Lincoln Nebraska (Omaha, St. Paul, Cook: relocating, real estate, property taxes)

[snowlandcook]

We currently live in MN and are thinking about relocating (for a job) to Lincoln Nebraska. What is it like to live there? Do you get any snow? What is the housing market like? Are people friendly?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

[Farmwife]

Lincoln is sprawling. People there are fairly freindly but keep themselves pretty much. It's a college town. Home of Big Red Football of course. Yes it snows some and gets a blizzard every dozen or so years. Summers are hot and humid. Gets more rain than western NE. Housing is high as the midwest goes.

[aerahrtlu]

Hey snowlandcook. I've lived in Lincoln all my life. It's a great ciy, as far as I'm concerned.
Lincoln is basically a big small town. The people are pretty friendly, depending on which area of town you are in. South Lincoln seems to have higher standards than North Lincoln.
As long as you stay out of south central Lincoln *south of O street, West of 27th* the streets are pretty safe. This isn't a city where you can leave your houses unlocked, but our police force is one of the best in the county, or so I've heard. They have a big presence here, which makes Lincoln pretty safe for it's size.
It's a big college town. It seems like there are more bars per captia than any other city in the nation.
Growing up here, I can say that if you have a family, finding things for young teenagers/*******s here is hard. They don't have alot that attracts that age group. Now young kids and older teens will find an abundance of things to keep them out of trouble and busy.
We get quite a bit of snow here in the winter. Of course, not as much as MN. It's Oct 21st and it was snowing lighty here for a few hours. We never seem to have a white Christmas. Snow fall varies highly here. Our snow seems to be wet and heavy. The weather can be quite unpredictable. 50 degrees one day, snowing the next.
The housing market here varies accoding to neighborhood.
In south Lincoln *Old Cheney and south*you will get the bigger, nicer, and newer homes. Ranging from about $200,000 to well over $500,000.
In north Lincoln, you will get the older, more modest homes. More middle class type. Ranging in price from $250,000 and down. Of course, there are homes in each area that cost more and less than my given estimate.
I really hope this helps! If you have any more questions, I would be glad to answer what I can!

~Lindsey

[kosnebbear]

You might want to consider some of the smaller communities around Lincoln. Taxes can be cheaper, people are more friendly and not afraid to greet you to their community. You can drive a short distance to work, which is never a msjor problem in Lincoln. If you have kids, some schools with smaller populations in their schools will give your kids a better opportunity to be part of sports. They will get attention if needed faster than in a bigger school system that seems to just run those who seem to want to fail through their systems instead of helping them try to be come successful in life. Medical you would have again a short drive to visit a doctor or get to one of three major hosptials in Lincoln. Plus it is much quieter in these smaller towns as you don't have all the city traffic driving by all night long. Housing is cheaper and just as nice.

[smalltowngal1026]

I love lincoln! What size of town are you from? We are a big town with small town values. We (my husband and I) always joke about how "all the farmers move to Lincoln". The cost of living is higher in Lincoln than outside (taxes), but you can get up in the middle of the night and go shop at Walmart, walgreens, or the grocery store if you get bored. I like that that things are open 24 hours and do not close at 9 like some small towns do. I have been here 10 years or so and I think people are very friendly (well, they don't wave to you if you are a complete stranger like they do in small towns). I worked in retail for 6 of those years and I also did social work for 4, so I pretty much have met all the types of people from one extreme to the other. I think most people are friendly and someone will always help you if you are in trouble. We don't have much crime.

My husband and I are actually in the new housing business. I can tell you right now that it is a buyers market. The last I heard, there were 3500 houses for sale in Lincoln (that's a lot). We own a very nice 2,000 sq. ft. house in a nice part of NE lincoln for less than $200,000...but, property taxes are pretty high.

