Buffalo, NY

[tarheelmjfan]

I don't know of anyone that uses chains here.
We just drive our cars and go with the flow.
If you get stuck someone is gonna help push you.
If you start fishtailing you go with it.
Once you've driven in it you're fine.
And the huge amount of snow don't happen terribly often.
If you can live somewhere north of the city you'll find we don't get as much.
South towns and ski country get the most and places like Holiday Valley and Kissing Bridge are delighted to take it lol.

I'm surprised to hear no one uses chains there. In NC, chains are very common. Buffalo is obviously much better at clearing roads. It also sounds odd to me that the northern part of the city has less snow, but it makes sense considering the position of the lake. I'm used to it getting warmer the further south you go. It's good that I asked here, because I never would have considered that.

I'm very surprised to see only one mention of taxes on here. I grew up in the south towns of Buffalo. My family still lives there. I currently live in NC. My property tax on my house is around $2,000, and I pay MAYBE another $700 or so in property tax on my two cars. My brother has a comparable home in the south towns of NY. His property tax bill on his house alone is over $11,000 a year!! That's almost $1,000 a month. Add to that the higher sales tax, higher cost of gas, pretty much everything costs more there. The snow is just another inconvenience. But the cost of living would be the deciding factor for me. It would have to be a HEFTY pay increase to offset the COL hike you'll likely encounter.

I miss my family daily, but I'm very happy here in the south!

We wouldn't be buying, but property tax is something everyone should consider, when buying a home.

Unfortunately, South Florida doesn't have the low cost of living that most of the south has. It was a rude awakening, when we moved here. Everything is much more expensive than Tampa, where we lived for 20 years. Tampa was more expensive than NC, where we were raised. The large majority of incomes here simply don't match the COL. It's not uncommon to see multiple generations or multiple families living in the same home. We've seen situations where a home was converted to all bedrooms & a family of three or four rented a single room. I'd never seen anything like that before moving here. We've been fortunate to not need to share a home, but spending the summer months in NC will be a welcome change on our bank account. I digress, but when we retire, we plan to spend the summer & early fall in NC with you.

Hard to say - one Easter the minister stood up and the beginning of service and said "I don't know whether to say Happy Easter, or Happy Holidays!". It was snowing.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I think the bolded part says it all! You will move every year or two so if you don't love it, it's fine, you will move on. But at least you can experience it! Living a couple of years in Buffalo and then a couple years somewhere else, etc. sounds infinitely more exciting than staying in Florida.

I live in Toronto (about two hours up the highway) and we have often had great times "shuffling off to Buffalo" on some weekends. It's a great city. Make sure you come on up and visit us while you are there.

Don't be afraid of winter, it's a fabulous season. And the springs, summers, and falls are gorgeous. Come on, go for it!

If he ends up taking the job, seeing eastern Canada is definitely on the agenda. We've been to British Columbia, but have never been to any other areas in Canada. We have a long list of places we'd like to visit, so that's definitely a positive. Another positive, Toronto recently signed Kennedy Meeks. If he isn't sent down, we'd try to make every game we could.

How has no one mentioned Jimmy Griffin yet? In 1985 there was a massive storm that closed schools for just about a week. The mayor of Buffalo told people to just stay home with a six pack. That's the sort of attitude towards snow WNYers have - we just deal. But a storm like that is very rare. I do remember walking to the grocery store with my mom and building massive snow forts.

Taxes are often based on services. I know some people that moved south for cheaper taxes and then moved right back once their kids hit school age. It also costs more if your town has its own police force rather than utilizing the county sheriff.

Housing costs are generally cheap in WNY, especially if this move comes with a pay increase.

We're all for a laid back lifestyle.

Oh my gosh, for only a year or two?! You have to do it!! Seven feet of snow really wasn't terrifying, it was an adventure!! And you're adventurous, lol!!

