Featured Real Estate Listing: 116 Oakland Place (SLIDESHOW)

$899 seems a little steep.........maybe if there was a fireplace in the bathroom, I would consider it.

I don't understand these postings. What purpose does it serve to post mega-mansions that are only affordable by the upper 1% of Buffalonians. I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that the majority of BRO readers can't afford these listings. I feel like BRO should have a real estate section listing affordable fixer-uppers on the periphery of great neighborhoods or in neighborhoods with real potential; homes and mixed-use commercial buildings that may actually be affordable to BRO readers, which, from my perspective, seem to be chomping at the bit to be homeowners as well as to make a difference in their neighborhoods. BRO is missing a real opportunity to make an impact with their real estate section. I'm tired of salivating over the unattainable. I don't need to know where JP Losman used to live. Show me great little buildings that I can buy and fix up. I want to contribute to building and expanding stable, great little neighborhoods.

The point of these posts it to create the false illusion that Buffalo is a Big City like those that the creators and many posters to this site wish it were. By putting stuff like this on the site they can pretend we are another Boston or San Francisco and not just another Toledo.

In any other major city this would be a decent price, but in Buffalo that is a ridiculously absurd mark up the owners are proposing. One can ask any price they want of course, but please employ some common sense.

Is it possible for Buffalo Rising to simply publish a high-res photo gallery instead of this silly little slideshows?

You people need to get a clue. In other cities this would be a $3M house if not much more! People in Boston or San Francisco would have a heart attack if they saw a house like this listed for 6 figures.

That back yard is an amazing urban oasis. What a great lifestyle.

Wow!!! All over a real estate listing!

Call me a sucker but anytime I can see the insides of one of these old homes I love it. I own a big old home so I'm not in the market but I do love to look.

I love seeing listings like this. It doesn't make me feel bad that I can't (and probably never will be able to) afford it. As Steel said, it's amazing to think what this might go for in other cities... yes, I said other cities, big deal. Oakland Place has always been a favorite street of mine. BRO probably knows that most of us couldn't afford it; Maybe instead of writing about another part of town that has been neglected, they wanted to show us something beautiful that our city has to offer? I don't know. But keep 'em coming, please.

She's a stunner and I love that street!I also enjoy looking at the interior photo's of homes not normally available to the general public to walk through. My only hope though is that with the 598K profit the owners make, they upgrade to better furniture and artwork in their next residence...

I like reading about both the “unattainable” homes and the fixer-upper homes. I’m nearing the end of a large renovation of a circa 1880 home in the west village and I like to compare my work to similar era homes that are in this price range to get a basic idea of what you get (or think you can) for that type of home. I would like to see a “deal of the week” type post or section as I am in the market for an inexpensive fixer-upper investment property. Either way it’s nice to window shop and see the inside of these homes that you might not get to do otherwise if for no other reason than to appreciate the character.

Without entering a semantic imbroglio, I'll cast my vote in favor of seeing more affordable real estate offerings featured by BR. I like walking on Oakland Place but if the cost of entry there is $899K, count me out. At the other end of the spectrum, I'm not particularly interested in Byron Brown's pre-demo, tax lien specials but instead would like to see something in between.

I love seeing these beautiful, old homes. Keep posting them. It's not about the affordability... it's about the beauty.

It is interesting to be able to see inside some of these great old Buffalo homes and appreciate the quality of design and craftsmanship. They were built to impress and display great wealth but in a way that demonstrated much better taste than we see today.
That said, these homes are not very homelike or cozy. The interior spaces are oppressively formal and just downright uptight. Oakland Place is a beautiful street but not very welcoming and is usually devoid of any life. I am probably in the minority here but living in a house like this has no appeal and it is difficult to justify the need for such conspicuous consumption.

Avoid the slideshow by going to - http://www.era.com/property/photogallery.jsp?property=ERA2899843

This is a nice house. And it does make me feel better, I think, than if I were in Toldeo.

any time I get to look into a house like this, whether by open house or BRO post... it is worth it. No debate needed.

