The Professional Remodeling Organization of Nebraska-Iowa will be hosting its annual home remodeling tour event. It will showcase a variety of its renovation projects, designed by the best professionals in the field, completely free to the general public The tour will be available for 2 days only, starting this Saturday, April 22, 2023 and Sunday, April 23, 2023.

To sign up for this event, please click here.

The event will be a great opportunity to access homes designed and built by the area's most exceptional builders and remodelers. This will allow visitors to gain fresh ideas and inspiration for their home improvement projects. Improvements will better the conditions of the homes, and increase the value of the property with a properly executed

With Creighton heading to the Elite 8, more and more people around the country are Googling “where is Creighton University?”

How do I know?

I created a website years ago called Omaha Relocation. That site happens to cover a lot of topics about Omaha - including Creighton University.

Because of that, the site ranks for a variety of search terms.

Here is a chart from Google over the past year with search impressions for Omaha Relocation.

That massive spike in the past week is thanks to people searching for information about Creighton University.

What exactly are people looking for?

Just ignore the "papillion" result.

I'll try to update the post with results after the Elite 8 game. 

If you thought higher interest rates would slow down the real estate market, you were wrong.

At the end of 2022, the market in the Omaha area did slow down quite a bit.

But, things have picked back up.

Here's a text from two weeks ago.

I’ve written a dozen offers in the past month. Every home except one had multiple offers.

In a couple of those cases, there were over 10 offers.

Homes are going over asking price - by a lot.

If you are thinking of buying a home in this market, make sure you do these three things:

1. Get pre-approved, you need to know how much you can afford. Plus, your offer won’t get accepted without pre-approval.
2. Save money! The more money you can put down on a home, the more competitive your offer will be.
3. Don’t

Even with high interest rates, new construction was still very popular in 2022. 

Let's take a look at who builds the most homes per year in the Omaha area (Douglas and Sarpy County).

This list is based purely on the number of homes built. 

#1 - Celebrity Homes

If you already live in Omaha, you'll be familiar with Celebrity Homes.

And to many of you, it will be no surprise that Celebrity Homes is the biggest home builder in the area.

In 2022, they built almost 295 homes in the Douglas and Sarpy County area.

Prices for new homes continue to go up, but Celebrity offers some of the most affordable homes around. Expect to spend $250,000 or more for a new home from Celebrity. 

Celebrity has been building homes in the area since

I just finished one of my longest videos ever.

It's a neighborhood tour of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). The video is really helpful if you have been accepted to medical school or residency. Or if you have taken another type of job. 

This video is not just for home buyers. It's for anyone that's new to the area.

I cover several neighborhoods including:
Blackstone
Field Club
Aksarben
Benson
Dundee 

And if you are a doctor and are considering buying a home, check out Omaha Physician Loan. It has information on special home buying programs available to doctors.

2022 was a crazy year for real estate.

It started off crazy and then interest rates caused a huge shift.

Here are some of my predictions for 2023.

Interest Rates

At the beginning of 2022, a 30-year fixed mortgage was around 3.11%.

Today, interest rates on a 30-year fixed mortgage are around 6.25%.

What a difference a year can make. I don’t know anyone that predicted interest rates to double.

My prediction is interest rates will go down but not by much. I think rates for 2023 will be between 5.5% - 6.5%. We will not touch 3% or 4%. Get used to the new normal.

Home Prices:

Omaha has seen homes appreciate 10% or more in the past several years.

That will come to an end. Some areas of the country will see home

The November 2022 Real Estate Report from the Great Plains Regional MLS is out and here’s what it says:

“Housing affordability continues to be a major roadblock for market participants, with mortgage rates more than double compared to this time last year. Buyers are delaying home purchases in hopes rates will drop, while many sellers are holding off on listing their homes due to weakening buyer demand, unwilling to trade in their current lower rates for significantly higher borrowing costs on their next property. As a result, existing-home and pending home sales have continued to slow as we move into winter.”

“With home sales down, nationwide housing inventory was at 3.3 months’ supply heading into November, up from 2.4 months from this time last

For the first time in at least ten years, Papillion La Vista Community Schools is preparing to admit option-enrollment high school students from outside the district.

Under the state's option enrollment program, students would be able to apply to attend during the 2023–24 academic year.

Papillion La Vista does accept transfers for different grades but it hasn't accepted high school transfers in years.

The district doesn't have an exact number of spots available just yet.

If you don't want to risk it, consider buying a home in Papillion. 

The Great Plains Regional MLS October 2022 Real Estate Report is out and here’s what it says:

“Existing home sales declined nationwide for the eighth consecutive month, falling 1.5% as of last measure, according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), with sales down nearly 24% from the same period last year. Pending home sales also declined, dropping 10.9% month-to-month, exceeding economists’ expectations. Stubbornly high inflation and soaring borrowing costs have eroded buyer purchasing power and have caused the market to cool rapidly this year.”

“The US housing market is undergoing a major shift, and affordability continues to be an obstacle for buyers and sellers. Mortgage rates have doubled since March, and home prices remain elevated

Here’s what the Great Plains Regional MLS September 2022 real estate report has to say:

“The U.S. real estate market continues to slow as we move into fall, as rising consumer prices and higher mortgage interest rates squeeze homebuyer budgets and cool activity. With inflation showing little sign of abating, the Federal Reserve implemented another 75-basis-point hike in September, marking the third such rate increase this year. The cost of borrowing has reached multi-year highs on everything from credit cards to auto loans in 2022 as mortgage interest rates topped 6% for the first time since 2008, causing existing home sales to decline for the seventh consecutive month.”

“Affordability challenges have priced many buyers out of the market this year,