AOL’s personal and consumer finance web site has announced that Hamilton County, Nebraska was selected by the site’s editors as the best rural community to live in the United States.
The site says Hamilton County is a place “where small-town memories grow and people work together to get things done.”
Nebraskans were again reminded recently by data released from the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. that property tax burdens on them continue to be among the highest percentage in the country when overall median home values and median income for home owners were put into the equation. In the Tax Foundation study, which focused mainly on property taxes on home owners in 2007, shows Nebraska second in highest property taxes as a percentage of home value, trailing only Texas.
In Nebraska, homeowner property taxes amount to 1.74% of the $122,200 median home value, which is nearly double the national average of 0.95% and is only 0.10% behind Texas. Last year, Nebraska was third behind Texas and Wisconsin. No comparisons were made by the Tax Foundation before that. While Nebraska is one of the top two states for property taxes as a percentage of home value, it isn’t as high in terms of property taxes as a percentage of income, coming in 10th for 2007.
The Nebraska Department of Economic Development has provided more than $1 million to help first time home buyers in central Nebraska. The Housing Development Corporation in Hastings received a $388,000 grant. With the money it is creating a new program it is called the Regional Workforce Initiative. It will allow employees, from various companies, to apply for money to purchase a home.
They must be from low–income families. Applicants could get up to $15,000. The Housing Development Corp. hopes the grant will help retain and recruit employees to central Nebraska.
foreclosure rate in Nebraska fell in February and remained relatively low compared to the rest of the country. RealtyTrac says the Nebraska foreclosure rate fell 9% from January to February, and the state’s Februrary 2008 rate is 21% lower than a year ago. Nationwide, the foreclosure rate was 60% higher in February 2008 than in February 2007. Nebraska’s foreclosure rate ranked 41st among all the states.
America First Communities recently passed a milestone at Offutt Air Force Base as part of the largest privatization of military housing in the country.
The open-plan duplexes give each tenant up to four bedrooms and a two-car garage.
The partnership, made up of Kiewit Construction, Holland Basham Architects and America First Real Estate Group, recently completed the first new homes on the base in seven years, said Lisa Roskens, chief executive of the Burlington Capital Group, the parent organization of the partnership. By 2013, the partnership is scheduled to demolish 1,874 homes, renovate 484 homes and build 914 new homes at a cost of about $225 million.