6K sq ft, 100 year old house... impeccably restored top to bottom with perfectly manicured landscaping and a triple lot with inground pool. Price seems about right and I am sure it will sell in no time. Wake up folks there are people with money in this town. If they will pay 1M to live in a condo I am sure someone will pay less to live in this Oakland Place beauty.

Too many dour comments here to dismantle one by one. For the record:

1. The price is not absurd for Buffalo: there are four 1 million plus houses multiple listed now and a handful of others in pocket listing well over a million and one at almost 3 million..in the city. That's not counting several million-plus condos recently sold or for sale in the city right now.

2. Luxury real estate seems to account for only a sporadic fantasy on BRO. Most real estate coverage at BRO lathers on about generic, cement floor loft condos at not unreasonable prices.

3. J.P. Losman still lives on Oakland Place

4. Blackrocklifer: with due respect I have to say your comments about Oakland Place, its interiors, and the social value of large old homes are unfair. Oakland has one of the most vibrant block associations in the city. The urban affection and neighborly warmth of this street soar past anything I've seen in all places I've lived. Oakland residents every year open their homes to strangers to share their beauty, restoration tips and cordiality. This is urban life at its best, and partly what makes Buffalo urban life so civilized. People need beauty--on intimate and impressive scales-- and without these capacious, elegant and novelistic homes, our streetscapes would be diminished.

4. To Sally: You're right; Buffalo is not San Francisco--it's more livable and more architecturally compelling. . . and prettier.

Oakland Place is an oasis in this city. I live a block away and am proud to show off this street, Tudor Place, the Olmstead Parkways (Humboldt included), Nottingham/Middlesex, Richmond Avenue, the Parkside neighborhood, McKinley Parkway and Judge's Row to my out of town friends and associates as the best we have to offer. I also take them to historical neighborhoods and hidden pockets to show what great bones we have and how some are making positive changes to their neighborhood (Allentown, Timon St in Cold Spring, Black Rock, West Village, Elmwood, off-Richmond, etc). As this site is supposed to be devoted to profiling Buffalo rather than criticizing it, I applaud BRO for showing properties such as this. After all, this is not some local site. This site reaches people all over the world. Even when profiling battles such as the Livery, St Mary-on-the-Hill, the Bosche Building, etc, BRO takes special care to show what once was and what its loss would mean. So in a nutshell, Buffalo has a property in excellent condition that will be enjoyed by one who can afford it. Bravo.

It is beyond belief that anyone could get upset about this post. It is very interesting to read about a listing of a gorgeous house on a gorgeous street.

There really is a loser mentality here. There is a Brooklyn blog that posts all the listings of the multi-million dollar brownstones. The posters, 99% who cannot afford the house, just comment on the beauty of it and how they wish they could afford to buy it.

Maybe next time BR can post an entire article on a 3BR cape in North Buffalo that's on the market for $100,000. Now that would be interesting.

if this house was $3__ less than 5 years ago, and now it's approaching $9__, then let's hear it for appreciation! In another 5 years when it sells for over $1MM, then we can complain about a whole host of other dumb things...

and, I'm pretty sure no one at BRO forces people to read every post. you're allowed to skip the ones that are of no interest.

i live right around the block from oakland and i love this street. that price seems fair given how large the house is and that stunning backyard. i also love the dark hardwood floors, a nice change from what one usually sees. not trying to get involved in the earlier debate, but i think that the point of these posts is not to try and show off, but just to show what the city has and give something for people to aspire towards owning one day.

I've been in the house several times (first floor & back yard only). The pictures don't do the kitchen justice - it's a wonderfully warm place (literally & figuratively) to congregate. The owners spent several hundred thousand dollars restoring & upgrading the house, so there isn't a huge profit being made. Unfortunately, it's being sold due to divorce.