Hey,
First of all Welcome to STAB-Minton (Edmonton) It's super tough trying to find a good place to live as there are SO many sketchy apartments and landlords and not even to mention bed bugs bleh!
I work for Edmonton EMS so as you can imagine I get to venture into these garbage caves everday!! Lucky me!!
I'm going to have to disagree with Jeff, Clarview might not be the crowd you're looking for and there is ALOT of crime. Don't get me wrong there is quite a few good neighbors up in the northeast but they are few and far between.
Ellerslie is a great neighborhood, along with Windermere and Ambleside. They are all new if you don't mind the construction and dust and being WAY WAY down south!! It's about a 20-25 minute drive into the city center in the morning through traffic.
I would also look at places in St Albert also very safe yet a little more expensive place to live. That's also about a 20-25 minute drive in traffic to the center of Edmonton. I currently live in St Albert and I have had no problems ever. It's like living in Edmonton but not in Edmonton. Everything you need is in St Albert and you would rarely need to venture into the city
If you are a partier and like the loud and being close to Whyte ave their is very cheap apartments, Their is also quite nice new ones people are renting but again you pay the price.
I would stay far away from anything on 107ave 112ave 118ave and North East.
Anyways man I'm sure you will meet a few good characters around the city. I found when I moved to the city the hardest thing was to continue playing organized sports finding a team is SUPER hard. Especially a good team haha. So if you are player and need a team shoot me a PM and I can help you out on where to look and where I had luck.
Good Luck,
Jordan