One thing I do not like is the in-town drivers. It is really easy to get "road rage" around here because, like I said, "all the farmers moved to town" and people like to "take their time". If you are used to fast moving roads, you will not like driving here. Especially at 8-9 am, 12 pm, 3-4 pm, and 5-6 pm. That's all the "rush hours".

Snow...ugh....it will snow one day, be in the 50s the next day, snow the next...it is always changing! It seems that we have 2 weeks of spring and 2 weeks of fall. Then, winter and summer. It gets really cold (zeros) and really hot (100s) and HUMID. I hate Neb. weather! But, the spring and fall "weeks" are very nice and beautiful.

One thing, if you move to Lincoln....you have to LOVE the Huskers! Or, at least put up with EVERYONE else loving them! Lincoln loves their football. It is almost sickening! I swear, if the Huskers loose, the whole town is in a bad mood for the entire week! But, if they win..everywhere is a party!

What company is the new job?

Hope I helped!

[AngelikaV]

snowlandcook,

I’m probably going to take a lot of heat from the locals for my comments, but speaking as a “transplant” to a potential newcomer, you should know what you’re getting into if you move here. It would help to know the size of community you’re relocating from. If you’re coming from Minneapolis-St. Paul, you’d be much, much happier in Omaha than Lincoln. As a matter of fact, unless you come from a town of less than 50,000 and like small town life, you’d probably prefer Omaha. You see, even though Lincoln has a population of 230,000 the community has much more in common with a town of 50,000, both positively and negatively.

Shopping here is god-awful. This is the town that fashion forgot. It takes at least 5 years for a fashion trend to find us if it ever gets here at all. Your best bet for fashion is Kansas City; second is Omaha, though there are a few local boutiques scattered about where you might be able to find a few items approximating last year's fashion trends. There’s only one regional mall, it’s a pain in the @#* to get to, and doesn’t have any “higher end” shopping options. For that you’re going to have to go to Omaha or Kansas City. There’s one other shopping center. It’s on the far south end of town (where most of the new development is occurring), but it’s small, open air and anchored mostly by “big box” retailers, though one of it’s anchors is Von Mauer’s which is as “high end” a department store as you’re going to find here. Shopping on the north side of town is pretty much limited to Walmart and Shopko. There are two smaller Targets in town, but neither is on the north side. If you like shopping at SuperTarget, forget it. There isn’t one, nor is there a Kmart. For those you’ll have to go to Omaha. And if all that isn't bad enough, you're going to have to pay 7.5% sales tax on all your clothing purchases.

As for supermarkets, don’t get me started. If you’re accustomed to good seafood, it’s nonexistent here. If you like fish, you’re pretty much going to have to buy it frozen. Buying it unfrozen DOES NOT mean buying it fresh. It means that it was once frozen and is now thawed, so only buy it if you’re planning on preparing it IMMEDIATELY. I learned this the hard way. You’d think living in an agricultural state would mean good produce, but guess again. Produce here is inferior and costs more than what you’re able to find routinely in the twin cities. For good produce you’re going to have to go to the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings May to September. The rest of the year produce is expensive and grim. The one thing you can get is good meat, but not at the supermarket. A little market called Leon’s has the best meat, followed closely by another little market called Ideal. Ideal is also where you’re going to have to go for all your specialty and gourmet items. If they don’t have what you’re looking for, they’ll order it for you, but expect to pay more than your accustomed to.

[AngelikaV]

Snowlandcook,

I thought it best to break my critique into multiple posts. With a moniker like Snowland Cook, I can assure you that the best food you’ll eat in Lincoln will come out of your own kitchen. If you’re at all accustomed to fine dining, forget about finding it in Lincoln. You’ll have to drive that hour east on I80 to Omaha. My husband took me to the “best” restaurant in town for our 25th anniversary and I can’t begin to tell you how sorry the whole meal was.

