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I was looking around at possibly maybe moving to another state in a few years and Amherst caught my eye. I've only done a tiny bit of research but can anyone tell me how it's like? Does it take long to get to the grocery stores, shopping malls, etc. How much snow does it get and how cold? Lots of nightlife or pretty boring? Good place to raise a family? According to the stats, its the second safest city, the housing wasn't that overpriced too which was a shocker to me... Any info would be appreciated!
it's pricey and somewhat pretentious especially in the new subdivisions -it's all about the schools and caring about what the neighbors think- battle of the bushes.lots of designer dogs..lol realtors usually push out of staters into these areas to drive prices up..and it works...property taxes are on the moon, but it's safe, and cookie cutter cute with the best shopping in the immmediate area. good luck..
I disagree. Endless sprawl, that's funny. You know, when you leave a small city like Buffalo and live in a large metro area, it makes Buffalo seem even smaller. There isn't any diversity in any neighborhood in Buffalo. It is one of the most segregated cities around. However as a whole, the metro area is very diversified. Where do you live Mike? I can break down every single neighborhood in Buffalo and tell you what to expect. I lived in many of them and know someone from all of them.
Amherst is mostly full of families with children. It is also full of white collar jobs. Some people need nothing more then a good neighborhood with good schools and good access to all the surrounding areas. Amherst does have many snobs abound though. Many of its inhabitants are either German, or Jewish.
Clarence is like Amherst, but a bit more rural. More space and larger plots of land.
Tonawanda is full of smaller cape style homes. The people are less stuffy then they are in Amherst, but the school system isn't as good either. Many of your blue collar labor types are there. It has a large Italian ethnicity.
The cities of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda are poorer versions of the Town of Tonawanda.
Cheektowaga is like Tonawanda but with a Polish background.
Depew is kind of trashy.
Lancaster is much like Amherst but without the Jewish.
West Seneca is close cousins with Cheektowaga natives.
Orchard Park is like Amherst, but with people that think they are better then people from Amherst.
Hamburg is pleasant, but a little spread out and little out of the way for a convienient commute to anywhere except downtown.
Blasdell is kinda crappy, like Depew.
Dont even think about moving to Lackawanna. I had a girlfriend once that told me to kiss her where it stinks so I drove her to Lackawanna.
As fas as within the city limits goes......
West side is Puerto Rican, although it used to be Italian and they still have a presence there.
East side if African American. Except for a small pocket know as Love Joy which is primarily Italian and they are very territorial.
South is Irish.
North is where most of the Italians moved to, and bleed over to Kenmore/Tonawanda
If you're gay you live in Allentown. (Most likely where Mike is living)
Elmwood strip is mostly yuppie/trendy types that think they are above everyone that lives in a suburb.
Delaware Park is the very wealthy.
Riverside/Black Rock is a cheaper dirtier version of the City of Tonawanda.
I think that about sums it up. Please note I am not trying to put down any area. There are great people in all the areas, however the above is a basic guideline to what you will find. While I do have my own opinions what is above is true and anyone from Buffalo would be hard pressed to argue I am wrong.
For the most part, if you have kids and if you land in Starpoint, Amherst, Clarence, Lancaster, Hamburg, or Orchard Park school systems your kids will have the chance to do well, if you're a good parent. If they go to Cheektowaga, Ken-Ton, North Tonawanda, Depew, or West Seneca they can still do well but would still be better off if the other school districts. Avoid Buffalo Public Schools like the plague. City Honors is the only public school in the city worth mentioning. There are good private schools in the area as well.
What about the hertel area? or the area around the zoo? are those small side streets off symphony circle with the funky type victorians safe at night?
Wow thanks for all the advice. Would like to know a little about the property tax and the school tax though. I really want my kids to be in a great school system but sometimes the system is only as good as the parents KWIM? Even though the breakdowns seem a little stereotypical...it's interesting to see it broken down like that because I have never been to the area. RE agents won't tell you this. We plan on renting first then buying just so we can feel out the area first, not jump into anything. My husband is originally from NY then moved to FL, then to NC, I am from Chicago, moved to FL, then to NC. We are looking for more snow than here in NC...we only had one day of it but it was very cold for 3 months. We both don't have a problem with the snow and jobs won't be a problem because we work from home. I take it most areas in Amherst have DSL? Because that is what we currently have here.
Keep the responses rolling, we need tons of info!!!
Property taxes aren't great in any of the municipalities in WNY. If you are going to move into the city and and you enjoy making a return on your investments, then buy in the Elmwood Village, Allentown (near symphony circle) or Delaware Park. Some Hertel area streets are nice and South Buffalo near McKinley park has some nice streets but don't expect a good return.
If you want the Suburb Schools but want to live in some character you can always look at Williamsville. The area of Main between the 290 and Evans Dr. is nice. You haven't really mentioned what type of neighborhood you're are looking for but good schools = higher taxes. If the suburbs are what you're looking for the best are Orchard Park, Amherst, Hamburg, Clarence and Lancaster. You will find it is easy to live here, there is a lot of great people, festivals, shopping, great winter activities and a ton of day trip posibilities. The price to live here vs. other areas in the country is low. Good luck
If you consider the fact that you get a lot more house for your buck than you do in many other parts of the country it makes the taxes easier to bare.
Correct! With the affordable housing mixed in with the high taxes, it makes up for itself and still is one of the most affordable places to live in the country, despite the high rate of unemployment.
Actually, the schools in Amherst are dencetly diverse. Especially, Sweet Home and Amherst schools. Williamsville is to some extent too. Check these numbers out:https://www.nystart.gov/publicweb-rc...0201060000.pdf
I'm not some apologist for the suburbs, but Amherst is really a lot more diverse than people give it credit for. It's the center of the Buffalo area's Jewish, Asian and Asian Indian communities. You'll find both the Muslim Community Center and the suburban branch of the Jewish Community Center in the town. It has the highest percentage of African-Americans among all of Buffalo's non-industrial-satellite suburbs. Even then, there's no areas that are "95% Reform and Conservative Jews" like Beachwood, Ohio or "totally Indian" like Edison, New Jersey. It doesn't have the ethnoburb "need a passport to visit if you're not Polish|Italian|Irish" flavor of Tonawanda, South Buffalo, or the eastern suburbs.
Amherst has a large upper-middle-class and wealthy population, but unlike most other "power suburbs" located throughout the country, there are sizable middle-class neighborhoods, and even a few low-income enclaves (Sweet Home, Bucyrus Heights, and parts of Eggertsville and Audubon New Community). Joe Sixpack can easily find an affordable house on a gaslamp-lit street with a quaint Olde Colonial name in the "wealthy" 14221 and 14226 Zip codes, send their kids to Williamsville schools, and live a few blocks away from 10,000 square foot mansions.
If Amherst were dropped down outside of almost any other city in the US, it would be considered comfortably middle-class. Amherst really doesn't have many of the amenities found in what would be considered upper-middle-class communities in other metro areas; no lifestyle centers, no Whole Foods or organic supermarkets, no upscale shopping (excepting some old-school carriage trade retailers along Main Street in Williamsville; J.C. Penny is not "upscale" despite what Buffalonians might think), and so on. Amherst still has its share of trademark Buffalo-style blue-collar institutions; cheap red-sauce Italian restaurants with plastic red-checkered tablecloths, dive bars with Genny Cream Ale on tap and an artery-clogging fish fry on Friday, corner pizzerias, bingo, fireman's picnics, summer lawn fetes with Chiavetta, and the like. Buffalo remains culturally a very blue-collar, working-class region at its heart, so Amherst is seen as a very wealthy, waspy community in comparison.
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