More WNY Love - Rochester & Buffalo ranked in top 6 as most affordable cities in the world

[Irv]

Rochester is great if you like crime and getting robbed by politicians. What a mess.  

[Big Turk]

3 hours ago, boyst said:

el oh el.

it's NY. hell no. anyone considering moving there from another state must be getting some sweet compensation. the "oh, it's 6 figures" is not anything to be proud of anymore. it's just six figures. it doesn't buy what it did just 6 years ago, probably even 2 or 3.

 

hard pass. and stay out of the Carolina's. we are full.

 

It's cheaper to live here than it is down there...probably by quite a bit...every time I go to the grocery store when I am down there I about have a heart attack. Have to get a 2nd job there just to buy groceries.

 

Don't worry...I'm not moving anywhere where I need to wear a coat in winter and have to live indoors in the A/C for 5 months out of the year. If I have to deal with that type of heat, I'm not dealing with the cold too.

8 hours ago, Draconator said:

Rochester, New York. Come for the Art Museum, stay for the crime. 

 

I go for Victor and Canandaigua...love that area.

Edited June 17 by Big Turk

[teef]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

 

 

I go for Victor and Canandaigua...love that area.

i've always thought the appeal to rochester were the suburbs.  nice homes, clean, great schools, etc.  for all those saying crime...it's in areas of the city you typically would never go.  we go to parts of downtown for restaurants and shows, but i've never felt unsafe in those areas at all.  

[SirAndrew]

5 minutes ago, teef said:

i've always thought the appeal to rochester were the suburbs.  nice homes, clean, great schools, etc.  for all those saying crime...it's in areas of the city you typically would never go.  we go to parts of downtown for restaurants and shows, but i've never felt unsafe in those areas at all.  

I’ve always seen the Rochester suburbs as great places to raise a family, but not a great place to be young and single. That was at least my life experience in Rochester vs other cities. You can’t ask for much more out of a place to raise a family though. 

Edited June 17 by SirAndrew

[teef]

17 minutes ago, SirAndrew said:

I’ve always seen the Rochester suburbs as great places to raise a family, but not a great place to be young and single. That was at least my life experience in Rochester vs other cities. You can’t ask for much more out of a place to raise a family though. 

oh 100%  i wasn't around much in rochester in my early to mid 20s because of school, but when i was home/moved back, i never really loved the younger bar scene.  same people in the same places.  now with younger kids i really appreciate this area.  there's a ton to do for young families, and my god does my wife find a few things to do every weekend.  i even like going out far more as an adult than i ever did when i was younger.  not to mention use of the finger lakes.  i'm not sure i'll stick around when i get older, but as someone who thought they were never coming back, i do enjoy living here from june to january.

[T&C]

7 hours ago, Big Turk said:

That's 8% too much.

You do realize that there are people, through no fault of their own, who depend on services to simply survive. I have zero problems with the people who need it... but the ones that abuse it, they can ***** off. So 8% seems pretty fair... going by the graph exiled provided... I have no idea how true it is. 

[Ned Flanders]

1 hour ago, teef said:

oh 100%  i wasn't around much in rochester in my early to mid 20s because of school, but when i was home/moved back, i never really loved the younger bar scene.  same people in the same places.  now with younger kids i really appreciate this area.  there's a ton to do for young families, and my god does my wife find a few things to do every weekend.  i even like going out far more as an adult than i ever did when i was younger.  not to mention use of the finger lakes.  i'm not sure i'll stick around when i get older, but as someone who thought they were never coming back, i do enjoy living here from june to january.

I've always said, Rochester is a great place to be from.  Grew up there in the 60s and 70s when if your father didn't work at Kodak, you could find a dozen Dakers on your block.  Left for the military in '76, came back and went to Brockport and left for good in '85.  Thoughts of moving back after retirement trickle in and out, but good gawd, I don't think I could stand the bitter cold.  I'm old. 

[Mr. WEO]

rust belt is cheap.

 

go figure.

[boater]

19 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

This is not reality anymore. The job market has been improving steadily.

 

I live here and make well into 6 figures.

 

Your old beliefs that won't die from 30 years ago do not match up with any statistics that have shown what is actually happening here over the past several years.

 

In fact, one of the reasons that Zillow ranked Buffalo as the hottest housing market in the entire US in 2024 was BECAUSE of the job market and it's considerable improving conditions.

 

If people aren't making enough money it's likely because they are working dead end careers with no chance for advancement or careers not in demand. That's a choice.

 

WNY is moribund career wise. The number of unemployed is rising (May 2024 DOL statistics). The rosy job growth predicted by Zillow is not happening. That you make 6-figures could be a source of cognitive bias.

 

Just because WNY is better than the past, it doesn't mean it competes with the rest of the nation. The many Expats on this board are examples of people where moving to WNY would be a step down.

 

 

[teef]

39 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

I've always said, Rochester is a great place to be from.  Grew up there in the 60s and 70s when if your father didn't work at Kodak, you could find a dozen Dakers on your block.  Left for the military in '76, came back and went to Brockport and left for good in '85.  Thoughts of moving back after retirement trickle in and out, but good gawd, I don't think I could stand the bitter cold.  I'm old. 

the winters are miserable, but it's not even so much for the cold anymore...it's just constantly gray.  the last couple of winters have been amazingly mild.  we hit the 70s 2-3 times in february, and we've had next to no snow.  if they plowed my driveway twice last year it was a lot.  i just miss the sun.

[Big Turk]

43 minutes ago, boater said:

 

WNY is moribund career wise. The number of unemployed is rising (May 2024 DOL statistics). The rosy job growth predicted by Zillow is not happening. That you make 6-figures could be a source of cognitive bias.

 

Just because WNY is better than the past, it doesn't mean it competes with the rest of the nation. The many Expats on this board are examples of people where moving to WNY would be a step down.

