[jewelz_58]

Sozo, My husband and I are relocating to Bellevue from Hawaii. I've been looking for an apartment/condo online in Bellevue since it's the closest to Offut AFB. It's very overwhelming with all the listings of places, can you help me out and tell us what place you would recommend that is nice, safe and secure. Also, how far is Omaha from Bellevue? I would love your help-Thanks

[Sozo]

Originally Posted by jewelz_58

Sozo, My husband and I are relocating to Bellevue from Hawaii. I've been looking for an apartment/condo online in Bellevue since it's the closest to Offut AFB. It's very overwhelming with all the listings of places, can you help me out and tell us what place you would recommend that is nice, safe and secure. Also, how far is Omaha from Bellevue? I would love your help-Thanks

Jewel, are you military? If so, we are too. We've been here for nearly 7 years. Any apartments or townhomes that are south of 370 in Bellevue would be very nice. There are several very nice apartment developments right outside the gates of the base. You won't go wrong with any of those. If you need names of the apartment complexes I can get that for you.

Bellevue/Papillion are both about 10 miles outside of Omaha. Bellevue is the largest of the suburbs and backs right up to Omaha city limits. Papillion is on the west side of Bellevue and is the furtherest south of all the suburbs in this direction. North of us is La Vista, then Ralston, then Omaha.

Papillion, La Vista & Bellevue are the nicest suburbs by the base. Some people move a little further south and reside in Plattsmouth. Plattsmouth is a very thriving area. In fact, all of the suburbs are.

Most military folks live in Papillion/La Vista/Bellevue. You have everything you need here, plus easy access to the base. Papillion is newer and nicer than Bellevue in my opinion, but Bellevue is developing nicely south of 370 as I said.

Please ask any more questions you need and I'll give you more specifics if you need them.

[jewelz_58]

Thanks for the quick reply! My husband is in the military and we're moving at the end of February. It's going to be a difficult transition from Hawaii to Nebraska. As far as the lifestyle , I just don't know what to expect. Wow, your tour in Nebraska has been very long -7 years. Well, I've looked online and considered The Overlook apartments and The Landings as a place to live. Are there any other apartments with great reviews. I figured since Bellevue is the closest to Offut we'd start off there and when we're familiar with the community then probably move in the bigger city-Omaha. So what's there to do in Nebraska?? I'm not much of a country person , I'm more of a city girl. Well, tell me more --Thanks!!

[Sozo]

Originally Posted by jewelz_58

Thanks for the quick reply! My husband is in the military and we're moving at the end of February. It's going to be a difficult transition from Hawaii to Nebraska. As far as the lifestyle , I just don't know what to expect. Wow, your tour in Nebraska has been very long -7 years. Well, I've looked online and considered The Overlook apartments and The Landings as a place to live. Are there any other apartments with great reviews. I figured since Bellevue is the closest to Offut we'd start off there and when we're familiar with the community then probably move in the bigger city-Omaha. So what's there to do in Nebraska?? I'm not much of a country person , I'm more of a city girl. Well, tell me more --Thanks!!

Well, I would think any place would be a difficult transition from Hawaii. But, at least you're not going to Minot, ND.

Nebraska is surprisingly beautiful. I grew up in Louisiana and the only thing I knew about Nebraska was that it had corn and a good college football team.

Oh, yeah, the Huskers. Hope you like football. I thought LSU Tiger fans were rabid. The Huskers are like gods here. I've never seen a place so enamored with it's football team. The women's volleyball team ranks a close second, along with the College Baseball World Series every summer. That's a big deal too. I think it's safe to say Nebraska loves it's sports. Alot.

If you like the city life, Omaha can offer that. Personally, I like rural life and Nebraska offers that just fine. Omaha is like a big city with small town feel. It's nothing like a Houston, or a Dallas, or a Los Angeles and certainly, nothing like New York City. It's not *that* kind of city. But it's big enough to offer enough big city life. University of Nebraska @ Omaha is here. That part of town is typical college life. It's quite beautiful around the campus nad if I were to stay here and live in the city, that's the part of town I would go to. The homes are fabulous.

Lincoln is only about 40 miles from Papillion/Bellevue and Univeristy of Nebraska main campus is there. Lincoln is a really fun town and we've spent a lot of time there. Plus, a Husker game is quite an experience if you get a chance. personally, I prefer watching any ball game frm the comfort of home, but, my husband has been to one of the games and he said it was great.

Papillion/Bellevue offer plenty in terms of shopping/restaurants and life outside of the city if that's what you prefer. But, if you want more, Omaha is just right down the road and very easy to access.

There are lots of rolling hills and farmland that have not been developed in the suburbs and it's quite beautiful. I recently traveled to Virginia to the DC area and couldn't wait to get back to the wide open space of Nebraska. You can top hills around here and see all the way into downtown Omaha. It's just beautiful in that regard. The farmland is immaculate and well tended. The farmers around here take their farming very seriously.

