Moving to Omaha/Council Bluffs Area (Bellevue, Fremont: relocating, property taxes, insurance)

[MozMoving]

I am relocating this month to Omaha/CB area, within 1 hour of Omaha would be just fine. My wife and four kids 7,6,2, and newborn are excited about the move, but I am wanting suggestings from folks on where to live. We are limited to around $200,000 for home price and would like to know the best bang for our buck in Omaha area and CB. Schools are very important to us as well. The other question I have is what is the real difference between Iowa and Nebraska when it comes to Taxes. Iowa people make it sound like thousands of dollars difference and Nebraskans make it sound like a few hundred. Can anyone assist me with these questions? Thanks, Moz

[kdbrich]

Iowa taxes are less. But you'll get less for 'em. Personally, if I had a choice I'd much rather send my kid to an OPS, Millard or Papillion school. Some of the nicer Millard neighborhoods will be a little above 200k, but it's in that area. Omaha Schools are probably better than CB...but the surrounding school districts (Millard especially) are the best in the area.

Assuming you're commuting, where are you commuting to? For $200k you can get a pretty nice 3-4 bedroom house. I'd look at Papillion, Bellevue, or West Omaha/Millard.

[tpabes]

Yes, 200k will get you a pretty decent house in Omaha metro. I noticed you said 1 hour of Omaha, so I would also look at Blair, Ne or Glenwood, IA if you like smaller towns. Blair has about 7500-8000 people, while Glenwood is nearing 6000. Both are very close to the metro. They would have good schools and you can get even more bang for your buck there.

I did a really quick search and the first thing that came up was a cnnmoney article from 2005 and Iowa's state tax's take 10% of your income while Nebraska takes 10.9%. Heres the link if you want it, even though its from 2005.
CNNMoney.com: Taxes by state 2005, by rate

[DTO Luv]

As far as taxes the Nebraska side is better. My mom made the mistake of moving over to Iowa thinking she would save money but it ended up costing more. The main reason is that most people in Iowa work in Nebraska so they pay income tax to both states. Also some of there smaller taxes are paid more often than Nebraska's.

[Dave1215]

with the 1 hour can also go west to Fremont and south to Waverly... lots of options with that side of a range from the metro.

This map might give you a general idea of what 1-hour of Omaha means.



Lots of choices with that range...

Are you looking for Urban, Suburban, Small Town, or Rural? All are available.

[MozMoving]

Thank you for all the feedback so far. We have been avoiding the Omaha/Neb side due to everyone saying taxes would kill us. My work is finanical insurance so I mainly go to my clients office to do business and my work address is my home office. My territory covers IA, SD and NE so the Omaha area was a central point to drive from with the interstates.

The property taxes are what I am mainly concerned about, auto as well. I was concerned about NE taxes due to all the new construction and special projects Omaha seems to be doing now.

If we look into the Papillion and Millard areas are there certain developments that you might recommend we look into? Thanks, Moz

[elscorcho]

Check this out before you pack

Nebraska Tax Burden Up And Away

Hey-don't shoot the messenger

[star_gazer]

Eh... small price to pay... to live the Good Life.

As we've said before... the vast majority of your Nebraska property taxes go towards the local schools. We also rank among the very top nationally in standardized test scores. Yes... you do get what you paid for.

[ehenningsen]

I love it when wowt comes up with an article like this, they have a lot of biase in them..

Read this, Nebraska is 22nd OVERALL tax burden:
The Tax Foundation - Nebraska's State and Local Tax Burden, 1970-2007

And OMaha's 9.5% burden is .4% higher than average:
CNNMoney.com: Big city taxes 2005, by rank

Don't forget that the burden is more than offset by the 'cost of living' which brings down how much of an impact these percentages bring..

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by ehenningsen

I love it when wowt comes up with an article like this, they have a lot of biase in them..

Read this, Nebraska is 22nd OVERALL tax burden:
The Tax Foundation - Nebraska's State and Local Tax Burden, 1970-2007

And OMaha's 9.5% burden is .4% higher than average:
CNNMoney.com: Big city taxes 2005, by rank

Don't forget that the burden is more than offset by the 'cost of living' which brings down how much of an impact these percentages bring..

You always bring a great perspective with facts.... thanks for that...