Council Bluffs versus Omaha (sales, car registration, condo)

[bar777]

I understand from other posts that Council Bluffs is 'boring', but are there any advantages to living on the Iowa side of the Missouri?

Are sales or property taxes lower? I think there's a surcharge for car registration in Nebraska.

I get the impression that Council Bluffs is a bedroom community to Omaha. Is there a downtown? Does anyone have any photos?

Any information is appreciated. Thanks.

[metro223]

It's not a bedroom community rather it's own city that sits right next to Omaha. There is a downtown, and that is where Omaha's hockey team plays their games at the Mid-America Center. I haven't really been through the downtown much but I've heard they've been doing quite a bit recently to try to revitalize the area just like everywhere else.

[tamitrail]

From doing my research, there is an annual fee for cars in Council Bluffs also. But the property taxes are lower than Omaha. It's funny, because we have been looking into moving to CB and everyone says how low the property taxes are. But we live in VA now and our property taxes are pretty low....lower than the tax records indicate in CB.

I do not believe CB is a bedroom community. If you google it, you can get a satellite version of CB and move around and see how the city looks verses the outlying areas.

[dmguy30]

Here is a Council Bluffs photo thread on absolutedsm.com:

Council Bluffs Photo Page

[ScranBarre]

Sorry to reignite an old thread, but I didn't want to clutter the IA forum with a new one on a similar issue. I've been aggressively researching upcoming projects in Downtown Omaha, and in one of the threads a member posted an artists' rendering of a new mixed-use community that is planned for the base of the new pedestrian bridge linking Council Bluffs to Omaha, hence my newfound interest in Council Bluffs as well. I would like to be able to walk easily to Downtown Omaha in order to work, play, etc., but it would be nice to be able to afford a home in IA vs. a small condo in NE. I was really intrigued by the Old Market District in DTO until another member posted the prices that were well into the six figures. I get the sense that Council Bluffs is much less expensive than Omaha for sure.

[El Rhino]

I would look at Omaha and Council Bluffs on Google Earth... the very western edges of Council Bluffs would be a fairly easy walk to downtown, but a lot of it wouldn't be. Bicycling would be a different story, perhaps.