Yet Another New Apartment

I'd rather live in a "poor neighborhood" (as long as it wasn't actually dangerous) and have a nice apartment, than live in an upscale neighborhood in a not so nice apartment (or a bad one).

Since 1991, I've had 4 apartments. The first was cheap, not nice, small, and had a so-so address (near a college, so the neighborhood wasn't "bad", but it was "bad" in some ways). The second was on the same street - cheaper still, bigger and better, but not anything special.
The 3rd was very cheap for the size (huge) and niceness & it was cool... but the address sucked (Main St.) the neighborhood wasn't *bad*, but it was only blocks from a *very* undesirable part of a town that was considered kind of on the poor side.
When I was looking to move that time, I'd looked at MANY apartments in my price limits, and the ones in the ritzy towns and supposedly nice neighborhoods... the apartments were AWFUL! (I couldn't afford the nice ones there! They were outrageous!)
In other words, you get what you pay for - and sometimes you have to decide what your priorities are. A nice apartment in a nice neighborhood in a ritzy town is going to be the most expensive. A dump in a crappy neighborhood in a poor town is going to be the cheapest. And then every combination inbetween.
Unfortunately at the 3rd place, I got new landlords who thought they could jack up the rent, because the apartments were decent and HUGE. What they didn't realize is that the neighborhood does *not* warrant higher rent! It's in a poor town, not that far from a horrible part of the town (on the same street, so people won't even look at the apartments there sometimes if they don't know the address is way up the road), and the town is near a struggling failing city with few employment opportunities. So the new landlords were never able to fill all 5 apartments, and one by one all the tenants moved out. And so the landlords instead of getting more money, got no money at all, and are now trying to sell the place (which they refused to put any work into since they'd bought it!)... They were kind of clueless about the idea that 5 filled apartments paying $300 a month is better than one tenant paying $450 a month. Any smart landlord prices their apartments so that they stay filled, and there's a lot of factors in that. (And mind you, they got the bldg at a steal, and they thought they were going to turn a profit the first year - HAHA - landlording doesn't work that way.)

Anyway, so I moved a half hour from there, to a city that has better prospects. It's a tad more expensive, of course because of that (taxes and rent for size, etc). But I live in a fairly poor neighborhood (but it's very quiet and seems fairly safe). I have a much smaller apartment now - but it's very nice! My actual living space isn't much smaller - it just doesn't have the enormous attic and 5 huge closets I was used to at my previous apartment. It also doesn't have a big old-fashioned tub, or hardwood floors. But the fact is, after living at my old one for 5 years, the floors needed work, and so did a lot of things - and the new landlords refused to do anything. And my new apartment has nice tile in the bathroom, tile kitchen floor (not cheap lynoleum), tile kitchen counters and tile wall behind the sink, and everything is pretty fresh and fairly new, and it's very well designed and decorated (like not just your basic white or off white paint & industrial style carpeting - this place is stylish).
So... anyway, my point is, what you've described is pretty universal.
And my mother always said that if you have $10 to spend on someone for a gift, buy something for them that the *best* quality of that item is $10 - don't buy something that should cost $15 or $20, but you can get a cheap-ass version for $10. I try to spend that way all the time for every reason... I'd rather have less good stuff, than a lot of junk. I guess that relates in the idea that even though I'm not wealthy, I'd rather live inside a fairly nice place, which is where I spend my time, and invite people to - than be able to just tell people I live in the fancy people neighborhood, and have to put up with a rude landlord and live in a funky pad. haha!! ;)

Anyway, good luck with a new place!