potential relocation to omaha (townhouses, allergies, live in)
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I commuted to Chicago from Omaha for a few years, and Chicago was definitely worse in the winter. Cold air masses seem to come down from Canada and just blast Chicago. It was not uncommon for Omaha to be in the 60's by late March into April, while Chicago was still in the 40's. Don't get me wrong, winters in Omaha are not fun. There is a definite gloom around the city starting in December and running through Feb. April through June are beautiful; July, August and September are hot and humid (not too uncommon to have heat indices in the high 90's - 100's); and October and November are beautiful again.
Property taxes are high. 2.2 - 2.9%, Most states offset this by having lower sales or state tax rates, not Nebraska, they are high in all regards.
Avoid anything lower than 60th Street, unless you are thinking of a condo downtown. If you are looking at new construction, your main choice will be in a planned HOA. Some of these can be pretty strict, so check first. That zip code (68130) is in a pretty good neighborhood, so you should be OK.
The overall cost of living is outstanding. A family of 4 could live quite well on one income of $80,000. For $200k - $250k, you are living in a fairly new, 4 bedroom house with a 3 car garage. Property taxes will be about $5000 - $7000.
I have been researching relocating to a bigger metro area (Dallas, Phoenix) and the one resounding area that always gets me is housing costs. Omaha definitely has a advantage here!!
Sports: One thing almost everyone thinks of is Husker football. Its pretty hard to get tickets, and if you can it will either be an off game (Troy State) or you will have to pay $150 - $300 per ticket plus parking. We do have some good hockey though. The Clagary Flames has their call-up team here in Omaha (Knights), the University of Nebraska-Omaha has a team as well as a couple of 15 - 17 year old leagues that get some of the best 'young-guns' in that league.
If you check an earlier thread that I posted, you will see that nebraska places 24th out of the 50 states when it comes to ALL taxes paid out combined per capita, and Omaha ranks 32nd highest income in the US over $3,000 a year above the national average!! In 2000 it was less than the national average!! The taxes here are noticed at a different level here than anywhere else, but per capita it is about average for all taxes paid out combined...
Once again... you get what you paid for... and Nebraska has excellent schools.
As for where to live... in spite of what NebraskaNative says, there are some very nice neighborhoods east of 60th Street. Check out: Dundee, Field Club, Twin Ridge/Morton Meadows, Country Club, Hanscom Park, Cathedral/Duchesne Academy area, ..
thank you so much for all of your feedback. It really helps us. So, I did get the job and I will be working on Elm plaza in the 68130 zipcode. We are looking at houses in Elkhorn(or formely elkhorn), and a couple of zipcodes like 68136, 68138, 68114, 68128, 68127, and 68116. I'm not sure of the area yet but i think i will be working near a golf course or oak view mall. ( i don't know, it is not on mapquest)
Can you guys tell me about those areas, where they are at, what to do there, and if it is close to my work in 68130. I like to have my wife close to shopping and i am pushing her not to look in downtown but to show her that we aren't very far from downtown and old market, she would be cool with it.
I would also like to give each of you passes to my work. Thank you so much
But some points of interest... that I know of and hopefully DTO and Stargazer can update this for you too...
1. Village Pointe, it's on about 168th and Dodge in or just north of 68130 (area of town where I live). Village Pointe has Kona Grill a Best Buy (soon to be a Magnolia store), and several other upscale restaurants and shops and is under a major expansion right now.
2. Another big area of interest is just east of 68130 and that is the Oak View area, that has a major mall (Oak View mall), Toys R Us and several good restaurants in the area and other stores that surround the mall that are not actually a part of the mall, this area is a big retail center...
3.Another is down the road from Village Point, you just take Dodge down to 108th (no streetlights as West Dodge Road is an expressway all the way to I-680), which really is just a few minutes away and there is another big retail center in the Westroads Mall which has several stores and upscale restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory, Pj Changes, and just a block away is a new Mini Cooper dealership..
4. Another area of town which is a very new and underreviewed retail center is 180th and Center, which has several good restaurants and shopping, including Walmart, Super Target, and Lowes, the upstream is there which is an awesome upscale restaurant and there's a very good medical center and hospital in this very area also.
5. Downtown, including the Old Market... Need I say more!!
6. I know Dundee, South Omaha, 96th-108th and Q areas have decent shopping
I noticed that some of the zip codes you mention (68127, 68128, 68138) are more towards the southern suburbs of Omaha (La Vista, Papillion, Ralston, Bellevue). You mentioned LaVista specifically. I would definitely encourage you to look in those areas as well. While the property taxes can be a bit higher (just pay attention to where you're buying a house is all), those cities have plenty to recommend them.
Depending on what your house price range is, you're looking at anywhere from $3000-5000 a year in taxes for houses from $130-200K.
Housing stock is of great quality, for the most part. Every area has exceptions, but as someone who gets into a lot of houses in the area (realtor), I can tell you that "scary" houses are pretty few and far between. Makes my job easy. You can get quite a decent house around here for $130-140K.
Right now it's great for home buyers, as the slow-down in real estate sales has caused a greater number of homes than usual to be on the market. (Sucks if you're selling, though.) Fortunately, the market hasn't crashed here, like it apparently has in some of the more over-inflated markets, so while prices and sales have pulled back somewhat, they're not in the toilet.
