable. But do you need a handicapped apartment? Thinking at least first floor. And you need a fenced in yard? Or would a porch do in a pinch with some pee pads? I would certainly find a job first, of course. I am emailing you a link to an apartment in Franklin that is in your price range. I know they have a little dog park that I think is fenced in so perhaps there would be an apartment close to that dog park available. Where you live would really depend on your job . . but at least you can take a look (online) at something in your price range.

[lacefishnets]

It doesn't need to be accessible in the wheelchair-sense, but first floor would be nice. I could even do two story town homes with my bedroom upstairs, I just wouldn't want to end up on like the top floor of a three story apartment complex, having to make multiple trips to carry groceries in. All in all though, I function pretty normally.

And I'd ideally like a yard of some sorts for my dogs, even if it's just a small patch of grass, but that might just be because I've spoiled myself now. I'm currently in a duplex, so I've attached a 15' line to my front porch column and can just put them on it and let them do their thing, and let them back in a few minutes later. I *have* lived in an apartment though where I had to go out with them on leash, but now that I'm here I've realized I have a better deal going on. LOL. Plus one of them tends to pull and be reactive on leash (so he lunges), and has actually pulled me down a couple times if I wasn't expecting it (which, as a side note, I'm working on that with a dog trainer, because that's just not okay.)

[artemis]

You might want to check into Cora Howe Garden apartments in East Nashville.

You could be on the ground floor, plus there's a park nearby. There is also a nice dog park in Shelby Park, which is about 10 minutes away.