Huge restored Victorian homes. Cheap housing prices. What's not to like about Elmira, N.Y.?
A lot of people may be asking themselves that because, when it comes to real estate, Elmira is shining. It's median home price has risen from $86,800 at the peak of the housing peak to $99,200 in the second quarter of 2010. That's a 14 percent rise, one of the largest increases of any metro area in the United States, and half the homes sell for under $100,000.
The metro area's image may suffer because it includes two maximum security prisons, but the city's crime rate last year was at a 10-year low and the number of jobs is at a 17-month high. The unemployment rate is significantly below the national average.
And the area is trying to capitalize on its connections to Mark Twain (he summered there and is buried in Elmira) and the sport of gliding (it hosted the first national contests in the 1930s and '40s and is now home to the National Soaring Museum).
Elmira also has restored a historic carousel that it claims is the fastest in the world, spinning at 18 miles per hour.