When things like that happen, neighbors help neighbors. DH or I will snowblow our elder neighbor's drive sometimes. And sometimes the younger neighbor on the other side will snowblow our drive. The day after that storm, everyone was out side shoveling or snowblowing, having a good time socializing & working together. Kids were having a ball. Lots of people trekked to the 7-11 2 blocks away with sleds. Most came back with junk food & a couple of 6 packs. Not me. I got chocolate bars, hostess cupcakes, a frozen pizza & toilet paper!

That storm really was an anomaly. It hit South Buffalo & the immediate southern suburbs. The airport was sunny & not a flake of snow. Yes, there were some businesses that were closed for several days. I only work part time (hospital RN) & I did miss 1 day of work. My DH is in a management at his company. The company was closed for 3 days but he got paid anyway. Companies are really understanding about the weather. Is the position something he could do from home at all? My DD worked for a bank & if the weather was bad, she was able to work from home.

For only a short 2 year stay, don't let the weather scare you off. Make the decision on all those other factors. If you have any specific questions about the area, feel free to pm me.

That sounds like a fantastic neighborhood. You're very fortunate. That's the way the areas in NC we grew up in would have been, if homes were close enough together & there was actually a store two blocks away. In NC, the 7-11 would have been closed for days in a major snow/ice storm. When people could get out, they'd do anything for you though. I really miss the people up there. I'm seeing a whole different side of NY through the eyes of the posters here. I never imagined it that way, but that's how stereotypes go. They're rarely accurate. That's the reason I'd rather get info from those who are intimately familiar with the area than those who "think" they know all about the people there.

DH would be supervising people that have to work to make money. Part of the deal is he doesn't make money, if they don't. The more money they make the more he makes. He'd try to do their jobs, if they didn't go to work. There's no working from home, if others aren't working. That makes weather a major consideration. We're from NC originally, which is mild compared to the north. That's our biggest concern & the reason I asked here what to expect.

 

[low-key]

ya gotta be tough to live in Buffalo, the people got heart, go

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

You gotta be "Kelly tough" and root for the home teams!

 

[rigs32]

It's not as if you can't do anything for a month because of weather. No one could make a living that way. It's more like being careful on the roads and perhaps starting later one day or in rare instances (maybe 1-2 days a year) you decide to not venture out.

 

[lancermom]

I also highly recommend Clarence, this is where my mom has lived for the past 20 years, and it is fantastic! Prior to that we lived in Williamsville/East Amherst, which is also wonderful, and a little bit more populated/built up if you want to be closer to Target/Wegmans and the like.

My dad also taught me to drive in the snow by taking me down the road to the church parking lot and skidding around for a bit.

My husband grew up in Clarence. Some of the nicest people ever around there.

 

[firefly_ris]

Most things have been covered.... but I'll throw in anyway...

- I'm a transplant from Baltimore, I've been in Buffalo for 11 years.

- No one uses chains. A lot of people have a set of winter snow tires they may swap out for the season. I do not. I use all-season radials all year long, and I drive a front wheel drive minivan. My husband just got a 4x4 truck last year and he's lived here his entire 37 years. I've only used the truck in the snow once.

- Life doesn't halt in the snow unless it's a completely freak storm. Back home, everything would shut down and everyone would freak out and get bread and milk and toilet paper at the store if they even thought it might snow. I soooort of miss that because I could get out of stuff more easily (lol), but here for the most part life goes on.

- Summers are awesome. I grew up with sweltering humidity in MD, which I can easily handle if I'm just lazing around, but any kind of exercise, yard work, grocery runs... sweat city. We can get some hot days here and there but nothing like that. We own 2 acres on a creek, so I try to spend a lot of time outdoors in the garden, 4 wheeling, walking and all that sort of thing.

- Winter is long, I'm not going to sugar coat it. We had a very mild winter this past season. I think we used the snow blower maybe 2 times, and shoveled a couple.... but we're in one of the areas (Alden) that gets more snow than the city or the north towns. The only thing I really don't like about winter is that it's about a month too long (making spring shorter) and a lot of grey skies. But as far as snow fall... we now and then get very freak, large snow falls (November 2014 for instance) and that makes headlines and therefore what we're known for, but PLENTY of other places in the US are colder and get more snowfall. Even in just NY State.

