They’re lured back by family ties, low housing costs, easy lifestyle
Why prodigal Buffalonians return
One problem: the job market
After 10 years in New York City, Emily Burns was eager to return to Buffalo. She just needed to find a good job to make it happen.
“I knew I needed a change,” she said.
Now she is back, as the newly hired communications manager at the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.
Burns, 28, wanted to live close to her friends and family here. She intends to become a homeowner within a few years, an idea she said was unthinkable in New York City.
Burns toured a number of area apartments that were in her price range, and chose to rent a townhouse in downtown Johnson Park, with ample space for herself and her two dogs.
“When you realize how much further your dollar can go here, you wonder what took you so long to come back,” she said.
The Buffalo area has lost a huge share of its younger population to other places, as U. S. Census numbers routinely show. But Burns is part of a segment of the population heading the other way, looking to return as their priorities change. Often they are people in their late 20s or early 30s who want to be near family, familiar places they grew up around, and crave a lifestyle with a pace different from larger metro areas.
Housing costs figure into that equation, making Buffalo look like a more attractive option for some. Recent data from the National Association of Realtors showed that from April through June, Buffalo Niagara’s median sale price for existing homes was $108,200, excluding taxes. It was the 13th lowest price among the 150 metro areas in the survey.
Buffalo Niagara’s median price during that quarter was up 4.7 percent from the year before. And while that growth rate may not be dazzling, it was still the 10th best increase at a time when many regions are mired in a housing slump.
A recent story in New York magazine is calling attention to the area’s low cost for living space and how it has helped persuade some Buffalo expatriates living in New York City to come back. As of late last week, the article was ranked the most read, commented on and e-mailed story on the magazine’s Web site.
Part of the article dealt with the price chasm between New York City and Buffalo for homes and apartments, as well as the difference in the amount of living space that comes with those costs. One couple gave up a tiny Brooklyn apartment for $1,300 a month for a spacious place in Buffalo for $795 per month.
Realtors interviewed said the region’s home prices could be a draw for young people who have tried living somewhere else but now want a place where they can afford to settle down.
“The crucial thing is the lifestyle,” said Phil Aquila, general manager of M. J. Peterson Co. “You can have a lifestyle here because you can afford to live here.”
James Knight, president of the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors, said the inexpensive housing could appeal to people whose jobs don’t require them to live in a big city. “Why not do your work from Buffalo and let the cyber world do what it does for you?” he said.
For many, though, finding a good-paying job here that allows them to come back is an obstacle. Burns said she loved living in New York City for several years and developing her career. But as she grew ready to return, she needed the security of having a job here. The Partnership opening took care of that.
“Everything just kind of fell in line,” she said.
Cenergy Communications in East Aurora has found success in hiring people who have gained experience on a national level and then want to come home, said John Cimperman, a partner in the firm. “I’ve found the people who have lived elsewhere appreciate living here more,” he said.
These are people focused on where they can become homeowners, minimize hassles like traffic, and in some cases raise children and spend more time with aging parents, Cimperman said.
And because Cenergy’s client base is national in scope, he said, employees still get the professional stimulation they enjoyed while working in bigger cities.
Lee Robinson, 46, recently joined Cenergy as its director of experiential marketing after living in Atlanta for 14 years. His resume includes working with Coca-Cola on several Olympics.
Robinson’s wife, Gigi, was born in East Aurora and moved away with her family at a young age. But through that connection, they were familiar with the town. Over time, they were drawn to living in a place with a slower pace where they could walk to a lot of places and have their four children — ages 10 and younger — go through school with the same classmates.
“We’d talked for years about making a move to this type of community, but it was always an issue of how I could make a living,” said Robinson, a Toronto native.
Cenergy and East Aurora ended up being a good fit. The Robinsons are renting a house for now and plan to buy a home.
As for housing prices, Robinson estimates the cost here is about half of what it was in Atlanta. But he says higher-priced factors like gasoline and taxes somewhat offset Buffalo’s cost-of- living advantage.
David Hearn, a West Seneca native, left the area for a job in Houston in 2004, but came back two years later with a different company. He now works as a senior financial analyst for Moog Inc. in Elma.
He and his wife, Kim, have three children and live in Orchard Park. They didn’t find much difference in the price of housing between here and Houston, but they liked the Buffalo area’s quality of life and shorter commute.
“There’s definitely that appeal to get back to the people you know,” said Hearn, who is 34.
Johannes Aubrecht, 38, a senior project engineer at Moog, returned from St. Paul, Minn., about 3z ye 1/2 r 1/3 ago. He was at a crossroads in his career and wanted to be closer to his family.
“If you can find a good job in Buffalo,” he said, “this is a great place to be.”
Marti Gorman, organizer of Buffalo Homecoming, which tries to lure back ex-Western New Yorkers, says she has assigned herself the job of attracting people to live here. Less-expensive housing is just one selling point, she said.
Gorman said connecting people in their 20s and 30s with the jobs they need to move here can be an issue. There are some good jobs that go begging for candidates, she said, while some potential hires with the right skill sets don’t know where to find job opportunities. A job fair that is part of Buffalo Homecoming tries to bridge that gap, using only local employers.
Gorman talks about making an imprint on the region, an aspiration that others who have returned often echo. “I personally feel as though I can make a difference here,” she said.
Jeff Schaefer, 32, figured his roots would bring him back some day. After leaving the area for college, he worked for colleges in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
When he and his wife learned they were having a third child, they knew they had to move closer to either his family here or hers in Pittsburgh to have some help.
In early 2007, Schaefer landed a job as an account executive with the technology firm Clevermethod, and he and his wife are living in Lancaster. “I’m working five minutes from my parents’ house,” he said.
Some who have returned, including Moog’s Aubrecht, noted that while housing was far more expensive where they used to live, high property taxes here can partially offset, if not overwhelm, the home-price advantage.
Knight, the BNAR president, said that, along with stimulating job growth, are issues that need to be addressed to maximize the impact of the region’s home prices.
“Can you imagine what would happen if we straightened out the tax mess?” Knight said.