 

 

 

I've never had any issues getting a job...in fact the last 2 jobs I have taken, I was happily working elsewhere when I got recruited and both came with 20K raises plus bonuses. I suggest the issue is more the type of career field people choose to be in and less the job market. If people choose to work dead end careers or factory jobs that are going the way of the Dodo Bird, then yeah, I could see that. If you are working in an in demand field and are good at what you do, you'll likely not have too big of an issue finding a job.

Edited June 17 by Big Turk

[boater]

44 minutes ago, teef said:

the winters are miserable, but it's not even so much for the cold anymore...it's just constantly gray.  the last couple of winters have been amazingly mild.  we hit the 70s 2-3 times in february, and we've had next to no snow.  if they plowed my driveway twice last year it was a lot.  i just miss the sun.

I went to RIT. The dozen sunny days I had there were great. They had a walk called "the quarter mile" ...just brutal weather elements.

 

There was a sun dial on campus, but never any sun to read it by.

[Big Turk]

4 minutes ago, boater said:

I went to RIT. The dozen sunny days I had there were great. They had a walk called "the quarter mile" ...just brutal weather elements.

 

There was a sun dial on campus, but never any sun to read it by.

 

Too bad you didn't stay for the summers when there is plenty of sun.

[teef]

21 minutes ago, boater said:

I went to RIT. The dozen sunny days I had there were great. They had a walk called "the quarter mile" ...just brutal weather elements.

 

There was a sun dial on campus, but never any sun to read it by.

the intense cold hasn't been around for a couple of years, but there's no escaping that gray.  the summer and fall is amazing here tough.  my family from florida is up for the summer this past week, and they couldn't wait to get out of there.  from may to october they hate it.

[Big Turk]

8 minutes ago, teef said:

the intense cold hasn't been around for a couple of years, but there's no escaping that gray.  the summer and fall is amazing here tough.  my family from florida is up for the summer this past week, and they couldn't wait to get out of there.  from may to october they hate it.

 

I can believe it...in May alone this year, Miami had more hours with a heat index over 108 than any other entire summer besides last year's summer. So before summer even started, they literally shattered extreme heat records for every year on record other than 2023.  Absurd. It also beat the earliest occurrence of this by over a full calendar month, with the earliest it happened prior being end of June, which was the only instance of that...all the rest were July, August and early September. The heat is starting to build to extreme levels in these places like Florida and Texas well before the start of summer now...going to become unlivable at some point if this continues.

Edited June 17 by Big Turk

[teef]

3 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

I can believe it...in May alone this year, Miami had more hours with a heat index over 108 than any other entire summer besides last year's summer. So before summer even started, they literally shattered extreme heat records for every year on record other than 2023.  Absurd. It also beat the earliest occurrence of this by over a full calendar month, with the earlies it happened prior being end of June, which was the only instance of that...all the rest were July, August and early September. The heat is starting to build to extreme levels in these places like Florida and Texas well before the start of summer now...going to become unlivable at some point if this continues.

it was well into the hundreds this past week.  las vegas has been on one of those long triple digit runs as well.   you just can't go outside.  even being in the pool or on a boat can be brutal.  any extreme is too much.  My only hope is that the extreme isn't as harsh here anymore. I don't know if the warm up is a pattern or we've just been lucky, it's so much more mild.  in 20 years or so, i'll be gone from january to may, and here from june till after christmas.  that's the plan at least.

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, teef said:

it was well into the hundreds this past week.  las vegas has been on one of those long triple digit runs as well.   you just can't go outside.  even being in the pool or on a boat can be brutal.  any extreme is too much.  My only hope is that the extreme isn't as harsh here anymore. I don't know if the warm up is a pattern or we've just been lucky, it's so much more mild.  in 20 years or so, i'll be gone from january to may, and here from june till after christmas.  that's the plan at least.

people can’t even go to Walmart in Florida—they can’t legally wear less

[muppy]

interesting read. I expect Batavia has decent home prices and value for much the same reasons as Rochester suburbs.

 

If we ever make any moves away from socal it will be to be closer to my grandchild. It would be more Catskills mid state  region than WNY but clearly close enough to drive in for Bills games.  Albany?

 

we would buy a house and downsize is a good guess. Film at 11

[ExiledInIllinois]

4 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

I can believe it...in May alone this year, Miami had more hours with a heat index over 108 than any other entire summer besides last year's summer. So before summer even started, they literally shattered extreme heat records for every year on record other than 2023.  Absurd. It also beat the earliest occurrence of this by over a full calendar month, with the earliest it happened prior being end of June, which was the only instance of that...all the rest were July, August and early September. The heat is starting to build to extreme levels in these places like Florida and Texas well before the start of summer now...going to become unlivable at some point if this continues.

There's a reason why Miami Beach wasn't incorporated till 1915 w/Miami being founded under 20 years earlier.  People be dying of malaria, etc...

 

Same with the rest of the SunBelt.  Northerners had to invent mechanical air conditioning for the region to be habitable, not to mention the engineering and technology to build dams and store fresh water, sanitation, etc...  It was well into the 20th century before those advances started making these places even remotely hospitable. 

 

😏

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18 by ExiledInIllinois

[Jauronimo]

4 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

There's a reason why Miami Beach wasn't incorporated till 1915 w/Miami being founded under 20 years earlier.  People be dying of malaria, etc...

 

Same with the rest of the SunBelt.  Northerners had to invent mechanical air conditioning for the region to be habitable, not to mention the engineering and technology to build dams and store fresh water, sanitation, etc...  It was well into the 20th century before those advances started making these places even remotely hospitable. 

 

😏

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fact: there was no human settlement +/- 30 degrees of the equator until 1963.  It was simply too hot.