- Property taxes blow, but if you're not buying you don't have to worry about it. It still boggles my mind. Purchase prices are very reasonable, but the property tax thing is a major problem this area has, IMO.

- Buffalo proper is the least intimidating, least scary city. Compared to Baltimore (which I still love) it's nothing. When I first moved here I lived on the west side and my brother-in-law still does. Very walkable, people are friendly, streets are designed as a grid, so it's easy to get around. The east side I guess would be the "scary" side of town, and is unfortunately where most of the crime is centralized, but compared to a lot of other cities, it's not quite that bad. Also lots of great food in the city.

- There's plenty to do in the area to keep you occupied for a while. If you are active you can ski, snowboard, check out the 'mountain coaster' and ropes course at Holiday Valley, golf, plenty of places to kayak, ice skate, ice bike (that's a thing), pedal bar tours, etc. Lots of local breweries popping up, a lot of historic villages to visit. Several nice state parks -- Knox, Letchworth State Park is beautiful and that's about an hour away, Chestnut Ridge, etc. Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Toronto, some nice stuff to do in Rochester. Hidden Valley Animal Adventure is fun.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Since I last had time to post on my computer, DH has actually received another offer. It's quite bizarre that he got two offers so close together that were totally out of the blue. (I have been praying for a job that made moving from here worth it. We'll be fine retiring here, but it's horrible to have to work in this area. Obviously, prayer works.) Anyway, we're weighing our options & haven't made any decisions. Now that he's received these offers, he's actually considering applying for another job that just became available in a different state to see what our options are. The job in Buffalo has the potential to pay quite a bit more than the other offer, but Buffalo also has a higher cost of living & is further from DS's college. We'd be happy moving to either location. We keep praying for the wisdom to make the right decision.

We own our own business now. Giving that up is a concern, but we'd really like to move from here, until he can retire. I am sharing your replies with him, which is helping in our decision making. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to reply & help us out.

The city of Good Neighbors sounds really nice at the moment. Moving from one FL city to another has been quite the culture shock. It's a dog eat dog kind of world down here.

I agree tarheel fan. It is a dog eat dog way of life in Fla. I've been living here many many years and have grown used to it and know what to expect. My wife is not a US resident and we travel back and forth often. She can handle her self but has learned to be very careful when dealing with people in the Orlando area. I look forward to my time away from here and hope soon to not return. I shake my head a bit when reading so often on the dis that so many people have the strong desire and dream to move to Florida. It's not any better than other places, the quality of life is way below what it is in Canada. Orlando is certainly not a place to live on limited means. I've been in Buffalo but have never lived there, it seems like a nice area.

We've never lived in Orlando, but we lived in Tampa for 17 years, before moving here. Moving from there was a huge mistake that we'd love to go back in time & change. Tampa & the area of South Florida we currently live in are like night & day. We'd go back to Tampa in a minute given the right circumstances.

lived here my whole life. For the most part the snow is annoying but not anything that will have you stuck (usually) we usually get 1 good storm a year and almost always have ample warning that it is coming. With that said, our weather men do cry wolf quite a bit but I guess better than being unprepared. We pretty much all have AWD, in my opinion its a necessity here. I think chains are illegal in NY state actually. You'll need a snow brush for your car, and brushing it off early in the morning gets old real fast every winter but I do love have 4 seasons. Practice driving in some empty parking lots to get a feel for how your car will react in a skid. DO NOT BRAKE. You'll get the hang of it pretty quickly....just keep in mind 6-12 inches does not by any means shut our city down so be prepared for there to be school/work. most of the schools allow 2 snow/cold days a year....we usually use them but rarely go over. For the cold it has to be -20 with the windchill before they'll start closing schools so you'll need lots of gear for the kiddos. The thing about our winters is that we handle it well. Streets are usually plowed and salted...not so much in the city, it can be hard for them to get through to clear them but in the suburbs I haven't found it to be an issue.

