OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — An Omaha zip code has been rated as one of the hottest zip codes for home buyers.
Realtor.com recently named the 68144 zip code, the area northeast of Lake Zurinsky 108th and 156th streets, as the No. 2 zip code on its "Market Hotness Index". The site looked at how quickly houses were viewed and sold for its rankings.
"People are actively looking in at properties and realizing if they don't make that split-second decision they may lose the home of their dreams," said Richard McClellan, a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker in Omaha. "It's definitely a seller's market. People and neighbors I have talked to said they put a sign in at noon and it was sold by 3:00 p.m. They're really competing for every home that they get."
McClellan said the market is a seller's market, with buyers having to sometimes put in multiple offers before securing a home. He said the hottest homes are the ones going under $225,000.
Steve and Tamra Carter worked with Coldwell Banker to find their home, which they closed on Friday at Arbor Bank. Working in Germany for the last few years, the couple wanted to move their family back to Omaha once they headed stateside. It only took them two offers to find their home.
"This is quite the homecoming for us, we're very happy," Steve Carter said. "If you found something you had to jump on it. We were able to find what we had, we had great real estate agents and they found everything that we were looking for."
What is it about the 68144 zip code that makes it more attractive than other communities such as Papillion or Elkhorn?
"A lot of people want these central locations, they want to be close to entertainment, they want to be close to all of the things that our lovely city has to offer," McClellan said.
"And on the other side this is one of the best places in the country to raise a family," Carter said. "The schools are really good, the community is really safe."
While people continue to move further west, don't expect the 68144 zip code to lose popularity any time soon. It's been a hot spot for quite some time.
"Our society is based on word of mouth and if they feel they've gotten a great education, great results from a particular area and they start looking at what their friends have realized and they want to be in those same areas," McClellan said.
