Old homes are one of my favorite things next to cars. I love the high ceilings and all the charms and craftsmanship in them, besides cheaper taxes since they’re usually in the city. But with my current home in the suburbs, I don’t have to worry about anything being stolen off my porch when UPS drops off a package.
I I feel like the next house I get I will have built the way I want it, with the tall ceilings and decorative designs.
I mean, no offense Steve, but you lived above Bullfeathers which is basically every fraternity and softball teams sponsor bar. Next to Goodbar and McGarrets.
I dont doubt that people were outside puking/raging
Thank god I’m a country boy.-John Denver
Yea next to jp’s. But it’s not so much the raging that bothered me. I was young, I raged, whatever.
it was our stuff constantly being fucked with parked 2 blocks away on Bidwell that is my biggest gripe. It wasn’t just our stuff either, I saw tons of cars even parked in someone’s driveway or on the street with windows smashed out, mirrors ripped off, keyed, covered in puke and shit (yes I saw a turd left on someone’s hood once, I laughed but felt bad for the dude), hit and runs, you name it… I’ve seen all kinds of stuff not just car damage related.
Coming out at least once a week finding food and garbage thrown all over our cars is not ok, even if I lived next to a bar.
I loved the village, it is a great. There were many things I liked about it, but the shitty stuff way outweighed the good stuff.
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Ok. But we have to differentiate between this location and say a Ashland/Norwood like he is looking at . They are close but really not comparable living situations.
Just like Lincoln Parkway isnt comparable to elmwood. Woodbridge isnt compared to main st. etc etc. Like Bing said really a block or two makes the difference in the city. Realistically most can’t afford the “prime” streets and the burbs present an excellent option in many cases to this issue.
I promise you the families living on Cleveland, lincoln, argyle, chapin etc arent dealing with that stuff on a regular basis and are walking distance to the same bars.
I agree, I missed that he said he was looking at the Norwood/Ashland area. Yea it is very different from block to block. The end of Ashland I was near had problems once a week. I lived on the corner of Elmwood and Potomac, we parked on Bidwell pkwy closest to soldiers circle by the buffalo seminary.
he asked for the opinion of someone who lived there. I’m not gonna sugar coat my experience and say everything will be fine because he is a few blocks away, because it wasn’t just the area nearest to me where I saw stuff like this.
Again I loved many things about living there. I still vote north buffalo. That is where the wife and I started looking for houses. It can still be hit or miss on some
Blocks. But there are some very nice places that almost have a suburban neighborhood feel but are damn close to the Elmwood village and the city.
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Im not worried about the cars as they’ll be in a garage. I grew up in the city, east side and south buffalo, so I had first hand experience with cars broken into etc…
What is drawing us to the city is the architecture and the proximity to the shops and restaurants. I also think that the area we are looking will continue to appreciate. Meanwhile I feel that the value of our home in Williamsville has peaked, anymore improvements and we would be overbuilding for the area.
You make very valid points and certainly this is in the con list for city living. Even if you are somewhere “nice” there is still a much higher risk to exposure of events like you described no doubt.
I think you are taking a rational and well thought out approach. I might just be frugal but if I improve my house I better see a return for my time/efforts.
Come check out starin/depew/woodbridge/etc to and see what you think too.
I think the Elmwood area/N. Buffalo are great areas right now, lots of desire to live there, up-and-coming businesses and development. The architecture is unique, plenty of bars, shops, great dining. If you’re young and may not have kids yet, it’s probably the perfect place. That could change with the addition of little ones.
With that said any advice you get should be from people in that area. Everyone has a friend who’s car got broken into, and some people just hear “city” and think it’s a slum filled with drug dealers and gangs.
You are around the corner from me, sort of.
I as well love old homes for the charm, minus the updating that can be required (knob and tube, asbestos anything, etc.) The city offers an opportunity to live in a place with a lower than surrounding area tax load. The nice thing is that homes in most areas around the city are appreciating. So just about any purchase in the city should offer some return, more so in developing and well established neighborhoods.
The thing with packages getting stolen that happens in the ELV, Richmond/West Side/Historic west village ( especially here). A few friends have posted videos from their homes on on richmond and one in the west village historic district with people walking up and checking their cars for change or multiple instances of stealing packages from their porch. It happens anywhere but maybe a slightly higher instance when you have such a diverse income group living more densely.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That said if I could find a home in the said areas with a garage that suited my needs I would go for it, providing it was in my price range 
I’m poor.
My old man worked his ass off for years to move out of the city and into the burbs, now people are doing the exact opposite, ha.
