Still House Hunting

We have had a hard time trying to find a rental that will be right for us. There's such a huge range to look at here - in price, in size and location and it's a little confusing!
We've picked 2 different areas (at opposite ends of the city) that we like best and now it's just hard finding some places in those areas that meet our needs and budget.
Yesterday we went to church in our favourite area to find Jared's last mission companion sitting in the same row across the isle from us! He had mentioned that he had a companion from Seattle but didn't know if he even still lived here (it was 10 years ago) etc. But there he was with his family: 2 little boys and one on the way. So they showed us around. Aubrey stayed in Nursery the whole time and didn't even flinch when we left! There was a play slide - so that makes sense. There are a lot of young families in the ward with a large primary and a huge nursery - they have 2 classes!

The GPS on our new iphones are a huge help in getting around. I've spent this last week doing nothing but driving - looking through areas, driving by rental listings to narrow them down to view. We've seen a handfull and there's a couple that are close but not perfect.
We saw an absolutely beautiful little house with a nice yard a patio that all the landscaping and maintenance is taken care of in the rent, it had all hardwood floors with a new maple kitchen with granite countertops a living and a small family room a master with lots of closets and an ensuite bath (3 beds total) with a storage shed in the back yard and an apple tree . . . but the neighbourhood is TERRIBLE, it's run down, it's close to a nice area and a huge great park and playground but it just didn't seem right. I went home, looked up the area on wikipedia and found out that because of its multi-culturalism there has been gang activity including the crips and the bloods and so, it's off my list. It's really very sad though as now I compare everything to that house! We will stick to the good areas even if it means an old ugly kitchen and other compromises...I guess.
The photo above is the neighbourhood that we like best but is really expensive. It's a nice clean hilltop neighbourhood of the views of downtown.