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Parts of OP are indistinguishable from neighboring Hamburg, but it has more prestige. There are some very upscale neighborhoods there (several of current and former Buffalo Bills players live in OP) because the stadium and practice facility are in OP, but other parts of OP are just ordinary suburban areas. The village of OP is not as well defined and "village like" as villages like Williamsville, Hamburg, Kenmore or East Aurora, probably because it was just a farm village overtaken by suburbia IMO.
One thing that you should really consider if you trying to decide where to live in the Buffalo area is, how do you feel about snow? Not Hudson Valley style snow that you can ward off with an umbrella but possibly a half foot or more overnight?
While Buffalo is infamous for snow, not all of Buffalo gets a lot of wicked "lake effect snow". The city north of downtown does not usually get too much, and the further north you go, the less snow you are likely to get. The further east you go, you'll tend to get more snow. South Buffalo tends to get hit harder and more frequently by lake effect snow because it's more exposed to Lake Erie.
Buffalos suburbs are generally divided into three groups: the Northtowns (Tonawanda, Amherst, North Tonawanda, Clarence), the eastern suburbs (Cheektowaga, Lancaster, Elma), and the Southtowns (Lackawana, Hamburg, Orchard Park, Evans, Eden). Further south and east, you get "Ski Country" which is Colden, Marilla, Concord, Sardinia, etc. The Northtowns, like the northern parts of the city, get less snow than the eastern suburbs, and especially the Southtowns, which are infamous for getting slammed by lake effect snowstorms like the monster lake effect event that hit this past November. Of course, Ski Country gets the most snow which is why Kissing Bridge Ski Resort is located there.
An example of how lake effect snow works happened this past November. My brother in Hamburg was marooned in his home for days because the Southtowns got buried in between 5 and 7 feet of snow in about 3 days. My brother in Amherst got maybe 6 inches total during those same 3 days while Jamestown, where I live, only got a dusting!
If you move to the Buffalo area and buy a home, invest in a snowblower even if you buy in the city. If you decide to live in the Southtowns, you will probably need to have at least 1 4WD or AWD vehicle. If you live in the Northtowns, front wheel drive sedan/hatchbacks are fine.
If you move to the Buffalo area and buy a home, invest in a snowblower even if you buy in the city. If you decide to live in the Southtowns, you will probably need to have at least 1 4WD or AWD vehicle. If you live in the Northtowns, front wheel drive sedan/hatchbacks are fine.
AWD is a huge waste of money and not needed in WNY. The Southtowns do have more elevation changes but as long as your house is not on a hill you are fine.
AWD is a huge waste of money and not needed in WNY. The Southtowns do have more elevation changes but as long as your house is not on a hill you are fine.
AWD is a huge waste of money and not needed in WNY. The Southtowns do have more elevation changes but as long as your house is not on a hill you are fine.
4wd/AWD is like having AC in your home; it's not needed all the time but once you have it, you'll never have another without it! Oh and it's most definitely not a waste of money for the thousands of WNY's (myself included) who wouldn't dream of spinning their wheels all winter long....
4wd/AWD is like having AC in your home; it's not needed all the time but once you have it, you'll never have another without it! Oh and it's most definitely not a waste of money for the thousands of WNY's (myself included) who wouldn't dream of spinning their wheels all winter long....
Well said.
Since I bought my first Subaru, I no longer have to snowblow the driveway from hell before I go to work or before I can get into my driveway coming home from work. The Subi "snowplows" the top couple of inches off backwards when Jamestown gets 10-12 inches overnight and it goes over the snowbank put down across the front of the driveway by the city's very conscientious snowplow drivers while I've been at work.
I also drive my Subi on logging roads at my camp and also on the gravel access roads in Chautauqua's numerous state forests.
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