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How to Buy a Home in Buffalo

A home is often the most important and most expensive purchase someone makes in their life. Which is why making sure you are buying the right home for you is so important. Before looking to buy a home, please ensure you:

  • Are ready to buy a home emotionally
  • Can afford to buy a house and be financially responsible
  • Understand all the aspects of homeownership
  • Believe that owning a home is right for you instead of other living situations

Working with a real estate agent

Many people choose to work with a real estate agent when looking for a home to buy. There are many agents within the Buffalo region who are available to help you find the right home for you if you would like to work with one.

You are also able to try and purchase a home on your own without an agent if you feel comfortable doing so.

Searching for homes

Homes often go for sale in the city but like many other places in the USA, the demand for homes outweighs the supply of homes. So it can take some time to find the right home for you and when you do find a home you like, you may have to make a decision quickly since competition for purchasing is high.

Homes in America are often listed on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) so that other services can pull data on homes for sale and distribute that to people interested in purchasing.

Nationally recognized services for looking for a home include:

All of these services have comparable features when looking for a home. They all usually get their information from the state’s MLS so if you see a listing on one website, you should see it on others. The user experience when filtering and searching for the right home for you is what matters most.

Neighborhoods around Buffalo:

There are many neighborhoods in Buffalo to consider when looking for a home. Some areas are close to the city and always have things going on, while others are traditional suburbs, and others are up-and-coming neighborhoods where the full potential has yet to be realized.

The areas in and around Buffalo include:

  • Buffalo
    • The actual City of Buffalo spans a large region of land with many neighborhoods that are all very different from each other. You can learn more about each neighborhood here.
  • Suburbs
    • Kenmore/Tonawanda
    • North Tonawanda
    • West Seneca
    • East Aurora
    • Hamburg
    • Cheektowaga
    • Williamsville
    • Clarence
    • Lancaster
    • Orchard Park
    • Amherst
    • Lackawanna

Searching for foreclosures

You may also be able to buy homes that are foreclosure. This means that the bank had taken ownership of the home from the previous owner and now the bank is selling the home on the market. These homes are often available at reduced prices. Beware about the condition of these homes as they are not always in good condition.


Foreclosure.com is an example of a website where you are able to find foreclosure homes around the country.

Searching local resources

There are additional places that may have homes listed that you’d like to see

  • Wnybyowner.com – Owners of the home list it themselves with no realtor
  • Avvie – A local startup company that allows you to submit offers on their listings

Things to consider:

  • Location and neighborhood
  • Schools and school district
  • Local shopping
  • Restaurants
  • Things to do
  • Safety of the neighborhood
  • Commute to work
  • Distance from family/friends
  • Noise level around the home

Some things to consider about the home:

  • Quality of the home
  • Price and interest rates for mortgages
  • Taxes
    • Property taxes differ depending on where you purchase the home
  • Utilities and other monthly costs
  • Space inside the home
  • Space outside the home
  • When was the home built
  • Are there any Home Owners Association (HOA) fees?
  • Renovations that were recently done
  • Updates that you would want to make
  • Do you want a home inspection to be done before purchasing?
  • What is the competition like for purchasing the home?

Making an offer

Once you find a home you like and want to purchase, you will have to make an offer to purchase the home. Usually, there is a listing price for the home and you can choose how much you want to offer. You have to consider how close you want to be to the listing price or do you want to go higher to make a more enticing offer to potentially beat any competition that is also making offers on the home.

If you are working with a real estate agent, they often facilitate the offer-making process and can provide advice on what the best offer to make would be with the situation at hand.

If you are making an offer on your own, try to research what other homes have been listed for and purchased for in the neighborhood you are looking at. This can often give you a good idea of what to offer for the home you are looking at.

If the offer you make is accepted by the seller, the home will be taken off the market and go into what’s known as ‘pending’. This means that a sale is in process and the closing process is now going to take place.

Closing

The closing process brings together a variety of parties who are part of the real estate transaction. Everyone gets the correct paperwork done and money transferred to facilitate the transaction. The process is often done with an experienced lawyer involved to ensure everything is done correctly. This is also the time when homeowners insurance and other important items are usually taken care of by the new homeowner.

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