potential relocation to omaha (La Vista, Ralston: real estate, property taxes, houses)

[madfocus]

hello everyone,
I have a couple of questions about omaha and omaha's culture. Me and my family moved from chicago (go bears) to phoenix and thinking about moving to omaha. We love the big city feel of chicago, actually we miss it, but we love the laid back feel and development of phoenix. here is a list of my questions about omaha?

whats up with the crime rate?
is there an area where ppl can go to eat and drink?
shopping in omaha(from my wife)
real estate in omaha?
fitness clubs in omaha?
weather?
spots not to live in.
sports, culture, nightlife in omaha?
traffic?
and cost of living in omaha?

would love to hear any type of feedback. thank you so much.

[star_gazer]

whats up with the crime rate?
Pretty average midwestern city crime... it has the usual inner city gang problems... generally isolated to parts of northeastern Omaha.

is there an area where ppl can go to eat and drink?
The Old Market is a wonderful downtown entertainment district where you'll find many restaurants and bars.

shopping in omaha(from my wife)
Omaha doesn't have nearly the retail options which a metro the size of Phoenix has. While we have Macy's like stores in Von Maur, Younker's and Dillard's... that's the extent of it. Stores like Coach, J.Crew, Chico's, White House/Black Market, Pottery Barn, etc ... are relatively new to Omaha. The good news is... retailers have discovered us, and more continue to come. We also have some impressive local offerings... such as billionaire Warren Buffett's Borsheim's Jewelry and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

real estate in omaha?
Once similar in price to Phoenix... but Phoenix went through the roof, so now Omaha is considerably cheaper. Although, as has been well publicized here... we do have considerably higher property taxes... although from what I hear from my sister, who is a resident of Peoria, AZ... our schools are considerably better as well.

fitness clubs in omaha?
We have fitness clubs all over the place... from 24 Hour and Gold's... to local establishments of all different sizes. There's a massive Lifetime Fitness under construction as well.

weather?
Four seasons... cold and snowy winters, mild springs/falls, hot and humid summers.

sports, culture, nightlife in omaha?
AHL hockey, AAA baseball, NCAA division I basketball (w/ games drawing 17,000... it's feels like NBA atmosphere), arena football... these events are inexpensive compared to their major league counterparts... and very accessible. New arena, new symphony hall, renovated Vaudeville theatre... concert events coming months alone: Bob Seger, Billy Joel, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Eric Clapton, Nickelback, Rod Stewart, Keith Urban, ... vibrant local indie music scene, cited by Rolling Stone magazine, many art galleries downtown, including 'largest urban artist colony' in the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, nation's largest 'community playhouse', large dedicated children's theatre, etc, etc.

traffic?
Still a '20 minute' city... good beltway connecting most parts of the metro

and cost of living in omaha?
Lower than average

would love to hear any type of feedback. thank you so much.

[madfocus]

that was awesome feedback from my questions. i used to have no allergies in chicago and in phoenix its all over the place. how is it there?

[star_gazer]

Probably just as bad as Phoenix for different reasons. I know down there... it's the stagnant air/pollutants, stuck in the valley. Up here... it's simply all the blooming plant life. At least it's seasonal. Take a Claritin... works for me!

[madfocus]

my work will potentially be at the 68130 area code. My wife loves the urban feel and likes the old market area, but we used to have a condo and not sure if i want to get a condo or loft with the property tax that goes with it. Any nice houses near that area code?

what do you guy think of the boys town, elkhorn, ralston, la vista, cuz that is near that area code?

also, we used to live in chicago and the wind and the snow just sucked. how is the weather in omaha compared to chicago? does your snow stick for a long time? how is the snow removal system?

thanks

[DTO Luv]

I live Downtown in a condo and my taxes aren't bad. Plus without having the extra expense of a home (yard work, exterior repairs, shoveling, yard work, and did I mention yard work? ) I've found it to save me alot vs a regular house. Plus if you buy a home wouldn't you be paying taxes any ways? There are new houses being built south of the Old Market called Little Italy and Giovanna. More houses are in the works and will be up soon.

I would say the winter is comparable to Chicago but probably a bit milder not being by Lake Michigan. The snow doesn't usually come unitl Fabruary but it's about gone by the middle of March. Snows in December and January didn't really stick around too long on the ground and would be gone in a day or two.

[DTO Luv]

Also you'll probably get some responses about snow removal being dismall. That's in any place where there is signifigant snow fall. I've found the roads to be fine. When I didn't live Downtown and in more residential areas I lived by schools so they were always plowed first.

[kosnebbear]

Well it will not matter where you move to in the Omaha Metro area as the drive time anywhere into Omaha is not that bad. Elkhorn is a nice town that is fighting Omaha about annexing it into Omaha. They are about 10,000 people living there and they have a nice community that I am sure that you will like. La Vista and Ralston is next to each other. You drive out of Ralston and you drive into La Vista. Both communities are nice arears. Boys Town is out west of Omaha which is also nice but you would have a longer drive in going to work unless you job is located on the west side of Omaha. I would stay out of the North side of Omaha, the central part of Omaha, the east part along the river. Some of these areas are where the inter city gangs are located. We all have our own personal likes and dislikes so we will not like what you will. Just come to Omaha and spend about a week if you can so that you can look around.

Welcome to Nebraska I am sure you will like Nebraska even with our weather system and snow. You will get use to it in time.

[HockeyFan]

Madfocus -- what are you allergic to? The vegetation and seasonal changes in Omaha are very similar to Chicago, so I would not expect a dramatic difference. The two questions I have are

1) Where did you live in Chicago -- near the lake, inland? Urban? Suburban? That makes a big difference.

2) Do you know what you're allergic to? Tree pollen is far, far higher in Phoenix than Chicago or Omaha, contrary to popular belief, because of the unnaturally high amount of pollenating male trees planted in the subdivisions. In older areas, there tends to be a more even distribution of male and female trees -- male trees produce pollen and female trees are receptors, taking the pollen out of the air. When the imbalance gets out of whack, pollen floats around far more.

For example, the record high amount of tree pollen in Las Vegas is something like 35,000 per cubic meter. A bad day in Omaha or Chicago is about 1,000, while most days during the pollen season are 200-300.

Let me know if you have any questions -- I have lived in Nebraska and found it pretty decent for allergies, and I've done far more research than I ever hoped to as far as allergies in different places! But of course, the key is... what are you allergic to?

Good luck -- I love both Omaha and Chicago -- Omaha is smaller, but I think you'll see similarities in people, layout of the city, and general culture!

[madfocus]

thanks for the feedback. As for allergies, i guess i have seasonal attacks and allergic to dust. In chicago, i would get allergies through the changes of weather and when i moved to phoenix, i guess with the dryness here, i had a lot of allergy attacks. I think i should be fine, cuz omaha is comparable to chicago (weather wise) and a claritin could fix that up.

I will be working on elm in the 68130 area code, i think that is southwest omaha.

In chicago, I lived in the north side of the city along lake michigan, so i got both the wind and the cold but i was located near the train and easy access to the highway. Omaha's winter won't bother me that much, i've gone through worst with chicago.

ideally, I love to drive no more than 30 minutes to work and live in an area that has stuff to do and is somewhat family oriented. I know that might be hard to find but i just want my wife to be close to shops and groceries while we are here.

We are looking into a lot of lofts, condos, and townhouses in omaha but i prefer a big space. i guess we will narrow it down when we get there. Although i do like the rows at sama but they have chicago real estate prices on those.

Thanks again for all your feedback.