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Since you can buy an older home at a low price and go to our schools? I'd say its a win-win for young parents. Buy an older home, $80-120K ( easily done) and get a good system.
Go ahead, post the links to those houses in Lancaster, and I will match in Buffalo for far cheaper / lower taxes
Secondly, all those "rankings" are mostly BS. All they do is indicate the wealth of the residents, they don't really indicate "good system". I can tell you that what makes a school system good cannot be so easily measured in BizFirst rankings.
Jeepin4us, I'm not saying conspiracy. Wealthy residents do well on standardized tests and poorer residents worse (yes, there are exceptions but we are talking statistics) the degree of correlation is not contestable. I am not claiming causation here. If you bought a house in Williamsville and the school rankings fell to 50th, what do you think would happen to property values? People who moved there for the "good schools" would do stupid things such as, "Well, Lancaster moved up to #9, we should sell our house and move to Lancaster." There's an increase of houses on the market, thus prices fall. Since the town's taxes are based on sale prices / assessed value, the town's tax base begins to falter. The boards of education via superintendents have an agenda to insure that their communities remain at least at the same wealth level if not grow. Whether intended or not, school systems affect house prices. The rankings of BizFirst simply do more to support this kind of nonsense.
What would I say makes a school system good? Teachers that can play to the strengths of the students but who are not afraid to challenge the kids' weaknesses. Teachers in many "good" school (also "bad" school) systems are so heavily hyper-inflating grades to make parents and kids feel good that kids don't really become educated. Think of how you might be happy if your kid brings home a 100 and not as happy if they bring home a 50. Parents and teachers are so strongly driven by this grading system that education has been tossed out the window.
Go ahead, post the links to those houses in Lancaster, and I will match in Buffalo for far cheaper / lower taxes
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The idiocy of your logic is that your concept of city living & saving taxes makes it possible to provide for a private tuition. I find that impossible.
Parents pick where they want to be. They don't have to be urban, rural or suburban because someone tells them to. They need to pick what fits them. You want the city and being a landlord? Wonderful. I like the pheasant, deer & wild turkeys strolling thru my backyard and no one closer than over 150 feet... It sure was fine for our 2 kids and all the friends they had.
I'll say it again, go ahead and post the listings.
Here ya go, genoobie, 31 properties in Lancaster from realtor.com: Lancaster home search
Here's Buffalo's 14204 zip code, 3 properties from realtor.com: East Side
Here's Buffalo's 14207 zip code, 3 properties from realtor.com: West Hertel
Here's Buffalo's 14208 zip code, 1 property from realtor.com: Humbolt Parkway
Here's Buffalo's 14209 zip code, 2 properties from realtor.com:West Side
Here's Buffalo's 14210 zip code, 2 properties actually in the city from realtor.com: South Bflo
Here's Buffalo's 14216 zip code, 8 properties from realtor.com: North Buffalo
That's 19 total in the price range, $80-120K, for a single family home or condo/townhouse.
I tried just "Buffalo, NY" but that included lots of suburban homes, so I broke out the zip codes.
Get a clue: what works for you does NOT necessarily work for everybody else. You like living in the city, which is fine, but NOT everybody does. Stop being a sanctimonious prick about it. The city still doesn't bother to plow most side streets in the winter.
I have stated many times before that I support the idea that people SHOULD live wherever they want. I also have pointed out that the "good schools" mantra is simply a brainwashed parroting back of popular culturally "accepted norms" and that the argument is a certainly a wash with two kids, perhaps borderline with three.
You missed the point I was making about properties. I said that there are NO inexpenisve properties in Lancaster that would make living there affordable to low income families. But that's OKAY if the town doesn't want low income families, just don't make some Badly Supported argument about the burbs being egalitarian and all.
For a house in the $80K range you could find almost double the house in Buffalo. Additionally, you are going to pay more taxes on the $80K house in Lancaster as well as higher transportations / insurance / etc., costs. So lump it.