When I first moved to Lincoln I was shocked by the lack of good, original eating establishments in a city this size. There are no French bistros nor Italian trattorias at all,and no “white tablecloth” restaurants worth eating in. There are some run-of-the-mill Chinese and Mexican restaurants, but no really good dim sum and nothing remotely approaching Fonterra Grill. There’s one small Jewish sandwich shop that makes the best sandwiches in town, but it’s not a full deli. There are a couple of sushi bars, but the sushi tastes like twin-cities supermarket sushi, not sushi bar sushi. It’s that problem with getting fresh fish I mentioned up-thread. There are some OK Indian and Thai restaurants, but not as good as what you’ll find in the twin-cities. Once again, it’s a problem for them to get good ingredients. And don’t get me started about pizza. If you’re used to really good pizza, Lincoln pizza is horrible beyond belief. There are ZERO good pizza places in Lincoln unless your idea of good pizza is Papa John’s or Old Chicago.

I was told by well heeled lifelong residents that the best food in town comes from private caterers. Can you imagine? If you’ve got out-of-town guests, either cook for them yourself, call the caterer, or drive to Omaha because your only other options are either a small handful of OK ethnic restaurants or a large number of “family dining” establishments, most of which are national or regional chains.

[AngelikaV]

Snowlandcook,

One’s opinion of housing costs in Lincoln pretty much depends on what housing costs are where you’re currently located. I’m from Chicago, so I found the cost of existing homes to be cheap to moderate. New housing is a different story. I was very surprised to find that it was no cheaper to build a new house in Lincoln than it was in new subdivisions in Chicago’s suburbs. Being a real estate investment professional, I was initially perplexed. After all, there should be a significant difference in the price of land given that land is scarce in Chicago and virtually limitless here, but not so! It didn’t take long to discover that cost of new construction is cheaper in Omaha than Lincoln because lot prices are cheaper in Omaha. How could that be?

As it turns out, real estate development in Lincoln has progressed in a counterintuitive manner and for the benefit of a small handful of wealthy landowners who have, over the years, managed to sit on the county board of commissioners, the city council, and the city planning commission. The extension of sewer service has been limited to specifically designated areas, which in turn limits where new development can occur. As a result, developable land is artificially scarce and lot prices consequently high. In other parts of the country private developers can either build the infrastructure to tie into existing city services when there’s sufficient capacity, or create private sewer and water treatment facilities when there’s not, to leapfrog development; but not so here. Why this is the case is a mystery, but it takes little imagination to suspect the moneyed class that controls Lincoln have purposely made it that way to line their own pockets.

The counterintuitive part relates to the geographic areas in which new development has occurred. The only interstate highway near Lincoln is I80 and is located on the northern edge of the city. Some modest amount of development has occurred in its general vicinity but has been limited to commercial development and lower end residential development. The one and only higher end residential development on the north side of town is only in its first phase and is progressing very slowly. The vast majority of residential development is occurring to the south and southeast where there are insufficient roadways to handle the increased traffic. Look at the map and you will discover (to your chagrin should you move here) there are no ring roads around Lincoln. Travel from the new and sprawling southern subdivisions to the primary areas of employment are over surface streets through established neighborhoods.

Why build to the south when there’s no infrastructure to support it, you ask? I will answer with a true story. When I first came to Lincoln to look for a house or a buildable lot I was taken by my real estate agent to the far south and southeast parts of town. When I asked to see houses on the north side closer to the interstate she said, “ You can’t live near the interstate. There’s nothing for you there. Only blue collar people live north of “O” Street. White collar people all live south of “O”. And there you have it. Rather than develop in a rational fashion near the interstate, the city has grown southward where there is no infrastructure to support growth because of “wrong side of the tracks” prejudice.

