Planing on moving in march to lincoln from miami FL (Omaha: apartment, rentals)

[twister2k9]

Hi everybody

im planing to move to Lincoln with my wife and child. we are looking for a lower crime state as well as more jobs. the rescission has affected the Miami area hard. and finding a job here is no easy task.not to mention if ur not paying attention to you valuables someone will take them off your hands.

id like to know what are good areas to rent a home or apartment. with good schools. i don't mind driving a bit to get to work as long as my child is safe and has a good education.

anyone know a website where i can find good rentals?

what can i expect on with whether. i know tornadoes affect the area but realistically how bad are they? the cold will be new for us as Miami is stuck on summer all year long.

i know lincoln is a mid size city but hows traffic in Lincoln during peek times?

thank you in advanced

[little jo-jo]

Try "rentping.com" for rentals in the area or check with Wood Bros. Realty for more local ideas.

I moved from West Coast and am SO glad I've raised my two children in Lincoln vs. Oregon or CA. Most everyplace here is safe with some exceptions mainly in the "O" St. and 27 general areas. SW is very safe, I would walk anywhere there at night and feel safe (even as a female).

People here care for one another, few jerks or con artists, most likely to have your valuables returned to you if you drop them vs. having them stolen.

COLD winters!! But housing/energy costs are VERY reasonable. Schools way above average, but above average taxes here.

GREAT place for jobs in Midwest vs. either coast. People here work hard.

[SCGranny]

March isn't spring here; you can expect blizzards popping up as late as April, frost as late as the first of June. So don't discard your warm clothes; in fact, you may want to wait until you move here to buy good ones. The South doesn't sell good winter wear unless you go to Cabela's or Bass Pro Shops; even then they probably don't have them in stock there. This has been a very mild winter here so far; but we are all talking about what will happen in Feb-March, the 'wet' season.

Do you have employment in mind? Do you have a job waiting for you? Be advised that service jobs - like food service, etc - pay lower than you are used to, and many jobs in FL that have benefits don't have them here; even some government jobs.

It's true about the decency of people here; I have enjoyed moving here because I have yet to meet an unhelpful person. They don't go out of their way to smother you with help; but they also don't steal from you either. A handshake is still a contract, and several posters here have talked about leaving their charge or debit cards at stores and having them returned to them. If you are honest and friendly, they are the same - if you are dishonest, word spreads FAST, and it isn't tolerated. I've heard some "imports" refer to Nebraskans as country bumpkins and otherwise naive and unschooled folks, but don't make that mistake - being friendly is not the same thing as being gullible or stupid.

As for the tornadoes - a large group (450) of high school students from all across the State were at a conference in Omaha when the tornado sirens blasted. Everyone quietly and quickly moved to the shelters within the building, and waited it out... then went back to the conference when the all-clear sounded. Tornadoes can be devastating, but don't last as long or cut as wide a swath as the hurricanes in FL. Most folks are prepared for them, most places have shelters as a matter of course. I have yet to see one in almost 4 years - and I've really tried! But they always seem to go south or east of us. (Of course now that I've said that, you know what's going to happen!)

It is a great place to raise kids; they have so many educational and outside opportunities to expand their horizons and learn any and everything they want to, including the arts and engineering and medical applications. UNL has all sorts of classes for adults, too; you might want to look into those once you are settled. It's a whole different world out here; work and effort are encouraged and practiced, and ongoing education is a goal for almost everyone. Many of the leather-chap-and-boot clad people in cowboy hats - both men and women - you see are likely to have business or education or other degrees.

We love it here and are very happy. We often say - "Wish we'd moved here 20 years ago!"

[Wyomama2]

Frost in June may happen up in the Sandhills where SCGranny is but you would be hard pressed to find that happening around Lincoln. You will notice humidity there because of all of the irrigated farm land and temps do get over 100 in July and August, the length that lasts varies a lot. In comparison to Florida I'm sure the summer will seem quite mild to you! Best wishes on your move!

[Matthew Hall]

My god, you are in the shock of your life. I can't imagine two more different places.