There is a huge development boom going on right now and a new mall is coming into Papillion. It's called Shadow Lake. With it, lots and lots and LOTS of new homes. Very upscale and very nice. The mall is going to bring even more development and before too long Papillion/Bellevue will be huge. People are migrating further south to get away from it, but they will have to go pretty far to escape the tentacles of development.

Overall, our experience here has been very positive. Many people come, like it and stay. It's a very family friendly place and in terms of crime, it's pretty low. We feel completely safe and sheltered in the suburbs. You just don't hear of that much crime. That's a plus.

Not sure if I've answered your questions well enough for you, but feel free to ask more.

[fllover]

Sozo,

Thank you and everyone else who has posted in this thread for all of the amazing and valuable information. It has been great to hear all of the different views and opinions and it sounds likeit is exactly what we are looking for.

[ehenningsen]

I am originally from the Omaha area and moved to Vegas for about a year, but moved back...

There are some differences to both cities and let me tell you what they are..

1. Omaha has no strip, but does have 3 casinos and more on the way (in CB)
2. Even though there is alot more plant life here, the air has much less
pollutions and pollens than vegas..
3. Vegas has 1.7 million people in its metro, Omaha and with nearby lincoln
is approaching 1.2 million...
4. Omaha has much more and better golf courses than Vegas...
5. Vegas has a ton of 4-5* restaurants which are really good, but to me
the dining scene in Omaha is top notch and vastly underrated, trust me
we have a WIDE variety of restaurants and being that Omaha is in the
midwest, we have a good supply of fresh food for cheap
6. Nightlife isn't bad, there is always something going on in Omaha
Vegas does have more though, obviously... but just like it was in Vegas
there is more to do than you can afford to do...if you were as poor as me
anyway www.omahanightlife.com www.omahacityweekly.com
www.accessomaha.com
7. people on the west coast spend in the range of 30-57% of their income
on their mortgages on houses that on the average have much smaller
yards and are smaller in size than they are here, and yet we spend
only on average 12% of our incomes per capita on the average home here
8. The cost of everything, well just about, is much less than there and on
average people make more per capita than in vegas..
9. lots of outdoor activities, we have 3 major outdoorsy shopping
megacenters to Vegas having 1... we have Cabela's, Bass Pro and soon
Camping World... There are many boating, fishing, camping lakes in the
area, white water rafting a few hours to the north, a major park between
Omaha and lincoln, Omaha has a nationally reckognized and very well
respected indie scene with Saddle Creek Records headquartered here..
10. We have a few Nationally respected Univercities here in the area including
UNL(Huskers) UN of Omaha (Mavericks) Creighton(Blue Jays) which is
ranked as the top academic school in the midwest year after year, there
is a massive Community College calle Metropolitan Community college
where just last year there was 45,000 people enrolled at any given time
taking at least one course...
11. We have two amusement parks within a few hours from here (Des Moines
and Kansas City), however an amusement park/resort is being studied
by Steve Minard and he is waiting for the right (perks) and the right
circumstances before it gets going...
12. We get the top concerts that all the other big cities get (Qwest Center
was eighth in the world for concert ticket sales in 2005) WWE once to
twice a year, if your into that, two nationally respected NCAA div 1
college sports schools that have nationally ranked sports...
13. There's much more too, in my opionion Vegasgrl, Omaha has more to offer
for the good life than Vegas, you'll see..

[mattpoulsen]

I have to be picky...just because I work at UNL. Creighton is the top "private" and/or a top "Masters only" in university in the midwest. It would definitely fall behind Iowa, Nebraska, Iowa St., Colorado, Kansas and a few others, but in the rankings you see these non-private Ph.D. granting schools never go head to head with Creighton. One of the best things about the midwest is a # of excellent low cost public universities. Ok. I'm just being anal, but I couldn't help myself. That said, Creighton is still an excellent school.

[fllover]

Ok, that's it!...I'm packing up my stuff!!! (lol))

Actually, we just placed our home on the market so we will see how that goes. How easy/difficult is it to secure employment prior to moving? (IT & HR fields). Also, we may have to rent before deciding to purchase a home...our family dog is a Shepherd/Pit Mix (he's a great dog, extremely friendly, been raised among children, non-agressive). Do the apartments have a ban on these types of dogs or do they look at other aspects other than just breed. I really feel awful that all of these dogs are pooled in together as some kind of awful breed just because of some irresponsible dog owners and the way they raise them. Sorry...didn't mean to rant there. =)

[mattpoulsen]

I don't think there's a ban on Pitbulls, at least as far as the city or subdivisions are concerned. I have heard of this happening in other places, but I don't think its happening in Omaha. That said, an apartment can pretty much do as they please (as long as its allowed in the city). I would really stress the Shepherd breeding to begin with and then just say what you just posted. Its hard to tell, but I think your biggest problem would just be finding an apartment that will allow big dogs. Your best bet may be renting a house...depending on your family size, in Omaha, you can often find houses to rent for the price of an apartment.

[C.J.]

Has anyone heard of Tregaron Ridge Townhomes? Are those available to rent or only to buy? Are they located in a decent area?