[AngelikaV]

Snowlandcook,

I’ve driven all over the country and in my experience, Lincoln has some of the worst drivers you’ll find anywhere. Perhaps as smalltowngal1026 said, it’s because all the farmers moved to town, but I suspect that it’s also because a lot of small town gals and guys moved to town. Running stoplights in Lincoln is an everyday occurrence. People treat them as mere suggestions. They’ll slow for the light and if no one is coming, or if they feel there’s enough time before YOU get to the intersection, they’ll breeze right through. As for stop signs, they may as well all be changed to yield signs because no one bothers with them unless they can see cross-traffic within potential crash distance. When was the last time you heard of someone getting killed in a two-car crash on a surface street? Well, here it’s a regular occurrence.

If you’re the kind of person who gets annoyed when someone stops directly in front of you and turns without using their signal, be prepared to spend a lot of time P.O’ed. Same goes for suddenly pulling into your lane on any multilane street. Turn signals in Lincoln? What’s that?

Expect people to speed at all times in all weather conditions. The speed limit on the interstates outside city limits is 75 MPH. Expect everyone around you including trucks to go 85 MPH. In most places people will go 5 MPH over the limit. Here they go 10 MPH over, and that’s with a speed limit of 35 MPH on neighborhood streets. In other words, unless you live on the end of a cul-de-sac the traffic going down your block is likely to be traveling at 40-45 MPH anytime of the day or night. As a result, Lincoln has an inordinate number of pedestrian, bicycle and motorcycle fatalities for a city of its size.

Why are drivers so bad in Lincoln? Two reasons: (1) lack of driver’s ed. training in the schools, and (2) people moving in from rural and small town Nebraska where traffic is light to nonexistent and there’s no one to enforce traffic regulations. People who are accustomed to speeding, never using their turn signals, and blowing through lights and stop signs in underpopulated areas bring their bad habits with them and don’t change unless they get smacked hard by the law -- and sometimes not even then.

[AngelikaV]

If you like the weather in South Dakota you’ll like the weather in Lincoln. It’s like the weather on the Russian steppes: hot as hell in summer, cold in winter and dry all the time. It’s no accident that Lincoln is the boundary between the tall and short grass prairies. It hardly ever rains or snows, and when it does, it can come all at once. For me, coming from Chicago, it was a HUGE shock.

Lincoln gets 90 days a year over 90F -- no exaggerating -- and at least 5 to 7 days IN A ROW each summer of 100+F. It’s not uncommon to have 10 days in a row where the temperature will hit 100F or more. People don’t complain about 100F in Arizona or Nevada because it’s a “dry heat.” No such luck here. We get no rain but have high humidity. It makes spending summer afternoons outdoors unpleasant or downright difficult. I guarantee you’ll be longing for those beautiful Minnesota summers before your first year is out.

Average annual precipitation is about 24 inches, which makes Lincoln semiarid. Irrigation is a necessity and watering bans are common. The combination makes for challenging gardening and landscape maintenance. So far this year we’ve had a total of 21.63 inches of precipitation. For the whole month of November we only had 0.09 inches of precipitation -- that’s less than 1/10th of an inch! It’s dry as a bone here. Last week when the temperature was in the 50’s, people got out their hoses or turned on their irrigation systems for fear their trees and shrubs would all be dead of drought come spring.

Generally, winter days are sunnier, warmer and drier than Minnesota. We’re USDA zone 5. Yesterday it got down to 3F. Today it was in the upper 30’s. Tonight it’ll drop into the teens. Most winter days have highs in the upper 30’s to low 40’s or more, but we always get a few days of below zero weather. In the 10 years I’ve lived in Lincoln I don't recall it ever getting down to -20F, but it's come close. It’s not uncommon to have temperatures as high as 60F or as low as -10F on Christmas day, but a white Christmas is another thing. We’ve had one very minor snowfall so far this season, though blizzards are not uncommon; however, it’s also common for the snow to melt within a few days. It’s rare to have snow remain on the ground for a solid month. I only remember one winter where the ground was snow-covered that long.

As far as I’m concerned, winter here is bearable, spring and fall are really nice, and summer is awful. Just remember, like the steppes, it’s always dry and temperatures can swing 40 degrees or more in a single day.