[Slingit]

Greetings! I currently reside in Westchester, NY. It is a county about 28 miles (at least where I live) North of Manhattan. I may have an opportunity to move out to Omaha and work as a Commodity Trader/Assistant Trader for a large firm located in Omaha.

I am married and we have a three year old boy and another on the way in about 5 months. I am curious about the cost of renting a 3 bedroom house and how close the good suburbs are to Omaha? I have about a 45 minute commute into Manhttan, but that is by Train; if I were to drive into Omaha I would like something a little closer.

I do not think I am going to ask whether I will like it out there. Each to his own. I will ask if it is too rural, though. Some of the research I have done seems to show an urban area surrounded by country. I can't find much on the suburbs and the cost of living in those suburbs.

Thanks!

[laserdisque]

Anything is probably going to seem "rural" from someone who works in New York City, but between Omaha and Lincoln there are about 1.2 million people in the area. We don't ride horses to work and the cattle don't rule the streets.

[tpabes]

I agree, it isn't New York City but it isn't going to be extremely rural either. You would be correct that once you leave the metro you are in the county, but that just provides easy access to some quiet if you need it. You can have a shorter commute by car in Omaha, but sorry we don't have any commuter trains. The suburb areas to look at are the West part of Omaha (for a rough idea stay west of I-680, although there are plenty of nice areas east of I-680), parts of Bellevue, Ralston, LaVista, and Papillion. These are all connected with the metro. You can also look into Council Bluffs on the Iowa side. Also Gretna on the southwest side of Omaha is a good option. You can easily have a less than 45 minute commute, assuming you are working downtown.

I did a quick search of the newspaper (Omaha World Herald) and I would guess a house would rent for $1000-$1500 for what you want, in the areas you want. If you search you can probably find cheaper even.

Congrats on the soon to be new baby, I think you will be pleasently suprised with Omaha. Welcome to Nebraska and we are all here to help if you have any more questions.

[Dave1215]

If you are used to a 45-minute commute then as others mentioned you have unlimited options.

Do you desire an URBAN, SUBURBAN, SMALL TOWN, or RURAL enviornment... you have all 4 options here (and coming from NY, none should be a budget or commute issue).

From that I'll have other opinions....

[elscorcho]

Do your research before you come to Omaha-unreal taxes, a high rate of violent crime, and a city full of delusional people who view the city as some sort of "urban oasis" in the middle of the plains, when in fact it is on par with Des Moines or Wichita. (sincere apologies to Des Moines and Wichita!)

The federal government suggests to all its employees who reside in Nebraska that when they retire, in order to protect their income from blatant overtaxation, they should relocate from Nebraska.

Check the number of homeowners in 2007 who filed formal protests in regard to the city of omahas annual property value assessments-while its true, the rate at which property is taxed did not increase, the city artificially inflated the value of property-resulting in more revenue-at the "old" tax rate. I live in a well kept, 3br home in a 50+ year old neighborhood-what some would classify as the suburbs. My 2007 property tax was in excess of 6000$, and will be even higher in 08.

Check the statistics on crime-specifically, violent crime. (the overall crime rate, which includes everything from shoplifting to tobacco violation is very,very misleading) The nat'l media has recognized Omaha as having a very high gang presence-and all that goes with it.

Many will tell you that everything in Omaha is "20 minutes" away-this is partially true-unfortunately, in a city that was never designed to accomodate a population base of this size, "20 minutes away" doesn't apply to most destinations due to unavoidable bottlenecks. The city just finished a quarter of a billion dollar overpass designed to ease pressure on Dodge St (the main artery in town) but at peak times it is the source of the bottleneck.

There is one newspaper, and it is sadly, devoid of any journalistic integrity. They are simply the lap dog of the sitting administration. And with no competition, they will be for a very long time. Thank God for the internet!!!

At one time, not so long ago, Omaha was a bustling, thriving, blue collar city-comfortable with itself, as it was, with no delusions about being anything else. But now, Omahans are being spoon fed a bill of goods-I've heard comparisons to San Diego, Boston and LasVegas (obviously from people who have never been to these places). As I said do your research-that way, if you do decide to come here, you can't say you were'nt warned.

