Best Places to Live in WNY (Buffalo, Victor: how much, homes, buy)

[donbuy]

Originally Posted by kweist10

Hey people I love the Youngstown area. It is so nice and peaceful, and absolutely no crime! The thing is, anywhere in western ny is going to have high taxes, and no jobs. It is a tough place here! I have lived in Youngstown for 24 years, and I am getting ready to move to Vegas on Nov 10. I have a job with M&T Bank right now, but I feel like I am stuck! This state is just to depressing, especially when we have a moronic governor like we do! He is a joke! Sorry, didn't mean to get off of topic

Vegas is indeed a hotbed of careers in the financial service field.

Keep in mind that the Vegas unemployment rate which at 15.2% is almost double that of Buffalo. Most of those casino fed jobs will never come back now that well over half of the states have some sort of legalized casino gambling. The Vegas depression is not entirely related to the national recession, a lot of it is related to new competition from outside of Nevada. A lot of their problems are going to be permanent.

[jp9nine9]

I will tell you on the Eire Canal in Weedsport NY.
Schools , Boating, Snow, NY State Fair, and most of all low low crime .

[jp9nine9]

btw;westren NY is way more than an hour from the stone canyons of Manhatten.

[Canerican]

Originally Posted by donbuy

Vegas is indeed a hotbed of careers in the financial service field.

Keep in mind that the Vegas unemployment rate which at 15.2% is almost double that of Buffalo. Most of those casino fed jobs will never come back now that well over half of the states have some sort of legalized casino gambling. The Vegas depression is not entirely related to the national recession, a lot of it is related to new competition from outside of Nevada. A lot of their problems are going to be permanent.

I agree, people just don't want to travel that far to gamble, in NY there are reservations, there's lots of gambling in NJ, TN, and MS, more than enough that is far closer in the northeast than Vegas is.

[donbuy]

Today's paper had an interesting article about foreclosure rate in the third quarter of this year. Buffalo was (of course) near the bottom with 1 foreclosure for every 446 homes. Number one was LAS VEGAS with 1 foreclosure for every 20 (twenty) homes. 'nuff said.

[Canerican]

If you have a city where you can buy a house for the price of a 2002 Buick Regal, the foreclosure rate ought to be very low.

[jblake78728]

Originally Posted by Canerican

If you have a city where you can buy a house for the price of a 2002 Buick Regal, the foreclosure rate ought to be very low.

Your anti Buffalo spin can't change the fact that the 1 in 20 foreclosure rate (and the 1 in 13 rate during the first 6 months of '09) in Vegas (as well as the 1 in 22 rate in Phoenix) is horrific.

[Canerican]

Originally Posted by jblake78728

Your anti Buffalo spin can't change the fact that the 1 in 20 foreclosure rate (and the 1 in 13 rate during the first 6 months of '09) in Vegas (as well as the 1 in 22 rate in Phoenix) is horrific.

You are right it is tremendously high rate.

But you have to admit that when the average home in Buffalo is only about 4.5x the average wage, and the average home in Pheonix was over 20x the average wage, the foreclosure rate ought to reflect that.

Buffalo's low foreclosure rate does not in any way reflect that Buffalo is some superior to cities with lower rates, rather it reflects Buffalo's pitifully low demand for housing when compared to supply.

Yes, almost no one wants to live in Buffalo, and anyone presenting a point of view to the opposite is either ignoring the facts, or in a state of total denial of Buffalo's terrible reality.

[RocketSci]

Originally Posted by Canerican

Yes, almost no one wants to live in Buffalo, and anyone presenting a point of view to the opposite is either ignoring the facts, or in a state of total denial of Buffalo's terrible reality.

A state of total denial is not recognizing that everyone has different needs and wants when it comes to a place to live.

One person's terrible reality may be living isolated on 5 acres in Gasport, or in 105 degree heat in Arizona, or in their parent's basement in a tract house in Amherst. Another's terrible reality is living 1500 miles away from family in a house they cannot afford with a depreciating value.

Another person's ideal may be affordably living in a 120 year old Victorian on Buffalo's West Side, or in a high rise condo along the Niagara - or below their widowed parent, down the block from family, in a South Buffalo double.

My ideal is a Southern house in the dead of winter, a City house for the rest of the year, and a beach side cottage for whenever I feel like it. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it.

The truth is not that it is too expensive in Buffalo, it is that people have chosen different places based on their needs and wants which price them out of their capabilities.

It can be expensive if you want to live in the same type of cookie cutter home you can find anywhere in this country that is 20 miles from downtown. It is cheap if you want to live in almost any home in the city limits. Similar homes and locations in nearly any other US city go for 300k, 400k, 600k and more. Neighborhoods such as Elmwood or North Buffalo are either non-existent or totally out of reach for most cities, but are affordable and available in Buffalo. If you have a decent job you can live like a king in Buffalo.

If I lived in Lancaster, Clarence or Amherst I would agree that suburban Atlanta or Denver may be "better" for the cost/price. But if I moved to Denver or Atlanta I would not move to the suburbs/exurbs - I would choose to live in the urban areas unique to the region. And guess what - they are much more expensive than any comparable areas in Buffalo.

[Canerican]

A state of total denial is not recognizing that everyone has different needs and wants when it comes to a place to live.

I agree 100% with this. I have said it many times, Buffalo is the perfect city for a few, for most it's a place to leave. Next time you go out ask people what they think of Buffalo, I can tell you that with a couple minutes of talking with people you'll hear them say I want to leave at least 40% of the time, at least with younger folks like me.

If I lived in Lancaster, Clarence or Amherst I would agree that suburban Atlanta or Denver may be "better" for the cost/price. But if I moved to Denver or Atlanta I would not move to the suburbs/exurbs - I would choose to live in the urban areas unique to the region. And guess what - they are much more expensive than any comparable areas in Buffalo.

And you are dead on again. Buffalo inner city is dirt cheap, but Buffalo inner city isn't exactly nice or safe in many areas. My guess is that for not much more money that you could find a house in similar neighborhoods as Buffalo for similar prices in Atlanta, probably not Denver though.

high rise condo along the Niagara

I didn't know that there were high rises on the Niagara River. What do you mean by high rise? A 10 story building? When I think high rise I picture at 40-50 floors, but that's just nomenclature.