Relocating to Lincoln NOW (Craig, Washington: extended stay, best neighborhoods, apartment)

[crosswind]

I'm looking for a place to rent for two adults -- me, age 45 and son, aged 18. He's not studying at UNL and I don't have a job there yet, but I want to move out there ASAP. The house I'm living in is being foreclosed on and I wanted to move out to Lincoln anyway so this is forcing my hand.

There seem to be a ton of rentals available in just about every flavor. What I'm looking for is the *best* location in the city for my situation. Single mom with older dependent kid. I don't want to live close to the UNL campus - I want to live where the grown people live and also somewhere where there is less crime. I saw some places kind of just outside of town that look great but I'd rather be closer in. What are the best neighborhoods to rent in, in the actual city close to transportation and all that, that are not full of young students and/or vandals, criminals, etc?

Thanks for your input, really need help fast!

Also -- are the winters there better or worse than Chicago? Just curious. Driving in the city in the wintertime? Temperatures, whiteouts, freezing rain, black ice, etc?

[floridadreamer]

While I can't answer yet about the weather, I may have some insight in regards to renting.. I found it pretty difficult to locate a rental in my own situation, because my income is primarily child support until school starts, and a lot of the management companies didn't even want to touch my application. If you have good credit, perhaps you would have more luck. What I ended up doing was putting an advert on Craigslist in the "housing wanted" section and found a place literally overnight after driving around for 3 straight days.

As for areas of town, the lesser crime areas seem to be easy to spot when driving around. I live a few blocks south of A Street, but also a few blocks east of Downtown and it seems pretty quiet so far. As long as you avoid downtown and a few blocks in any direction, you should be alright. There's a link I can send you with a crime map on it actually that someone sent to me. Let me find it.

[SandmanSand]

Crime map
Lincoln, NE Crime Map - Showing Crimes in Lincoln - Crime Statistics, Alerts and Reports - Crime Stops Here

[floridadreamer]

Originally Posted by SandmanSand

Crime map
Lincoln, NE Crime Map - Showing Crimes in Lincoln - Crime Statistics, Alerts and Reports - Crime Stops Here

Thank you. I couldn't find it.

[crosswind]

Thanks, floridadreamer and sandmansand. I was thinking about just going out there and setting up in an extended stay hotel for a while, but that's such a pain, and expensive -- all my stuff would go into storage while I looked for a place to put it. I also had the "housing wanted" idea but I wanted to get a clearer idea of the neighborhoods before I started.

I'm not crazy about those brand new luxury apartment thingies are you? It seems like it would be easier to get one of those since it looks like there are a lot of them but they look so impersonal.

[sdyankton]

I lived in Lincoln for many years and know most of the neighborhoods very well. Lincoln as a whole is very low on crime when compared to other cities of it's size. It is a WONDERFUL city to live in and I would move back there ANY time.
The neighborhoods that maybe you would want to avoid are the following...
South Lincoln from 9th and G to 17th and Washington up to about South Street.
Also anything North 22nd -33rd.
Both of these neighborhoods have the largest concentration of African American residents and thus, the largest crime rates. I was a very liberal person until I moved in there. It's a sad reality, but there is no self respect or respect for other people in those neighborhoods.
I lived EVERYWHERE in the city, and those two neighborhoods meant waking up to gunfire, saying goodbye to your car window..stereo..etc, and "thugs" knocking on the door in the middle of the night to "just use the phone".
If money is an issue, but you want a decent neighborhood, consider the neighborhoods by the zoo. The houses are close together, but the people are friendly. You are right on the bike trails and close to some really great parks. I lived there for a couple of years and really liked it there.
Once I started making a little more money, I moved to the Old Cheney area and loved it. A lot of families and great neighborhoods.
There is affordable housing in Air Park too, to the North. But the trade off is more kids running around unsupervised; but the houses are fairly well kept and there are some very nice people in the area.
Hope that helps!

[SunshineSanity]

Originally Posted by sdyankton

I lived EVERYWHERE in the city, and those two neighborhoods meant waking up to gunfire, saying goodbye to your car window..stereo..etc, and "thugs" knocking on the door in the middle of the night to "just use the phone".

