Horizons Home Show

[ERIEMAN]

Originally posted by NoCtUrNaL
There's a big difference between "broke" and "$400,000" houses.

What's the median annual household income in Buffalo? Erie county? Probably closer to broke then having a mortgage on a $400,000 house.

the point that he was making was that buffalo is painted a very dull gray color by the media, when, in fact, the money does exist in the area for a LOT of people to be able to afford such homes. It's not as gray as some would believe.

[NoCtUrNaL]

Originally posted by ERIEMAN
the point that he was making was that buffalo is painted a very dull gray color by the media, when, in fact, the money does exist in the area for a LOT of people to be able to afford such homes. It's not as gray as some would believe.

The exception proves the rule.

[concernedwnyer]

Originally posted by LaNdReW
Hit the Horizons Homeshow this weekend...

Boy, for an area thats dying, there were lots of people there looking at houses that were 400k plus.

Someone, please tell me where all these people work that can afford expensive houses, taxes, and cars. I'm sure they don't work for the local/state/fed government.

[B][COLOR=PURPLE]

[crlachepinochet]

Originally posted by ERIEMAN
I think a common misconception is that a family making $110,000 per year is "a lot" of money. Really, it isn't enough to put a family into the bracket that it would take to responsibly afford such a house in WNY. Most families making around that much live in a "nice" home - the $200K to $250K range, and the rest goes into investments and savings.

Geez, doesn't anyone else think that once you have a guest bedroom and 2.5 baths, you're all set? $250K will get you plenty more than "nice" if you get out and look for a good house/neighborhood!

[concernedwnyer]

Just because people were looking does not mean they were buying. The Horizon home show was created to get people interested in buying a house.

The houses they showed on TV did not impress me in the least. For the high price you did not get much. Plain and simple.

Nope, I will buy a lot and work with an architect to design my own home the way I want it then build it. Some of the work would be doen by me, namely electrical, security, telephone, TV, painting, finishing, landscape,

Anything you have doen today you have to get a chair and watch over them. People doing the work do not give a damn. Very pride in what it is they do and the customer suffers for it. I just a had a Sat TV installed and the guy doing the installation tried to pull a few short cuts. I corrected him very quickly. Man how hard is it to do a neat job runnig cable and putting up through the exisitng TV coax outlet box...... I do not think he liked me to much at the end but I did not like him either and he was working for with that job.

[ERIEMAN]

Originally posted by concernedwnyer


Just because people were looking does not mean they were buying. The Horizon home show was created to get people interested in buying a house.

The houses they showed on TV did not impress me in the least. For the high price you did not get much. Plain and simple.

Nope, I will buy a lot and work with an architect to design my own home the way I want it then build it. Some of the work would be doen by me, namely electrical, security, telephone, TV, painting, finishing, landscape,

Anything you have doen today you have to get a chair and watch over them. People doing the work do not give a damn. Very pride in what it is they do and the customer suffers for it. I just a had a Sat TV installed and the guy doing the installation tried to pull a few short cuts. I corrected him very quickly. Man how hard is it to do a neat job runnig cable and putting up through the exisitng TV coax outlet box...... I do not think he liked me to much at the end but I did not like him either and he was working for with that job.

That's for sure...

My wife and I are going this weekend. I am taking my parents because they are going to remodel their bathroom and they want to get ideas. We are going because we like to look at color usage and kitchen designs. We also keep track of floor plan design so we know all the "I wants" when we build our house in a few years. None of us have any intention of buying any of these houses. None of them have any character anyways. The ones in Amherst are large rectangular boxes. I'm sure it costs the builder a lot less to build a center-entrance colonial than they sell for.

[buffknut]

Don't forget that the area population is still in the 1 million range so there's still alot of people around.

This topic gets talked about alot. My 40 year old house is worth alot (a real lot!) less than $400k but I live in an area surrounded by many expensive homes (I know some with driveways that'll make you cry). The owners are a mix of doctors, lawyers, dentists, stock brokers, engineers, many small-business owners (and even some ex-pro athletes). Many are dual-income, some are retired, many are young.

Even in this area figure that in any given year at least 1000 people finally "make it", i.e., they get to the point where they have enough money to buy that big house and pay for it.

It's nice to see a good ol' ex-North Buffalo guy (Shoshone Ave) like Dr. Lauria doing so well. An all-around good guy (although haven't seen him in 20+ years).