Don't blame people in Buffalo's suburbs for the poverty of inner-city Buffalo. Even the upper class in Buffalo is relatively powerless compared to the real movers and shakers along the east coast. If you are looking for someone to target your anger, go after my Wall Street neighbors down where I live (Long Island). They are the real "evil empire" that has the fate of places like Buffalo in their hands. Don't pick on some middle class person who has worked hard to buy a 4 bedroom home in Lancaster. They should be comended for making use of Western New York's limited opportunities.
I like ya PN, but I respectfully disagree with this.
Downstate has nothing to do with Buffalo's economic problems. Wall Street screwed the whole country. If anything, they screwed Long Island the most. Before the scandal and years back when things were "good", many people on Long Island had great jobs with Wall Street. Now so many people have lost those well-paid Wall Street jobs and weren't able to find as good jobs that paid appropriately to the COL of Long Island. Because of this and the ever rising COL down there, I feel like Long Island has a large income inequality. NYC continues to have a strong job market, but in recent years many yuppies from other parts of the US have relocated, especially since many areas of NYC have undergone major gentrification and renovation. The influx of transplants from other regions has made the job market utterly competitive for the locals, especially for well-paid business jobs.
Buffalo's economic problems are a result of the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs in the US. I like Buffalo, but the city focuses too much on what it once was rather what it should be. It needs to invest more in new industry and follow in Pittsburgh's footsteps. If anything, I blame the NYS government and think they're the real "evil". They've been a real PITA to both NYC/LI and Western NY.
One thing I do notice is that Buffalo and Upstate NY are very "blue" economically. NYC/LI is more blue socially and "nanny-like" for some people, but economically it's actually quite conservative. I even found California more economically conservative than Upstate NY. NYC gives tax breaks to industry. Not saying that Buffalo should be like NYC or California in terms of economic policy, but something I've noticed.
Back to topic more so, it's pretty awesome that $85-90K can get you in the upscale areas of Buffalo. I also find the upscale areas of Buffalo more down-to-earth and less "keeping up with the Joneses" than other metros, especially LI people really love the flash their wealth there eek.
Here ya go, genoobie, 31 properties in Lancaster from realtor.com: Lancaster home search
Get a clue: what works for you does NOT necessarily work for everybody else. You like living in the city, which is fine, but NOT everybody does. Stop being a sanctimonious prick about it. The city still doesn't bother to plow most side streets in the winter.
[I was unable to give you a positive, linda, so I will just say it here. ]
Those old homes in the village here are gorgeous, on streets like Lombardy. Just like city homes. Their taxes are higher -- because they are in a village and pay a village tax as well as our very reasonable town and county taxes.. So, that should be noted. Lots of people don't know that. They also choose that tax, when they move inside village lines. We do get what we pay for here -- all services and schools, all the time. [I just wish the city people moving out here would buy the old houses and not build new ones. They act like "city" as they build: all they want are fences and privacy and stores -- why do they even come this way if they don't want to live what was a nice reasonably rural life?]
The fact is that new builds anywhere are a lot more expensive than older homes, and that includes in the city. All those townhouses and condos either in new developments on the waterfront or in newly rehabbed downtown buildings are going for $300-700K.
Nobody builds little basic houses for < $100k because they can make a lot more money on the bigger ones.
The fact is that new builds anywhere are a lot more expensive than older homes, and that includes in the city. All those townhouses and condos either in new developments on the waterfront or in newly rehabbed downtown buildings are going for $300-700K.
Nobody builds little basic houses for < $100k because they can make a lot more money on the bigger ones.
I have one of those "little basic houses". We bought it over 40 years ago for just over $22K. We bought it from the man who built it himself when he was retiring in his 60s (no builder). Good house, low cost and acreage. Will the area be like this forever? Probably not. But even developers have to use at minimum 1 acre lots with 100 foot frontage here > NO SEWERS! It keeps them out!!!
Basic is good. We never went into house debt, were never house-poor. We didn't upsize, downsize, or get a second house. I have one daughter who learned the lessons we taught well -- she has a small older Victorian home, totally paid it off in less than 14 years. Not bad for a kid in her mid 30s.
Size is only for showoffs
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