We could have lived anywhere within an hour of Lincoln. We picked the town with a post office and a bar and grill.
People hear that and assume we settled. We didn’t. We chose it on purpose, and we chose it slowly.
What we were actually looking for
Ben and I both grew up around here. He’s blue collar, works with his hands, and has never once been impressed by a house that looks good in photos and falls apart in year three. I sell real estate for a living, which means I’ve walked through more homes than I can count and I know exactly how fast shiny wears off.
So when we started talking about where to plant roots, we weren’t chasing a house. We were choosing a life first and letting the house follow.
Here’s what we wanted. Space for three big dogs, because Opie the Great Dane does not belong on a small lot. Room to build something ourselves instead of inheriting someone else’s choices. A drive to Lincoln that didn’t wreck the day. And a town small enough that people notice when you’re gone for a week.
That last one mattered more than we realized at the time.
Why Unadilla and not somewhere bigger
We looked at plenty of options east and southeast of Lincoln. Palmyra. Syracuse. Bennet. Good towns, all of them, and I’ve helped clients land happily in every one. If you want the facts on Unadilla specifically, the schools, the drive times, what’s in town, I keep a town guide for that. This isn’t that page. This is the why.
Unadilla sits right on Highway 2 in Otoe County, which means the commute is straightforward and mostly boring. Boring is underrated. Boring means you don’t dread it in February.
But the real reason was scale. In a town this size, you don’t have to work at belonging. You show up at the bar and grill and someone already knows your husband’s truck. The post office is a conversation, not an errand. When we brought our son Bridger home in 2025, people we barely knew asked about him by name.
You can’t buy that with square footage.
The acreage plan, and why we’re not rushing it
The long game is building on an acreage. That’s what we’re working toward. Not next month, not on somebody else’s timeline.
Building out here is not the tidy process people picture. You’re dealing with well and septic instead of city utilities. You’re thinking about drainage, access, where the wind comes from, what the driveway looks like after an ice storm. You’re checking internet service before you fall in love with a view. Those are real questions, and they deserve real answers before anyone signs anything.
We’re taking our time. It takes as long as it takes. I tell clients that constantly, and I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t live it.
The honest downsides
I’m not going to sell you a version of small-town living that doesn’t exist.
- You drive. Groceries, the big-box run, most appointments. You learn to batch your trips and keep a list.
- Inventory is thin. Homes in towns like Unadilla don’t come up constantly. If you need to be moved in by a specific month, that’s a real constraint we have to plan around.
- Older homes are common. Which is fine. It just means inspections matter, and you need someone who will get quotes instead of panicking.
- It’s quiet. Some people love that immediately. Some people need a winter to find out.
If any of that is a dealbreaker, better to know now than after you’ve moved.
What this taught me about my clients
Most of the people I work with who move out here are leaving a Lincoln starter home. They have equity, a growing list of things they want that the city lot can’t give them, and a very reasonable fear of owning two houses at once.
That fear is the whole job. Timing the sale, structuring the contingencies, knowing when to be ready to list and when to hold. I game plan both sides because I’ve watched what happens when people only plan one.
And sometimes the honest answer is wait. Wait for the right acreage. Wait until the Lincoln house is genuinely ready. We don’t have to force it. There will be another one if it’s not right.
We chose Unadilla because it gave us the life we wanted before it gave us the house. That’s the order that works.
If you’re weighing a move out to one of these towns, reach out and let’s talk it through. No commitment, just a conversation about what actually makes sense for you. Love where you live.
If you’re juggling a sell and a buy at the same time, or eyeing a move to the small towns east of Lincoln, this is exactly what I do all day: See how I work →