Home prices in and around Springfield jumped dramatically as buyers sought space and lower density during and after the pandemic. Should longtime residents be angry at the influx, or is that just how markets work?
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Add your commentBorn and raised in Springfield, graduated from Papillion-La Vista South in 2016, and I can tell you flat out that there is zero chance I could buy my parents' house today at current prices. They paid $187k for it in 2009. Zillow has it estimated at $340k now. My starting salary at the shop I work at hasn't doubled. Nobody wants to hear it but that math just doesn't work for regular people who grew up here.
"Should longtime residents be angry at the influx" -- ok but angry at WHO exactly? At individual families who wanted more space? At the employers who went remote? At the Fed for keeping rates near zero for a decade? At local zoning boards that refused to approve denser housing for years? The anger is real and valid but it needs a real target or it just turns into neighbor vs neighbor nonsense which helps nobody.
Can we stop pretending this is a Springfield-specific issue? This happened in Gretna, in Papillion, in La Vista, in basically every Sarpy County town. Remote work blew up suburban and exurban prices EVERYWHERE around Omaha. Singling out Springfield makes for a good headline but the actual policy conversation needs to happen at the county or metro level, not town by town.
Moved away to Lincoln for college, tried to come back last spring and got absolutely humbled by the market. Put offers on three places, lost all three to buyers waving inspection contingencies and coming in $20k over ask. One of those buyers told my realtor they were paying cash from selling their Dundee house. Good for them I guess but man. Springfield doesn't feel like home when you literally can't afford to live there anymore.
My uncle sold his acreage on the south edge of town in 2022 for almost twice what he expected. He was THRILLED. Now my cousin who grew up on that same property can't afford anything within 15 miles of here. The irony is kind of brutal if you think about it too long.
Honestly? This is just how markets work and people need to stop acting like Springfield was some hidden gem that got "discovered." Property values going up means your equity goes up if you already own. My parents are sitting on a gold mine right now because of this so called crisis. Not everyone is losing here.
i moved here from west omaha in 2021 and yeah i can tell some of the old timers kind of resent us but like... we just wanted a yard and less traffic? we didnt come here to ruin anything. my kids go to school here, we shop local, we go to the little fall festival thing every year. we're part of the community now too whether people like it or not
Actually Springfield home prices peaked in late 2022 and have been coming back down since then so this whole debate is kind of based on old news. The market corrected itself like it always does. Young people just need to be patient and stop expecting to buy their first home at 24 like it's 1987.
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