Advice on relocating to Buffalo from NYC

[ctown216]

I'd recommend Kenmore, specifically the streets between Delaware and Colvin if you're looking for a SFH. I moved last year with my wife and two elementary aged kids.

Background
We moved from Cleveland into a beautiful house on McKinley - it was a good balance of density and a decent sized yard and garden. I don't really feel like I was "on top" of my neighbors despite it being one of the denser suburbs in Buffalo. We were lucky to get a very well maintained 1920's home with fantastic hardwood floors and open porch. There are definitely some properties that need some care, but because of this you'll probably get a steep discount. The best houses seem to go fast, so if you see something you like I'd get into negotiations fast. I had two houses slip away because I delayed before I bought this one.
Good sense of community, neighbors are very friendly. Plenty to do for kids - crafts in the park, children's concerts, etc and all over Buffalo it's plenty affordable to do things with kids, especially in the summer.

Delaware Avenue (the village's retail strip) definitely looks like it has seen better days... but it seems like it has the potential to take off ala Elmwood or Hertel (which are a short bus, bike or car ride away). From what I understand, Sinatra, a local big name bought a bunch of properties and is planning on trying to rev up the district with some renovations. There are some smaller stores and restaurants (personally my kids and I have gotten hooked on Condrell's ice cream )

School wise has been great - Ken-Ton doesn't have the rankings some of the outer suburbs do but I've had no issues and found parental involvement to be fantastic. Much better than a comparable district I came from in Cleveland (Lakewood). Not as sure about the other schools in the district, but Lindbergh Elementary is a fantastic school. I believe the bounds run from Delaware Avenue all the way to Englewood in the Town of Tonawanda.

Commute - my wife works in the medical campus outside of downtown, and I work downtown. We commute together since it is so close, and it is a breeze, never seemed to exceed 20 minutes with the worst weather we had this winter. And as an option we're close to several bus lines. By my count there are about 6 bus lines within a mile and a half, and about a 5-10 minute drive to the subway park and ride. I wouldn't count on NYC level of service though, especially late at night and on weekends. If you're a cyclist like my wife and I are, there are relatively plenty of low speed and traffic streets to get around. There's a river bike path which runs between Niagara Falls and downtown a stones throw away, which also branches into Delaware Park, which is very nice.

Services are worth the taxes as far as I can tell so far. Taxes rates are high compared to what I was used to but comparable for the other suburbs in the region. Total bill isn't too bad thanks to reasonable property prices. Mild winter this year, but plows were down our street very quickly. The village has a notoriously heavy police presence, which thankfully I have never needed. It does add to peace of mind though.

I came in with a budget of about $300k and spent well below that - it left me more than enough to improve the home and make it "ours". We could have moved a mid-range subdivision in some of the pricier areas of the region (East Amherst, Clarence, East Aurora) but the charm and streetcar suburb feel won me out. We couldn't be happier with our choice! Let me know if you have any questions and good luck with your search.

[vienluna]

I agree that Elmwood Village and Allentown are very nice areas with lots to do recreationally, but North Buffalo is much cheaper and has much more practical stuff in walking/short driving distance. Hertel is a great, largely independent commercial strip that is becoming increasingly more upscale but there are also some well-established chain stores farther north. The housing around there only goes up in value every year. I know a lot of people won't like it on here *cringes against backlash* but wooden frame homes aren't difficult to maintain if you put up wood-look vinyl siding (same width as traditional wood siding, with some wood grain texture). My portico still has exposed wooden siding that is original, painted to match the vinyl siding, and you can't tell the difference from a distance. They also make recycled plastic trim now made to look just like vintage gingerbread and other house trim, that is usually a pain to scrape and paint, alleviating maintenance. The "purists" don't like it, but I'm not made of money and scraping off TONS of paint every few years isn't the most environmentally friendly thing.

Kenmore is a GREAT suburb (my favorite actually) - connected to North Buffalo and close to NB's shopping, lots of brick homes in some of the more upscale areas, decent little "downtown" on Delaware Avenue, not as expensive as other Northern suburbs like Amherst. Check out the area near Girarad Avenue. So cute! Also, if you really want city living, avoid a lot of the 'burbs here. They aren't "urban" in the slightest - most feel like a small town, but not necessarily in a good way - and largely have big box shopping. Some (like parts of Cheektowaga) also have VERY limited architectural variety and a serious lack of trees.

I think Buffalo is a great place to live cheap - I lived a pretty good life renting, with ample partying, when I was younger on $10 an hour (and I lived in pretty good areas). Food, utility and housing prices are actually on par with the very small town my parents live in near the PA border. There is LOADS of stuff to do, especially if you have a decent job, and lots of free outdoor recreation spots.

The one downside, and people will yell at me for this because we are the City of Good Neighbors supposedly, is I do think a lot of people here are VERY cliquey. They aren't unfriendly, they just don't want to be FRIENDS. If you don't establish a core group when you are younger (like me, who didn't have the benefit of growing up here and my friends from college have all moved back where they were from) it’s pretty hard to meet people once you get over 25. There are things you can do where you will socialize with people, and they will seem like they want to be friends, but really they have a long-term friend/family group and don't want to bring new people into the mix. You won't meet a ton of transplants here - most people who you will live and work with have been in the area since birth and are even 4th and 5th generation Buffalonians - and they will be too busy with what is going on in their lives already. Sad but true. There are exceptions of course, and often if you can get in with someone they will introduce you to their existing friend group and you can incorporate yourself in with them, but especially if you are looking to be involved with the arts (music, art scene, poetry, whatever) prepare for some serious cliquey-ness/hipster-ism. A lot of people here have the "you don't get a say because you aren't from here attitude" when you try to involve yourself with community groups or local newspapers – for a city of a quarter million Buffalo has a very small town feel sometimes, where everyone knows everyone and don’t want to be involved with people who aren’t in their social circles. So yah...there's that. Mind you, I'm a pretty friendly person, I'll talk to anyone. I don't care what age, color, dress style, income level,etc - if you're nice to me, I'm nice to you. Sadly being nice is usually where it ends, before any real friendship emerges – you can be friends with someone at work for years and never hang out once outside of work, because they were born here and have 20 or 30 friends and family who have never left the area taking up all of their time. This isn't just from me either; ever person I'm friends with who is a transplant to the area says the exact same thing and even some locals I know who have moved from one area to another in the region.

[genoobie]

This is how I felt when I was transplanted to Maryland for a year. It takes time, and yes, I think in any community, the older you get, the more difficult it is to make friends (as these circles seem to become established pretty early).