WNY Handyman

The following is a nice house in a quiet neighborhood on the south side of Broadway in the Village of Lancaster. There are clearly some updates needed in this home. I renovated a property about 2 blocks down the street and was able to exit that for about $130k. Based on the location, and size, there is no reason why this couldn’t fetch $100k+ with a nice renovation.

This is a nice single family home that would be a great starter home.  Certainly less expensive than renting.  With the $8k tax credit, this is a BIG discount in a nice area.  The home is walking distance from everything.  It isn’t large (3 Bedrooms, 1 Bathroom) and only about 1200 square feet, but if they layout is right that is not bad.

Lancaster NY House for Sale

One thing that I like about this property is the garage behind the house that is accessed from the side road. It is close the the neighbor and on a small lot, but it has the nice village feel that so many subdivisions get away from.

Visit: Lancaster NY Home for Sale

Lancaster, NY revaluation. It stinks!

Well, if you live in Lancaster, NY, you probably received a lovely letter yesterday regarding your property taxes and your property assessment.  There were increases that appear across the board.  The equalization rate is no longer as we have moved to 100% valuation.  The increases are staggering in many cases.

The town of Lancaster continues to spend, and spend, and spend on projects that don’t benefit the town as a whole.

1. There is a pricey new addition to town hall (approximately $985,000).
2. There is a new police and courts facility in the works ($8,000,000 Plus).
3. There is the new use of a former library for an emergency management office (that’s right, Lancaster has one).
4. There is the proposed recreational facility that will certainly add long term costs.
5. etc. etc.

Let’s not forget that use of these properties suddenly pulls them off the tax rolls. And, in the case where a sale is possible, eliminates the funds from a sale (Depew Library is a prime example).

Many will be fighting the new assessment figures.  In a couple of cases, I will be one of them.  If you aren’t familiar with the tools available to you for searching property information here are a couple:

• Lancaster Online Assessment Review System (OARS) http://www.oarsystem.com/ny/lancaster/main.asp
• Erie County Real Property System http://www.erie.gov/ecrpts/webprop.asp
• Erie County Internet Mapping System http://gis1.erie.gov/website/Erie_help/help.htm

I know that there is quite a bit of state and/or federal funding drying up for Towns and Villages. How about cutting costs rather than continuing to spend. If a surplus builds, cut taxes!

Politics suck.

A lot of people ask me about the real estate market, home prices, how to find bargains, etc. I tell them that I am a real estate window shopper and by doing so, I am able to keep a handle on my local market. You can do the same. When I start my day, I generally do a search at my local MLS site for homes in my area that have been added to the real estate listing service in the past 7 days. This can be automated, but I usually head over to a site provided by one of the local real estate companies or the BNAR (Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors). Most people aren’t aware, but nearly every local real estate site is displaying their listings from the same database.

On to Lancaster. I have been saying this for a solid 6 months. If you have a decent home under $150k in Lancaster, it won’t last long. There are still qualified buyers and the $8k tax incentive is a nice bonus (discount).

Recently, prices in Lancaster have appeared a bit inflated to me. I am not saying that these properties are not going to sell, I am just taking notice of pricing trends in our town and village.

Here are a couple of examples of houses for sale in Lancaster that appear to be a bit inflated:

House 1:

Lancaster House for Sale

The number 1 thing that this house has going for it is location (Village of Lancaster). This illustrates that location trumps most other factors in real estate.

This is a ranch house that is built on a slab. A home in WNY built on a slab is a huge negative in my book. The loss of basement space is a big issue in this area where items need to be stored in the off months. The home itself is decent size, but looks like it is a double wide and could be located in a trailer park.  There aren’t too many updates to the interior of this house..

If you had asked me to price this home, I would have pegged it at about $119k. They have it listed at $142,900.

Look for yourself: Lancaster house for sale

House 2:

Lancaster NY House for Sale

The second home is something that I often see when someone has a home that is on the edge of rural and developed areas.  The people who own these homes often feel that having 2 acres on the edge of town should have the same value as having 2 acres in the middle of town. Not so.  Head 1 mile further outside of the heart of the town and you will find 5 acres with a property, in many cases.

This home is a good size, but seems like it is price above the market for homes in that area of that style.  It is a split level home which isn’t for everyone.  The asking price is $259,900

As with the first example, this home does not have many interior updates or upgrades.  A house in this price range is expected to have newer appliances, perhaps new countertops, fresh walls (not wallpaper everywhere). This home screams early 80′s update.  You would have to put $40k – $60k into this to do a decent update to flooring, walls and kitchen.  But, at that price, you will start saying to yourself “we might as well build”.

Take a look at the property for yourself: Lancaster NY home for sale

I guess I should hope that the real estate market in Lancaster continues moving up.  I live and work here and will benefit if that is the case.  However, these 2 examples seem a bit out of line to me.

There aren’t too many true “online real estate auction” sites around. There is one that I keep coming across. The site is Williams & Williams Auctions. They offer a true auction format that allows you to place online bids in real time on properties. This isn’t the case for all properties, but it is designated when it is.

A friend picked up a house in Lockport last year on this site. I think he ended up paying $14,000 for a home in a decent neighborhood. It was obviously a gut job, but for the price, that was justified.

Check out the site for yourself. Buyer Beware!

NY Real Estate Auctions

I have been told that we will be seeing a flood of foreclosures since the “stay” is coming up. To be frank, I haven’t done too much homework on this, but my understanding is that there are teams of lawyers working crazy hours to process all of this stuff.

Here is a decent gauge: NY HUD foreclosure list.

Select Erie County from the NY State Foreclosure list. On 3/31/2009 there are 10 properties listed. In the past there were probably about 20-40. Let’s see if this spikes.