A million-dollar price tag on a home isn't the hurdle it once was.

In recent days, two mansions — one in Buffalo and the other in Amherst — each sold for more

than $1 million, and 24 other homes in Erie County — including five in Buffalo — are listed at

similar prices.

Last week's sale of a home at 62 Middlesex Road for $1.45 million might rank as the most

expensive ever in Buffalo.

"You're going to see more million-dollar sales. The houses are worth it. The market is

there," said Susan Lenahan, a broker associate at MJ Peterson Corp., who sold three

million-dollar homes last year in Buffalo and has three currently listed. "They don't sell

quickly, and it takes a little more time on the market, but they do sell."

Currently 13 homes in Erie County are listed for more than $1.45 million. The three in Buffalo — two on Nottingham Terrace and one on Tudor Place — include the 12-bedroom mansion at 175 Nottingham for which Richard A. Snowden, the owner of a Cheektowaga strip club that recently lost its liquor license, is asking $2.195 million.

"So the million-dollar house isn't all that wild or unheard of," said Jim Eagan, vice

president of Gurney Becker & Bourne, the high-end real estate brokerage that handled the

Amherst sale, on Lebrun Road.

In the Southtowns, the owners of a sprawling home at 6746 Lake Shore Road in Evans are

seeking $2.5 million, while 6523 Boston State Road in Hamburg is listed for $2.3 million.

The Hamburg home was part of a $6.3 million two-home purchase by a now-disgraced Cleveland

financier in 2008, when it was listed for $3.3 million. The previous owner has since reclaimed

the property through foreclosure, but those sales remain the local records.

Million-dollar home sales used to be few and far between in Western New York, where the

average and median home sale prices generally remain at less than $130,000. Even most homes in

tony East Amherst and Clarence have rarely exceeded six figures.

Instead, the most expensive homes were largely limited to streets like Lebrun in Amherst,

Nottingham and Middlesex in Buffalo, and the so-called Millionaire's Row along Delaware Avenue

in Buffalo.

But that is changing, driven by a pickup in luxury developments, renewed demand for

lakefront homes and construction of high-end condominiums like those in Carl Paladino's

Waterfront Place and Uniland Development Co.'s Avant Building.

Several million-dollar condos already have sold in both buildings, along with others just

below that threshold. Amherst developer William L. Huntress, through his Acquest Holdings,

bought an Avant unit this month for $806,119.

"Uniland deserves a lot of credit for the amazing job they did," Huntress said in a

statement, citing views of the waterfront and city, as well as the "five-star amenities" that

"can't be replicated anywhere in Buffalo."

So while few new mansions are being built, brokers say, buyers have a newfound appreciation

for what $1 million can buy in the Buffalo Niagara region, compared with other major

metropolitan areas.

"They are not the rare and unusual occurrence that they were," Lenahan said. "People are

realizing that there seems to be value in these houses, especially compared [with] other parts

of the country."

So far this month, the owners of two local Gold's Gym franchises bought the Middlesex

mansion from a prominent civic family, while a successful technology businessman and his wife

acquired the mansion on Lebrun from a former Buffalo Bills executive and his wife.

In the first, Joe and Amy Bueme, acting through 62 Middlesex LLC, paid $1.45 million to buy

62 Middlesex from Naniscah B. Koessler, widow of Paul J. Koessler, the former Peace Bridge

Authority chairman who died in 2008.

Completed in 1930 and located on 0.7 acres near Delaware Park, the 7,207-square-

foot residence has five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and four half-bathrooms in the

three-story main house, plus a separate carriage house.

Known as the Louis Surdam House, it was designed by Western New York architect Duane S.

Lyman, who also designed the Saturn Club, 800 West Ferry, the Buffalo Federal Courthouse and

the Delaware Court Building.

"The home is a wonderful home. It's not a mansion. It looks like one, but it's a home,"

Naniscah Koessler said. "You have a love affair with it. It's easy to live in. It's

comfortable."

It also has a pool and landscaped gardens throughout the property, which Koessler described

as her passion during her family's 15 years in the house. "The gardens are amazing," she said.

"It's truly what I will miss."

The half-finished basement includes an old-fashioned wine cellar, a bar, a billiard room

and a stage on which chamber music groups once entertained the Surdam family and guests. Much

later, the Koessler's own children and grandchildren used it for their own performances and

even karaoke.

The Buemes, whom Koessler said approached her about the house, own the Gold's Gym sites at

770 Wehrle Drive in Cheektowaga Amherst and 1402 French Road in Cheektowaga. Amy Bueme

would not comment beyond that "we're just happy to have it."

In the second sale, the founder and CEO of private student lender Think Financial bought a

million-dollar mansion on Lebrun this month from Thomas K. Donahoe, former Bills president and

general manager.

Donahoe and his wife, Mary Margaret, sold 790 Lebrun to Barry O. and Tracy A. Heneghan for

$1.165 million.

Built in 1942, the 7,132-square-foot home on 2.55 acres has six bedrooms, five full

bathrooms, two half-bathrooms and six fireplaces. It includes an in-ground pool and two

basketball courts.

Heneghan, who worked for 10 years for Boston's First Marblehead Corp., founded Think

Financial as a student loan consolidation firm in Buffalo in mid-2006. The firm moved to its

current office on Mississippi Street in Buffalo's Cobblestone District in January 2007.

Donahoe worked for the Bills for five years starting in 2001, helping to develop the Bills

Store, Bills Digest, a youth football program, Bills youth football field and the Buffalo

Bills Student Leaders program.