And just to save all of you folks on the Omaha cheerleading team from having to ask, I'm still here because of an obligation to an aging family member. When she is gone, I am outta here!!!

[EastCB]

Good-Bye!!!!

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by elscorcho

Check the number of homeowners in 2007 who filed formal protests in regard to the city of omahas annual property value assessments-while its true, the rate at which property is taxed did not increase, the city artificially inflated the value of property-resulting in more revenue-at the "old" tax rate. I live in a well kept, 3br home in a 50+ year old neighborhood-what some would classify as the suburbs. My 2007 property tax was in excess of 6000$, and will be even higher in 08.

There is such a variety of home values in the Omaha metro, plus which city/town/sid did the taxing... without knowing who did the taxing and what value your home is that $6000 figure means nothing.

I live in Papillion proper, home assessed value for tax purposes is $160,000 and I pay $3,000/yr. (Papillion/LaVista school district).

Taxes are higher here for a lot of folks moving in, but when you factor in the total cost of living it generally compensates... Compare the total picture when evaluating, not just the taxes.

[kite eating tree]

Originally Posted by elscorcho

1. Do your research before you come to Omaha-unreal taxes...

2. Many will tell you that everything in Omaha is "20 minutes" away-this is partially true-unfortunately, in a city that was never designed to accomodate a population base of this size, "20 minutes away" doesn't apply to most destinations due to unavoidable bottlenecks. The city just finished a quarter of a billion dollar overpass designed to ease pressure on Dodge St (the main artery in town) but at peak times it is the source of the bottleneck.

3. There is one newspaper, and it is sadly, devoid of any journalistic integrity. They are simply the lap dog of the sitting administration. And with no competition, they will be for a very long time. Thank God for the internet!!!

1. There are many cost of living calculators on-line that will give you an accurate picture of what it means to move to Omaha from anywhere. This city is ranked no.2 in the nation for spending power. That meaning when everything is factored in (lower wages vs. cost of whatever, etc.) you have more money at the end of the day to spend on whatever, regardless of, for example, high property taxes.

Take slscorcho's advice and look into it.

2. The overpass was put in to connect I-680 to West Dodge Road past 120th street (which has been turned into a freeway using exit ramps instead of lights or stop signs) avoiding the 114th street intersection bottleneck and allowing the comfortable use of this intersection for residents of the area. It's true that this area is still a mess during rush hour, but the overpass is effective in allowing western residents to avoid city streets and use the interstate system to commute to and from work in the eastern part of the city, which is it's actual purpose.

3. True there is one large city paper. However, there are several alternative weeklies, bi-weeklies and a handful of suburban small run papers that are available everywhere that the main paper is. Two of these smaller papers are known to have a direct rivalry due to a falling out internally that led to The Reader (one of the two) splitting into two entities. These papers generally do not share opinions.

[elscorcho]

Would love to stay and chat, but in light of yesterdays double homicide, in the very affluent Dundee neighborhood, its time to double check the door locks and windows.

Police have no suspects at this time. Don't worry-you'll get used to it.

[art-lover67]

Well, Slingit, I've been researching the same sorts of things you have. We might be coming from Boston to Omaha, and even with all the taxes figured into the equation (I thought this was Taxachusetts), we would still be in a much better financial situation if we moved due to the home prices which are about 1/4 of what they are here.

Regarding crime, it's everywhere if you look for it. We live within a few miles of one of the most dangerous areas in Boston, Mission Hill, and we've never been involved in a drive-by shooting or been victims of any sort of crime. Whereas, when my husband lived in NYC, he was mugged several times and luckily lived to tell about it.

Yes, the Dundee murders are concerning, but we don't know the facts yet. Was it a failed robbery? Did the killers have a beef with the nanny? Most often, murders are committed by people the victims know rather than just being random acts.

Also, there are many areas that have a much lower crime rate than Dundee. The further out from the city you get, the lower it drops, as it is for most cities. Moderator cut: link to a competitors site removed

We are traveling to check out the city at the end of the month. I'll probably post my findings in this forum. If you are interested, check them out.