By JAMES FINK
Business First

Jed Dietrich III could have lived anywhere.

But he chose the Spaulding Lake subdivision in Clarence.

Dietrich, a personal-injury attorney, sold his longtime home in Amherst's Woodacres subdivision - originally with the intent of splitting his time between the Buffalo Niagara region and Park City, Utah.

But, after a brief sojourn in Utah, Dietrich and his family decided to return to their local roots.

"I prefer Buffalo to Utah," Dietrich said. "I think the people here are great and the area is great - I know that sounds like the chamber of commerce, but it's true."

An avid skier, Dietrich is holding onto the family's Park City residence as a winter getaway location.

Born and raised in Amherst, and a self-described northern suburbs sort of guy, Dietrich said when he and his wife, Colleen, decided to move permanently back to the area, their focus was solely on places like Amherst and Clarence.

They ended up buying in Spaulding Lake, acquiring the spacious home of former Buffalo Sabre Chris Drury.

"I honestly didn't think I could afford Clarence, and especially not Spaulding Lake," Dietrich said.

Peer pressure, this time from close family friends, convinced the Dietrichs to look closely at Clarence. What they found was a town deep with services and amenities, but a lower property and school tax rate than Amherst. Taxes, Dietrich estimates, are probably 10 percent to 15 percent lower in Clarence than Amherst.

A comparison of the school districts in Williamsville and Clarence - a key factor in a home's sellability - was a wash. They are the two top-rated public school districts in the region, according to an annual Business First ranking. However, the Dietrichs send their three children to private parochial schools.

Two factors that truly swayed the couple, besides the lower tax bill, were Spaulding Lake's amenities and the discounted price they negotiated for the house.

"The lake was a big bonus," Dietrich said. "We can use it to swim or to kayak."

As for the price, Drury paid $550,000 for the home when he bought it in August 2005, according to documents filed in the Erie County Clerk's office. The Dietrichs paid $436,500 when they purchased it last summer - one year after Drury left the Buffalo Sabres for the New York Rangers.

Convenience was also an important factor for Dietrich, who will soon relocate his office from Snyder to a former schoolhouse at the corner of Maple and N. Forest roads in Amherst. The drive to his new office is less than 15 minutes.

And if he has to get to court in downtown Buffalo, it is actually easier to get to the Kensington Expressway from Spaulding Lake than it was from Woodacres.

"I just shoot down Gunnville Road to Genesee Street, and I'm there," Dietrich said. "Before, I had to navigate my way down Youngs Road and W. Klein Road just to get to the 33."

‘All over the map'

There are no particular neighborhoods that the area's lawyers gravitate to, said veteran real estate agent Susie Lenahan.

"It's really all over the map," said Lenahan, M.J. Peterson Corp. vice president. "When it comes to finding a home, it is truly a personal choice, and there are so many factors involved," Lenahan said.

Personal-injury attorney Stephen Barnes has purchased one of the penthouses in the Pasquale, a 13-story tower lawyer/developer Carl Paladino has just built in downtown's Waterfront Village.

Interest has been high in the 47-unit Pasquale, but not because Barnes, a principal in Cellino & Barnes PC, bought one of the penthouses.

"It's the newest address on the waterfront," Lenahan said. "The building, the views and location, sells itself - not who lives there."

Ryan Gellman and his wife looked at the option of renovating their existing home or buying a new place. They decided it wouldn't cost much more to move.

"The same money we would have spent updating our old house was spent on moving," said Gellman, a partner with Colucci & Gallaher. "It was a wash."

As it happened, the Gellmans stayed in the Williamsville Central School District, so schools were not a factor. Their oldest daughter ended up going to Country Parkway Elementary School instead of Dodge Elementary School, but that was the only change.

"We moved because it made sense at the time," Gellman said.

Thomas Keable, a partner with Gross Shuman Brizdle & Gilfillan PC, can pinpoint the reason why he moved from Crescent Avenue in North Buffalo to the Eggertsville/Snyder area in Amherstfour years ago: His two daughters.

Both were enrolled at Nardin Academy for grade school, but said they wanted to attend a co-ed high school. Buffalo private and parochial schools were too pricey, Keable said. That left the suburban-school option.

Keable, a fan of modern architecture, and his wife found just what they were looking for in a 1950s ranch-style home along Four Seasons West, a quiet street just off of LeBrun Road.

It's a convenient location - "barely out of the city," Keable said - and aesthetically suits them too.

"It's the sort of house that looks like it belongs in Los Angeles," Keable said. "It is also a house that was probably way ahead of its time when it was built in 1959."

The 3,600-square-foot four-bedroom screams contemporary design.

"When I walked in the door," Keable said, "I knew immediately this was our house."