All of the southern suburbs (w/ the exception of land-locked Ralston) are growing like weeds, in residential, commercial and business. Papillion and La Vista have both seen a ton of growth in retail and residential - La Vista just got a Cabela's last November, with a bunch of stores going up around it. PayPal has a big facility just across the road, in fact. That's at about 126th and I-80. TD Ameritrade is another big corporate presence in the southern 'burbs, with a big facility in Bellevue and other sites scattered around the city. And of course, the military is a big player, most particularly in Bellevue, where Offutt AFB is located.
On the other end of LaVista is the huge Market Pointe shopping center, anchored by Wal-Mart, Lowe's, and Kohl's, and featuring a bunch of smaller stores as well. Just to the south along 72nd Street is the (absolutely immense) Shadow Lake mall, which is just starting to open its first stores, and is scheduled to be completely up and running by Memorial Day. Quite a bit of other retail in Papillion, too - SuperTarget, Home Depot, quite a few grocery stores, etc.
For Bellevue's part, it has seen a huge retail & residential explosion in recent years as well - the area around 36th and Highway 370, as well as along Cornhusker Road and Highway 75 are absolutely teeming with shops, large stores, home centers and a 16-screen movie theater. Quite a bit more is planned for Bellevue, too, including a new hospital or two.
All of the southern 'burbs do well with their school systems too - Papillion and La Vista have a combined school district though this really only applies to the High School, while Bellevue and Ralston are independent. All of them do a great job IMO in educating kids.
There's also a good-sized lake (Walnut Creek Rec. Area) at 96th and Highway 370, with picnic areas, decent fishing, trails and camping. Chalco Hills Reservoir west of 144th and Giles Rd. is also a good place to get your nature fix. (They also give you an excuse to head to Cabela's - gotta have tackle!)
The entire area is a nice place to live. I've lived here for 12 years, and have overall been quite happy with my experience here.
Bottom line: no matter where you live in Omaha, there will almost definitely be nice places to shop within less than 10 minutes of your house. Also, you were speaking about commuting, and how you want less than a 30-minute commute. I can't imagine you'd have much more than a 20-minute commute from almost anywhere in Omaha (due to the excellent street network and lots of highways/interstates that run through Omaha). From looking up the zip code on Mapquest, it appears you will be working out in West O, in the Millard area. Homes are nice out there, but you will probably save a considerable amount of money if you go a bit farther east (in general, the farther west you are in Omaha, the more expensive the homes). As someone else has said, you can easily find a nice 3-bedroom home here for around $130,000. I'm no expert on property taxes or schools (I'm only 22), but I enjoyed growing up in the Papillion-LaVista School District.
By the way, living in the western part of La Vista (west of 96th St.) would be a good option--it is very easy to take Harrison or Giles (pronounced "Jiles," by the way) and get on I-680, then get off at either L Street or West Center Rd to go to your place of work. LaVista is a southern suburb--I think traffic tends to be more congested farther north. Generally, I would shoot for somewhere in the area from 90th St to 204th St and from Giles Rd to West Maple (potential zip codes: 68130, 68137, 68127, 68135, 68144, 68118, 68124, 68154, 68116, 68164). Also, hint: if you go to zip-codes.com, it will give you average house values and average household incomes for each zip.
Oh, and if you want a home with real character (although it will probably be expensive), try the midtown area, centered around memorial park at about 55th and Dodge. Your commute should still be less than 20 minutes, especially with the new West Dodge Expressway, and you would also be within probably 10 minutes of downtown and the Old Market and the Zoo (from the zips I was talking about before, it probably takes 15-20 minutes to get downtown).
thank you so much for all of your feedback. It really helps us. So, I did get the job and I will be working on Elm plaza in the 68130 zipcode. We are looking at houses in Elkhorn(or formely elkhorn), and a couple of zipcodes like 68136, 68138, 68114, 68128, 68127, and 68116. I'm not sure of the area yet but i think i will be working near a golf course or oak view mall. ( i don't know, it is not on mapquest)
Can you guys tell me about those areas, where they are at, what to do there, and if it is close to my work in 68130. I like to have my wife close to shopping and i am pushing her not to look in downtown but to show her that we aren't very far from downtown and old market, she would be cool with it.
I would also like to give each of you passes to my work. Thank you so much
I'm relocating to Portland, Oregon from Elkhorn so if you have any specific questions about this area let me know. The 68130 zip code is Millard and just a few miles from where I am.
I'm close to Village Pointe which is a new outdoor mall with high-end shops and boutiques. Out this way the housing is higher but the schools are excellent. I'm walking distance to Fire Ridge elementary which is the 2nd newest school in the district. My house was recently listed so if you'd like to see it just let me know.
Good luck to you and welcome to the area!!! You will not be disappointed!!! Oh, and a very easy drive to downtown from here, not more than 30 minutes.
thank you so much for all of your feedback. It really helps us. So, I did get the job and I will be working on Elm plaza in the 68130 zipcode. We are looking at houses in Elkhorn(or formely elkhorn), and a couple of zipcodes like 68136, 68138, 68114, 68128, 68127, and 68116. I'm not sure of the area yet but i think i will be working near a golf course or oak view mall. ( i don't know, it is not on mapquest)
Can you guys tell me about those areas, where they are at, what to do there, and if it is close to my work in 68130. I like to have my wife close to shopping and i am pushing her not to look in downtown but to show her that we aren't very far from downtown and old market, she would be cool with it.
I would also like to give each of you passes to my work. Thank you so much
Oh, is your new position at the Lifetime Fitness???? If it is, I have several friends who got memberships there and I would've in a heartbeat if we were staying...
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You can get quite a decent house around here for $130-140K. 