[Omahahonors]

Originally Posted by Matthew Hall

My god, you are in the shock of your life. I can't imagine two more different places.

And that is probably the intention

[labpackmom]

You might want to consider West Omaha if your heart isn't completely set on Lincoln. Homes in Lincoln can be high priced due to the Universities. My Bro in Law has lived there for 20 years, and my Niece and Nephew just moved away from there to be someplace safer with lower rent than Lincoln. I've lived in Omaha about 35 years, if you live West of 132nd Street it's pretty safe, traffic moves pretty good, schools are excellent. I've seen some pretty nice houses with for rent signs on them in Harvey Oaks Omaha, the Harvey Oaks Schools are much sought after, especially the elementary school. You could call a local Realtor, (like NP Dodge), and ask them to keep an eye out for a rental house for you. Good Luck! Oh, tornadoes, no big thing. Most are small and don't hit much. I was here for the one in 76, lived in the Ralston area, which was really hard hit. Since that one, there's not much to get excited about. Just take shelter if the sirens go off or the news says too. :-)

[miami_zed]

I went from Miami to small town Nebraska to Lincoln, and back to Miami. There was definitely culture shock for me, but I think the impact might be less on you since you'll be moving to a larger city right off the bat. Good luck.

[mb1547]

Lincoln is a great place to live, especially with a family--very good schools, lots of green areas, public parks and bike trails, and tons of things for kids to do--everything from countless youth sports programs, a very active YMCA network, community youth theater, an "academy of rock" (kind of like the movie!), etc. If your child has an interest, you can probably find a program for it. They also have an outstanding children's zoo and children's museum. It's a very family oriented city.

As for some of your questions, the only time traffic is an issue AT ALL is the 7-8 am rush, and then 4:30 - 5:30 after work, but it basically just slows down vs. stopping. The exception to that is Saturdays when there's a home Nebraska football game. It's impossible to move around the downtown area near the stadium before or after the game. I wouldn't worry about traffic at all if you're used to a major city. As for the rest--the average last frost date is May 7 (I'm a gardener so I pay attention). We've been known to have snowstorms in late April, but it's not all that common. Another poster is correct on clothing--bring enough warm clothing with you to get by, but wait to buy lots of winter stuff here. Chances are that it will still be cold in March, although it will usually start to get a little nicer by the end of the month. Winter clothing purchased here will be cheaper than what you could find where you live, and more appropriate to our climate. We are originally from here, but spent time living further south, and then came back. Our "winter" coats from a few states down were basically fall jackets here--it really does get bitterly cold, although this has been a freakishly warm winter. As another poster said earlier, we may be in for it during Feb. and March this year.

On tornadoes--they rarely hit Lincoln--they usually go south, east, and sometimes north. If you're really worried, I would avoid living in a mobile home, and look for an apartment building or a house that has a basement that you can use as a storm shelter. We live in the country near a small town, in an area that's much more tornado prone than Lincoln. Lincoln (and almost every city or town) will have tornado sirens that go off when there's a tornado in the area--that's your cue to head to the basement. If you decide to live outside of the city where there are no warnings, they sell "weather radios" all over the place here that are electric with a battery backup. They're fairly inexpensive, and they automatically go off tuned to the national weather service if there's a warning--we have one on our nightstand, because we don't have sirens where we live. You can take them down to the basement with you to wait for an all clear when the storm is over, and they run even if the power goes off. Our local TV stations do a very thorough job of tracking storms and giving you as much advance notice as possible. Tornadoes aren't that big of a deal to us--we live with them--but we respect them. In 2004 a big tornado wiped out the little town of Hallam near Lincoln, but again, it was south of Lincoln, and the storm didn't hit the city. The bad storms usually track south.

Good luck with your move. Nebraska is a nice place to live, and it's a great place to raise a family!

[Omahahonors]

I have seen a grand total of two snowstorms in early April. The average high in March is 50 and the average in April is 65 degrees. Then there are years where our last snow storm is January.

Yes it can snow that late. The snow melts extremely fast in those very rare moments.