The Ultimate Guide for Moving to Omaha

Considering moving to Omaha? Whether you’re moving back to the area, relocating for a job, or just looking for a new location, Omaha is the place for you. This guide will help you determine what you can afford, the best plan of attack for packing, and even help you pick a restaurant in your new neighborhood.

Determine What You Can Afford

First things first, you need to ask yourself the important question, “what type of home can I afford?” before even starting your search. Doing this will help you see the big picture of your finances. Organizing your finances when moving seems like a pretty typical thing to do, but some people get in the habit of spending money and it can get out of hand pretty quickly. Paying attention to your budget is crucial. Some extra things that you may want to budget for include a moving company, extra packing supplies, and a storage unit if needed.

When buying a house, make sure to check the financial requirements before requesting pre-approval from your mortgage lender. One of those requirements is an acceptable debt-to-income ratio (DTI). To determine your DTI ratio, divide your monthly debt payments by your monthly gross income. Monthly debts can include your current rent or mortgage payments, child support, student loan payments, car payments, and any other debts that you have. This doesn’t include miscellaneous bills such as groceries, utilities, or taxes.

It’s also important to factor in general property costs, such as homeowners insurance, property and school taxes, and closing costs.

Declutter

Before you start packing, now is the perfect time to declutter your belongings. There are many ways to do it. Garage sales, online selling platforms, donating, or simply just throwing things away. The first step to effective decluttering is organization. Make a pile for donating, a pile for the garage sale/online selling platform, a pile to throw away or recycle, and a pile to keep. To make this process easier on yourself, take it room by room. Start in the bathroom, then the living room, kitchen, and so on and so forth. After you finish this process, you can move on to the next step: packing.

Pack in Advance

Packing in advance can make the moving process less stressful. It’s best to start the packing process at least six weeks ahead of time. This allows you to declutter, clean, and gather your packing supplies. Packing in advance also allows you to take your time labeling boxes so belongings end up in their desired space.

Before you begin packing, start a checklist! This can help to ensure that everything goes smoothly before, during, and after the move. Don’t forget small, forgotten places such as medicine cabinets, small cupboards, and nightstand drawers.

A fun tip for packing is to get neon-colored index cards or stickers to assign boxes to a certain area. For example, green is the living room, yellow is the bathroom, blue is the bedrooms, etc. You can number them or use them however works for you to make your moving process seamless!

Keep Important Documents in One Place

The best practice for important documents while moving is to keep them in one place. This could be a folder, safe, accordion file, or a file tote, but make sure it’s a physical copy and not a digital file in case your electronic crashes or something happens to it during the move.

Once you establish your safe place for documents, map out what you need to keep in it. New addresses, purchase papers, rental agreements, contracts, birth certificates, social security cards, family photos, wills records of payments, etc. You’ll want to include things that aren’t easily replaced if they get lost or damaged, as well. When filing things, you could color code your files so it’s easier to find at first glance.

Hire a Moving Company

Trusting a moving company can be an anxiety-inducing experience. It’s important to do your research so as to reduce any uncertainty or anxiety. Don’t just rely on the reviews on their website as they may be able to remove negative reviews. Search them on social media, google, ask friends, or ask in your local social media group! Moving companies are especially helpful if you’re planning a cross-country move.

When choosing a reliable moving company, make sure to pay attention to any red flags from the company. Red flags could include asking for payment upfront, lack of professionalism, tardiness, or if they can’t answer any of your questions. Another thing to inquire about when picking a moving company is if they are licensed or not. Choosing a licensed company can protect you if anything bad were to go wrong.

Lastly, take an inventory of everything that the moving company is moving for you. A reputable moving company should do that for you, but it’s good practice to do it yourself, as well.

Pack an Essentials Bag

Moving can be a long, exhausting process. Packing a bag with just the essentials could really make a difference in your day. When packing an essentials bag, you want to include things that you’ll need readily available until the rest of your belongings arrive. Things to include could be nighttime clothes, next-day clothes, toiletries, medications, along with whatever else you might need access to. This is also a good place to keep some of the important documents that were mentioned above.

Pick a Place to Eat in Omaha

Nobody wants to search through boxes to make a home-cooked meal after a long day of moving. Choosing a restaurant has nothing to do with moving, but this small tip can make a huge difference in your day. Moving can be exhausting, by picking out a local place ahead of time can save you and your family a lot of stress. This is a great opportunity to pick a local restaurant to get a taste of your new neighborhood!

Moving can be as easy or as hard as you make it. These are just some simple tips to help you along the way to hopefully make it easier for you and your family during a stressful time. Good luck, and welcome to Omaha!