Aside from that, we have great food, the best pizza, crappy football team lol We love it here honestly, we really are the city of good neighbors.

If you're looking for a suburb close to buffalo I'd recommend clarence. We have some of the lowest taxes in the area, the best schools and are only a 20 min drive to the city.

That's surprising to me. Chains were fairly common in North Carolina for vehicles that don't have 4WD. It makes sense to prevent road damage, but people would be stuck for days in NC, if they didn't have them, where there's a big snow. Obviously, Buffalo is better prepared for snow than NC is.

the October storm, we were without power for 9 days with 2 little ones! I'll never forget the sound of all the trees breaking around us.

ETA OP that was very much a freak storm and will probably never happen again

That's scary! Hopefully, a freak storm like that won't come around again anytime soon. It's like hurricanes. A powerful one can be devastating. Fortunately, they're rare.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

You gotta be "Kelly tough" and root for the home teams!

Sorry, we can't do that. We've been Dolphins fans, since the Marino days.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Most things have been covered.... but I'll throw in anyway...

- I'm a transplant from Baltimore, I've been in Buffalo for 11 years.

- No one uses chains. A lot of people have a set of winter snow tires they may swap out for the season. I do not. I use all-season radials all year long, and I drive a front wheel drive minivan. My husband just got a 4x4 truck last year and he's lived here his entire 37 years. I've only used the truck in the snow once.

- Life doesn't halt in the snow unless it's a completely freak storm. Back home, everything would shut down and everyone would freak out and get bread and milk and toilet paper at the store if they even thought it might snow. I soooort of miss that because I could get out of stuff more easily (lol), but here for the most part life goes on.

- Summers are awesome. I grew up with sweltering humidity in MD, which I can easily handle if I'm just lazing around, but any kind of exercise, yard work, grocery runs... sweat city. We can get some hot days here and there but nothing like that. We own 2 acres on a creek, so I try to spend a lot of time outdoors in the garden, 4 wheeling, walking and all that sort of thing.

- Winter is long, I'm not going to sugar coat it. We had a very mild winter this past season. I think we used the snow blower maybe 2 times, and shoveled a couple.... but we're in one of the areas (Alden) that gets more snow than the city or the north towns. The only thing I really don't like about winter is that it's about a month too long (making spring shorter) and a lot of grey skies. But as far as snow fall... we now and then get very freak, large snow falls (November 2014 for instance) and that makes headlines and therefore what we're known for, but PLENTY of other places in the US are colder and get more snowfall. Even in just NY State.

- Property taxes blow, but if you're not buying you don't have to worry about it. It still boggles my mind. Purchase prices are very reasonable, but the property tax thing is a major problem this area has, IMO.

- Buffalo proper is the least intimidating, least scary city. Compared to Baltimore (which I still love) it's nothing. When I first moved here I lived on the west side and my brother-in-law still does. Very walkable, people are friendly, streets are designed as a grid, so it's easy to get around. The east side I guess would be the "scary" side of town, and is unfortunately where most of the crime is centralized, but compared to a lot of other cities, it's not quite that bad. Also lots of great food in the city.

- There's plenty to do in the area to keep you occupied for a while. If you are active you can ski, snowboard, check out the 'mountain coaster' and ropes course at Holiday Valley, golf, plenty of places to kayak, ice skate, ice bike (that's a thing), pedal bar tours, etc. Lots of local breweries popping up, a lot of historic villages to visit. Several nice state parks -- Knox, Letchworth State Park is beautiful and that's about an hour away, Chestnut Ridge, etc. Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Toronto, some nice stuff to do in Rochester. Hidden Valley Animal Adventure is fun.

Great reply, thanks!

 

[petlvr1064]

My dad grew up in Buffalo and I am a big Bills fan. I miss Boccies pizza. It is the best pizza ever. U can't get anything like it though in California I was at one restaurant that was the closest I have ever seen.