That sucks. I have been here for about a decade and it'a a huge benefit knowing many areas of the city super well. That being said, there are still entire neighborhoods I don't know very well at all. I suggest you rent somewhere that you can afford a mortgage so that you can vet whether this is a place you's want to make a 10+ year commitment. Research everything from the schools (if you plan on having kids know what route you want to go), to the traffic patterns, any pollution you might want to know about, etc. There's a lot of subtle stuff it's good to know about going into it.