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Is it possible to live comfortably in the Buffalo area on $23k yearly or $11.00/hr salary? And will $700/month rent budget get a comfortable, 1BR apt in relatively safe area?
Thanks for the reply. I'm currently living on that now very easily in Kissimmee, FL, but don't want to spend another sweltering summer down here and I lived in Buffalo 10 yrs ago and liked it. And I would rather have the extreme cold over extreme heat any day.
I lived in the Kenmore area back then but the old apt I had there (Old Towne Village apts on Sheridan) is now going for 200 more monthly than I used to pay ($795/mo yikes). So i'm checking other areas for 700/mo 1 BRs.
I'm looking online at Kensington Village Apartments on Cleveland Drive with apts for $685 and says all utilites. I'm concerned about the area though. Any info on that area is appreciated. Looking to make the move mid year.
Thanks for the reply. I'm currently living on that now very easily in Kissimmee, FL, but don't want to spend another sweltering summer down here and I lived in Buffalo 10 yrs ago and liked it. And I would rather have the extreme cold over extreme heat any day.
I lived in the Kenmore area back then but the old apt I had there (Old Towne Village apts on Sheridan) is now going for 200 more monthly than I used to pay ($795/mo yikes). So i'm checking other areas for 700/mo 1 BRs.
I'm looking online at Kensington Village Apartments on Cleveland Drive with apts for $685 and says all utilites. I'm concerned about the area though. Any info on that area is appreciated. Looking to make the move mid year.
Hopefully others will chime in with specifics, but the immediate area appears to be more working to solidly middle class east of Eggert Road, which is where the apartments are located and the area west of the road is working class, give or take a little either way.
I believe the Kensington Village Apartments are in Cheektowaga since they're east of Eggert Road, and are a relatively safe area. IIRC, they may have been rehabbed in the last 4-5 years. If these are the apartments I'm thinking of, they attract a lot of students from UB.
You might also consider the Marine Drive Apartments which are right in downtown Buffalo on the waterfront. These are DHCR supervised apartments with rents dependent upon your income. In fact, you should look into qualifying for a Section 8 rent subsidy, which might allow you to rent a very nice apartment for $600-700/month. I don't know how long a process it is to become qualified.
One of the areas that you might consider renting a flat in is the Grant Amherst area, approximately from Amherst Street between Elmwood and Grant Streets north to Chandler Street. Most of the homes in this area are two families, very basic, most don't look like much, but the neighborhood's pretty safe and it's been improving in recent years. Marion Street is a decent little street. The ends of streets south of Amherst are decent, too. So is Bridgeman south of Grote Street.
Thanks for the great advice. I will look into those places. I currently own here in Kissimmee and looking to sell within the year and now i'm thinking of just using that equity as down payment on another home rather than rent an apt. I love what I see online about the Lockport area, though property taxes seem quite high there. Other than that, it seems very affordable and safe and you can apparently get a lot of house for 80k.
Thanks again..this is a great site for valuable info from locals and much appreciated!!
Are heating bills in the winter astronomical say for an average 1200 sq foot home? To compare, summer here in FL my monthly electric for 1000 sq ft skyrockets to about 200 bucks month, then drops down to 100-125 fall, winter and spring. If I averaged it out for the year, it would come to about $165 monthly.
Is it comparable in Buffalo? Just want to get an idea budget wise.
Thanks for the great advice. I will look into those places. I currently own here in Kissimmee and looking to sell within the year and now i'm thinking of just using that equity as down payment on another home rather than rent an apt. I love what I see online about the Lockport area, though property taxes seem quite high there. Other than that, it seems very affordable and safe and you can apparently get a lot of house for 80k.
Thanks again..this is a great site for valuable info from locals and much appreciated!!