I've lived in Lincoln my entire life - and I've lived in some of the "bad" areas you mentioned. Now while I agree that there tends to be worse crime in those areas - I've never seen or heard of it as bad as you claim.
I've NEVER heard a gunshot in those areas, and neither have my friends that live around there. I don't know how you could 'wake up to gunfire' when it rarely - as in, if it does a couple times a year - happens.
I listen to the police scanner quite often and I've only once heard 'shots fired' over the radio.
I've never had my window broken out either. Quite a few friends have had their windows broken out more times in far south Lincoln (Old Cheney) or north Lincoln (Havelock) then in central Lincoln. Though anything out in the open is pretty much fair game to people all over the city.

Also, I don't know anyone that would even think about opening the door in the middle of the night in most of Lincoln. I've been stopped at a restaurant or on the sidewalk by people (sometimes these "thugs) but my front door has never been approached by them.

Now, I'm not saying that the areas you mentioned aren't higher in crime - as I certainly wouldn't live around there now that I have a child. But, it's not as bad as some people seem to think it is.

[sdyankton]

Originally Posted by aerahrtlu

I've lived in Lincoln my entire life - and I've lived in some of the "bad" areas you mentioned. Now while I agree that there tends to be worse crime in those areas - I've never seen or heard of it as bad as you claim.
I've NEVER heard a gunshot in those areas, and neither have my friends that live around there. I don't know how you could 'wake up to gunfire' when it rarely - as in, if it does a couple times a year - happens.
I listen to the police scanner quite often and I've only once heard 'shots fired' over the radio.
I've never had my window broken out either. Quite a few friends have had their windows broken out more times in far south Lincoln (Old Cheney) or north Lincoln (Havelock) then in central Lincoln. Though anything out in the open is pretty much fair game to people all over the city.

Also, I don't know anyone that would even think about opening the door in the middle of the night in most of Lincoln. I've been stopped at a restaurant or on the sidewalk by people (sometimes these "thugs) but my front door has never been approached by them.

Now, I'm not saying that the areas you mentioned aren't higher in crime - as I certainly wouldn't live around there now that I have a child. But, it's not as bad as some people seem to think it is.

Did you read the first part of my post? I said that Lincoln is not NEARLY as bad as many cities of it's size in regards to crime. It is a very safe city. But comparing neighborhoods, those are the bad ones.
I lived on 22nd and T at the time is was blocked off by the police for almost a week because of the two gangs shooting each other from across the street. They would only let people in the 2 block radius who lived there. Do you remember that? There was a shooting in my parking lot of the building I lived in (1326 D st. right on the corner) It was two black guys arguing. Of course, one "disrespected" the other, so now one is dead. One building down, a young man was stabbed to death sitting in his apartment. It was a kid I used to work with (he was "in the system") while I was getting my undergraduate degree.
Of course that does not happen everyday. I LOVE Lincoln and I wish I still lived there. I miss it dearly. But the poster asked which neighborhoods to avoid and I would tell anyone not to live in those if they had their pick of where to live.
This was in no ways to disrespect Lincoln. Again, in all of the cities I have lived in, Lincoln was my favorite.

[crosswind]

Hi thanks for your reply! There's absolutely no way I would have known what to avoid so that information is absolute gold. I've been looking in Antelope Park and *near south*, which can cut pretty close to the area youre talking about so it's very timely.

I was also looking up in Havelock but I'm still not sure about it up there.

Hey, I saw a house for rent in a place called Sunken Gardens. The neighborhood looks okay but it seems like it might be in a questionable area?

Also...when I went to the Crimespot map I didn't see anything like a shooting or anyone being accosted. I thought the whole city was pretty safe. In fact people have been telling me the "bad" areas aren't that bad -- and there's no literature on gangs in Lincoln?

Thanks again

[floridadreamer]

Originally Posted by crosswind

Hey, I saw a house for rent in a place called Sunken Gardens. The neighborhood looks okay but it seems like it might be in a questionable area?

I live at S 22nd St, west of 27th and just a couple of blocks south of A St, so I am not that far from the Sunken Gardens. It is a quiet area, but as someone pointed out above, cars get broken in to all over the city, that's more the sort of crimes that become increasing as you go towards downtown. My next door neighbor had her backpack stolen out of her car just last week with $1000 worth of college text books in it. I park in the alley all the time and no one even cares, because I don't leave things in view for them to have reason to try. I also have a sneaking suspicion that she didn't lock her car, because there was no visible damage to show someone actually broke it.

If the house is a good price and as cute as a lot of the ones over here, I'd definitely consider it if I were you.