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When you do a web search for “average house price in Elma,” you come up with a lot of good, not-so-good, and just plain lame information. If you were looking for a general idea of what the current market says that homes like yours in your neighborhood are worth, the results are likely to be more amusing than anything else.

You always come up with the national sites’ average listing price for homes for sale in Western New York. Depending upon how recently their data engine found and tossed out d...

It does seem that whenever a story about some faraway homeowners association finds its way into East Aurora area newspapers, nearly always it’s because something has gone awry. Either there’s an ongoing dispute about a flag display (“Indiana Couple Violate Rules for Flying U.S. Flag”), a fencing disagreement (“Border Feud is Childish and Dangerous”), or something else to catch readers’ eyes. The pettier, the better (“North Carolina Man in Dispute over Pansies Planted in Common Area”). Why does t...

When you Google “seeking the best professional,” in about a half a second you are presented with 403 million candidates (not to play favorites, SearchEngineWise, when you ask Bing the same thing, it gives you a mere 62.6 million…which might actually prove more useful, since it would only take you a little more than a year to scan each for 2 seconds).

Narrowing the quest, when you Google “seeking the best Realtor®,” it gives you just a few less than 2,000,000 likely results. Since anyone seeking...

At some point while weighing the pros and cons of buying a new home in town, you begin to mentally fix on a price range. If you are able to depend on a family income that’s fairly predictable, the issue is simplified. If not (small business owners, entrepreneurs, and many sales professionals frequently find themselves in this category), finding an appropriate price range takes careful deliberation.

Sometimes the issue can be decided for you. In most cases, buying a home will involve a mortgage,...

It may not be the first factor you look at when you begin planning to buy an Elma house, but unless you are in the rare position of being able to make an all-cash purchase, sooner or later your credit score will become a prominent factor. That’s why this month’s get-together in Washington held some information that could ultimately become pretty important for both Western New York home buyers and sellers.

The meeting was held at the National Association of Realtors headquarters, with participan...

Owning an Elma rental property owes its popularity to the distinctive financial attributes it offers investors. Like a dividend-producing stock, it’s a holding that stands to produce a regular income stream. It’s also a real asset in the truest sense of the word—one with solid collateral value. For adroit Southtowns rental property investors, it’s also an asset that can build value over time.

When it comes to quantifying a Western New York rental property’s income-producing potential, after an...

Since Western New York home interest rates continue to play such a leading role for buyers in today’s real estate market, any relevant news items bear watching. For quite a while, home interest rates in the Southtowns have cooperated nicely, dwelling at tantalizingly low levels. It’s been helpful to sellers and buyers alike.

Meanwhile, some strange headlines about European home interest rates have been appearing from time to time. They never seemed to make much sense, but it’s Europe, after all...