Buffalo has the cheapest property taxes around. However, you have to really know the city neighborhoods in order to find a good one for you. OTOH, there are modest starter homes in some safe suburban areas that are very inexpensive, especially by Florida standards. If you live in a school district that levies a school tax (ie, only Buffalo does not), your home would qualify for a $30k reduction in exemption (STAR) for school taxes, which translates into about $500-$600 reduction in actual taxes. If you are 65 or over, you would qualify for an additional STAR tax reduction of about the same amount. My school taxes dropped from $1200/year to $30/year because of the 2 exemptions.
One note: I've noticed that popular real estate sites like Zillow or Realtor.com don't seem to calculate WNY taxes correctly. I can't figure out why, but they all seem to be about 50% too high ... like they aren't recognizing the beginning and end of the tax year or something. I generally use the county property tax site which just about every county has. Unfortunately, Erie County's site only calculates the county tax and maybe the village/town tax but not the school tax, which can often be as much or more than all the other taxes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cfr70
Are heating bills in the winter astronomical say for an average 1200 sq foot home? To compare, summer here in FL my monthly electric for 1000 sq ft skyrockets to about 200 bucks month, then drops down to 100-125 fall, winter and spring. If I averaged it out for the year, it would come to about $165 monthly.
Is it comparable in Buffalo? Just want to get an idea budget wise.
It depends upon your house. A lot of older homes in Buffalo aren't well insulated and have older heating systems, but many others have been updated. I have a home built about 1925. It's about 1500 square feet within a story and a half. The house is vinyl sided, and it has insulation in the walls and in parts of the crawl space under the eaves. I have a twelve year old high efficiency furnace and medium efficiency central air (which I don't use all that much). I have an older gas HW tank but an electric clothes dryer. My gas bill averages about $100/month, and I think the highest it's ever been was once last winter when it topped $225. I also have electric heat in my sun room plus the electric dryer, so my electric bill runs about $70/winter and $40/summer. I pay about $30/month for garbage/water/sewer.
I don't live in Buffalo, however, but further south where we have municipal power. My electric bill would be considerably higher if I had to use a private electric utility, but I don't know how much.
I've relocated a few times, and I'm an advocate of renting first, so that you get to know the new area before you commit to a specific city/town/neighborhood.
Thanks very much Linda. All that is very helpful information and greatly helps with all the different budget scenarios i've been writing down. Those heating/electric figures seem comparable with what i'm paying here in FL...just reversed since my bills shoot up in summer for AC and NY shoots up for the heat.
Renting an apartment short term, at least while home hunting definitely would be a requirement, so i'm factoring at least 6 months to a year rental while I search for a home. Zillow & Trulia I look at for the pictures, but I hardly ever see them showing the property tax info so I go over to Hunt Real estate and type in the address of the home to find their taxes.
I lived in both Rochester & Buffalo back from 2005 to 2007 (1 year in each city) so i'm quite familiar with both areas, although i'm aware that lots can change in a decade too. I do know I like the Kenmore area for renting as I lived there last time, and though i've only been south on Transit Rd more towards Williamsville where all those shopping centers are, I feel that Lockport to home buy and settle is perfect for what I want.
I'm approaching 50 so a small, quiet town 30 mins from the city is what i'm looking for and Lockport appears to have all that. I have friends close by up there in Niagara Falls (where I was advised not to even consider moving to.) and it would be nice to be closer to them.
The snow and extreme cold I don't mind in the slightest and will take that any day over the stifling heat that is here in Florida. The older I get the more I just cannot bear it anymore. It's funny because the heat was exactly what I moved down here for from NY when I was 30. Now I want to escape it!
Now that I'm approaching retirement, I'd like to live in warmer winters, but the big trade-off is oppressive heat most of the year ... and large nasty reptiles and bugs. That's why I could never live in the South year round, and I would never, ever own property that far away.
I am seriously considering renting a condo/apartment in the Myrtle Beach area for a month or two (February/March) next winter. I have some friends there, and there are a lot of rentals at bargain prices because it's their off-season. It's more than warm enough for me, though, and not all that busy.
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