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Old 07-22-2014, 08:12 PM
 
14 posts, read 19,959 times
Reputation: 11

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Heehee the great tax debate!! here we pay electric every other month, and can be very expensive.. I'm still in awe of these beautiful places for only $800 or $900! Then some are $500... Is it because of amenities? Maybe some has to do with location? I don't have good credit, so couldn't move into a complex anytime soon and would most likely end up doing what we do now, renting a place privately owned, but it's nice to dream! )
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Old 07-23-2014, 01:49 PM
 
Location: Middleburg
906 posts, read 1,806,245 times
Reputation: 404
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christine1009 View Post
So is electric paid monthly?
Typically, but you can pre-pay as many months as as you wish. I just write them a check for $1000, and I get a credit that gets deducted from, so I don't have to worry about it monthly. Then when that credit gets used up, I write another check.
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Old 08-20-2014, 03:46 PM
 
10 posts, read 9,558 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christine1009 View Post
My husband and our son may move to Omaha next year, where he has some family.

Is there any catch to cheap rent? We're currently paying rent, with electric and garbage. I've seen a few places mention a water bill? What is average electric cost? I live in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1050 sq ft apartment and my utilities average $150-200/month. I pay around $800/month for my apartment and this includes basic cable and garbage pickup. It's definitely not the best, but it's nice and gets the job done.

What is the average cost of daycare? I'm paying $100/week for PT family group daycare. (Our little one will turn 5 next October, so may not start kindergarten until 2016) [COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]Full-time daycare (or part-time) range A LOT here. And unfortunately, you don't always get what you pay for. Before she started kindergarten, we paid around $155/wk (4yo) and then summer care was $145/wk (6yo). Depending on the area and "curriculum." you could be paying upwards of $200/wk depending on the child's age.[/color]

How close is the country and country views to Omaha? I live in a very scenic, not small town but not huge, area. I love the history and how beautiful it is! I need parks, trees and grass, can you get that in or near Omaha? [COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"] Omaha is pretty much surrounded by fields. Like there are fields of cows, corn, etc. everywhere. Not my cup of tea, but it seems to be cool for the people who live here or like that kind of stuff. I do enjoy the parks and for the most part, they are well-kept. [/color]

I hate the freezing cold winters and hot summers here (It's not humid too often)... Snow starts around end of November, December (Oct snow is rare), and Spring is brief, then it's hot lol Falls are very nice though! Is Omaha about the same, or a little more cold? [COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]I do love the fall here. It's beautiful. The winters, on the other hand, can be quite harsh. I have a high tolerance for cold and when I first moved here, could make it through the winter without a coat (just a jacket and gloves). Now, not so much! Either the winters are getting colder or I'm getting too old for this...or maybe both. All in all, the winters are "not that bad." I should preface this by saying, I have a car, don't use public transportation and don't work outside. For others, this may not be the case. [/color]

Around here there are things to do, but it usually costs too much, so we enjoy the outdoors (fishing and hiking). I read a lot of reviews saying how boring Omaha is... But it seems like there is a little of everything! [COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]To me, Omaha is pretty boring, but it's honestly because I'm not interested in what it has to offer. There is quite a bit to do here if you like music festivals, outdoorsy stuff (in the summer/fall), etc. I've heard that there are places to fish. Normally, these things don't cost a lot and many are very family-oriented, which I like. I frequent the theater a lot and Omaha gets a few good shows a year and that's pretty cool. In addition, one of the best things I've found about living in Omaha is its great proximity to other places. We go to Minneapolis a lot, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, etc[/color]

Lastly how long does it take to find work, on average? I'm studying human services, and the hubby would do a little of anything.

[COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]I work (ed) in the human services field here in Omaha...and the field is just okay. Wages are low for the educational requirements, BUT it's not hard to find a job. Depending on your specialty, you could do direct care, which is always hiring (high turnover rate). Work with DD, youth, elderly, DV, etc on entry-level. Wages range from about 9.50 (no degree) to 15.25 on average for entry level with a degree. [/color]

Thanks for any input!
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Old 08-28-2014, 08:05 AM
 
3 posts, read 2,697 times
Reputation: 13
We just purchased a home and our taxes and price of our home is similar to mountain mans. No one with a 200k home is paying $898. Boscos masthead is wrong or is making up numbers. Look up zillow and see what homes taxes are each year. That will tell you the real numbers.
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Old 09-02-2014, 08:11 AM
 
3,490 posts, read 6,080,064 times
Reputation: 5421
Bosco,
Chill. I get why you thought the city would provide correct information. I'm here to help. I have no involvement in this. I am a financial analyst. I'm going to break this down for you.

Property taxes is a generic term that is a catch all for taxes that are levied against what is considered "real property". A house and the land it sits on are the most common and valuable form of real property that most people will ever own.

The city has a tax rate that is specific to their portion of taxes. That goes to pay for specific things that the city does.

However, if you purchase a house in the city, you will be required to also pay taxes to several other institutions. The amount of the taxes will be based on the value of the property, and if you do not pay it, they will send armed men to take your property. Therefore, these taxes are also property taxes. If you do not buy the property, you do not pay them.

Your information from the city is not wrong, but it is incomplete. The city has chosen to represent incomplete data. Yes, the third party site, in this case realtor.com, has provided substantially better data because they have no interest in writing a lower, misleading, number.

Here is another link to a house for sale in Omaha:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...4-22817?row=10
When you look at "property history" they report the actual taxes paid on the property for the year. This data is pulled from the county assessor's website. The county assessor knows dramatically more about the tax rate than the city. The owners of that house were required by law to make those payments, they were not optional.

Do not argue further, it is not going well. The house I linked was 200,000. The taxes annual were 4.4k.

The city would like to present a lower figure, because people do involve taxes in choosing where to live.

I moved to Colorado. My house is around a quarter of a million (250k for the math challenged). My actual tax bill for all property taxes levied against my home is under 1,300 / year. To put that in perspective, by moving to a place with dramatically better weather, I will also save around 3.7k/year on taxes, since a house like this in Omaha would easily run 5k/year in taxes. No, the property taxes are not even tax deductible for me, because I am taking the standardized deduction rather than itemized. If you have low property taxes and a great rate on the mortgage, it is easy for itemized to be less effective than standardized.

I found in Iowa the normal for property taxes was to run around 2% of the sale price. Here, they run around .6%.

However, I would still suggest that a resident in the city living there for 10 to 30 years should purchase property rather than rent. Even though the property taxes are high, the current interest rates and prices make buying a substantially better option than renting. There is a reason that being a landlord is such an effective way to invest money. Rents are much higher than the costs of owning the property. My total bill on owning this house is $1,217/month. (No utilities, that's my cost on heating, not owning). Of that $1,217, about 350 goes towards principal. The other 867 covers interest, taxes, and insurance. If this house were being rented out, the monthly rent payment on it would be around $1500 to $1600. By owning it my loss is only 867 per month, but I gain the appreciation. Further, each month my loss is reduced slightly as there is less interest and more of the money goes towards principal. A renter on the other hand, would find that each year their rent payment increased.
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