I can understand where people want to move into an up and coming neighborhood in the city and ride their bicycle to the bookstore and spot coffee. What I can’t wrap my head around is wanting to live somewhere that you can throw a stone into the hood. Not to mention, this really only works if you don’t have kids. $12,000/year in private school tuition kind of negates the whole “lower property tax” argument.
Where in Williamsville is your house you’re selling?
My girlfriends Christmas gift for me, sound bar/5.1 Bluetooth sub and satellite speakers was on my porch in the manufacturers box, not just a brown paper package/big brown box, it was colorful and had brand names and all the 5.1 blahblahblah stuff like anything you buy from bestbuy has written on the box.
Got home and it was on the front porch for all the neighbors to see. No one stole it.
one house I fell in love with before we picked our current home was in south buffalo, on melrose st near seneca street. Taxes cheap, bigger house, beautiful woodwork, grand entrance, double lot, coy pond, two car garage with tons of parking behind/ next to the house, fenced yard.
felt really cozy, made me picture having my own little castle. Tall ceilings, just very charming, the outside architecture was pretty plan like many south buffalo homes but the inside was awesome. I still have dreams about the house lol.
it did need work though, and I think it was aspestas sided, it was built in like 1920.
All that for like 70k with a brand new complete tear off roof, but we did our final walk through and found the rear patio door, which didn’t have stairs from the outside but was 1st floor black iron railings, well the door window was broken at one point, then the next door in was kicked in, frame split. I didn’t notice it before but it was probably like that on our first walk through. The home owners were already moved out so I’m guessing the neighborhood helped themselves.
my current home is like 800sq ft smaller, regular ranch style home, 15k more, taxes twice as much, but I’m happy I don’t have to worry about my garage being broken into, and my welder and tools getting stolen, or any deliveries being stolen off the porch.
like I said I think my next house I will build lol
As more and more people move back into urban environments the cost of operations in most first, second and third ring suburbs are going to continue to climb. Vast sprawling aging infrastructure combined with declining population bases may lead to higher and higher property taxes. Higher property taxes can lead to stagnant or declining property values. It will be interesting to see how the suburban sprawl of the last century will fare in 15-20 years.
At the end of the day, home is where the heart is, live where you feel happy.
I lived on elmwood between Allen and Virginia for the first 2 years when I got married and loved being able to walk anywhere. But I also had an issue with my cars. I owned my Evo when I lived there and my wing alway always always had somthing on it. My Tdi got smashed into 2x could never leave anything valuable in sight. But I loved the city life enough to overlook those minor issues and bought a house in the city.
And I moved into what some might consider “worse” as I’m in UB heights
But I’ve left my v1 in my truck from the day I moved here. Never had an issue. I do have off street parking and a garage but being to walk to main/subway is super awesome and makes downtown still walking distance for me. (Ironicly both me and the wife work in the burbs)
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I would be surprised if urban taxes remain low, especially if the quality of occupants continues to climb. Higher end citizens demand (and will gladly pay for) a higher level of service. Tax hikes in NY are pretty much a given either way so…sounds like a better idea to leave NY. Soon…SOOOON.
They’re already talking about raising taxes around the medical campus area and people who have lived there for years not being able to afford it.
Elmwood village is nice post up some pics when you find a house :tspry:
I can say that having a garage & off street parking is key. I’ve lived in the city for years and never had an issue with any of my vehicles.
Yeah, the politicians who represent the area have talked about anti-gentrification measures, lol.
As for packages, it’s not hard to establish a “safe” area with the delivery company and let them know to use it. You just have to take the time to do it. I’ve never had a package swiped.
Josh,
This may be of interest to you. Mostly residents chatting about the neighborhood and what’s relevant.
Living in North Buffalo wasn’t too bad, but everything these guys are saying about car break-ins are very very real. Blessed they never hit my M5, but they ran my roommates like crazy, and many other cars on Forest Ave (I lived on the corner of Forest and Delaware). Fuck that shit. I loved the location, house was kind of dated and rough but it was so cheap at $230/month (yep) I couldn’t beat it. That said, without a phenomenal deal like that again (if I moved back) I’d never consider anything in the city again. Too much bullshit. Girls downstairs had guys trying to climb through their windows, before I moved in they had a guy run though the house trying to steal shit…all in a few years time. Sure, everyone says Buffalo is “hot” right now but I’m just not trying to deal with that…
I loved living in that area. The houses are beautiful and area has a great vibe. Take reasonable caution with securing your property, keep the area well lit and you’ll avoid most of the BS. Accept that some theft will probably eventually happen and take necessary precautions.