[Linda_D]

Originally posted by NoCtUrNaL
There's a big difference between "broke" and "$400,000" houses.

What's the median annual household income in Buffalo? Erie county? Probably closer to broke then having a mortgage on a $400,000 house.

The truth is, NoCtUrNal, that's true everywhere, not just in Erie County. Down here in Chautauqua County, there's a new subdivision of $250,000+ homes which seems to be selling well plus numerous other homes selling for $200,000+ -- in an area notably poorer than Erie County. BTW, this isn't lakefront vacation property, but year-round homes.

In fact, in many "hot" real estate markets (parts of Florida, California, DC Metro, etc), people making $100,000 a year, unless they already own a home they can use for equity, cannot afford to buy even a "starter" condo. So the guy making $30,000 a year and his wife making $10,000 at her part-time job have a much better shot at owning their own home in WNY -- despite high real estate taxes -- than folks in many "booming" areas making two and three times the money.



The median household income in Erie County (including Buffalo with a large number of lower income residents) for Erie County is $38,567 (1999 figures). For all of NYS, including NYC metro where salaries are much higher: $43,393.

According to the 2000 census, Erie County had a "homeownership rate" (not sure how they figure this) of 65.3% compared to the state rate of 53%.

Also according to the 2000 figures, the median single-home price in Erie County was $90,800, meaning that half the homes sold for more and half for less. (I think that condos and townhouses may be considered "single family dwellings" for this figure.) In all of NYS, it was $148,700, including the pricey NYC metro real estate market.

So, Erie County's relatively low median household income is more than offset by its really low median home price, and leads to a high ownership rate that rivals the rates in many counties in big metro areas that are primarily suburban.

[ReformWNY]

Roderick Hennings, PASTOR -- http://www.cogicyouth.com/about/henningsbio.asp
http://www.amherst.ny.us/govt/asses...691600005003000


Someone explain this one to me?

[WNYresident]

The link doesn't work what else is there to explain?

[moonshine]

Since when did a person need to make $125k per year to live in a $400k house? There are those pesky little things called ancestors that tend to leave wads of money and real estate behind when they kick-off into the ether. Some people might even, gasp, inherit some of that cash! Suddenly that $400k house is affordable with 75% down.

As for those folks using creative financing such as interest only loans to purchase homes they could otherwise not afford, all I can say is THANK YOU! You will be making me a very rich man if interest rates rise to a point that you can't pay your mortgage anymore. You better believe I'll have the loss mitigation department of every bank in the country on speed dial when that happens.

[WNYresident]

Another question. Why do people have to buy such large homes. I have a nice home but have you ever seen some of these McMansions people build?

[ERIEMAN]

Originally posted by moonshine
Since when did a person need to make $125k per year to live in a $400k house? There are those pesky little things called ancestors that tend to leave wads of money and real estate behind when they kick-off into the ether. Some people might even, gasp, inherit some of that cash! Suddenly that $400k house is affordable with 75% down.

As for those folks using creative financing such as interest only loans to purchase homes they could otherwise not afford, all I can say is THANK YOU! You will be making me a very rich man if interest rates rise to a point that you can't pay your mortgage anymore. You better believe I'll have the loss mitigation department of every bank in the country on speed dial when that happens.

Well what i had said was: "Really, it isn't enough to put a family into the bracket that it would take to responsibly afford such a house in WNY.

In california, you HAVE to spend $400,000 on a house, or else you rent. In WNY, the ability to purchase that same house for $120,000 allows people to have something californians probably know nothing about called savings. I think people actually take advantage of that around here....

[ERIEMAN]

Originally posted by WNYresident
The link doesn't work what else is there to explain?

Roderick Hennings is the pastor of a church in buffalo. He bought a house for almost $600,000 on beresford in amherst.

http://www.ziondominion.org/hennings_bio.html

note the yellow suit!

How does a pastor afford that kind of house? Whatever happened to giving?

[ERIEMAN]

Originally posted by WNYresident
Another question. Why do people have to buy such large homes. I have a nice home but have you ever seen some of these McMansions people build?

If you went to college for 8 years, worked 80+ hours a week for three years for almost minimum wage, and then worked 60 hours a week for $40,000 per year for ANOTHER three years, you'd want something to show for it too!