Longtime experience and deep commitment to Western New York gives Buffalo Brick & Mortar the ability to stay true to its mission of being a resource for people who have an unwanted home and are unsure of what to do next.
The real estate investment firm buys homes for cash. People who need to sell a home for a variety of reasons can turn to Buffalo Brick & Mortar. This could be someone who inherited a house they can’t manage, a landlord who wants to offload a property, or a seller seeking to leave the area and not interested in working through a real estate agent.
Chief Operating Officer Adam Brophy says the company stands out from national competitors with little experience in the field. He highlighted founder Phil Greiner’s 20 years in the real estate world, from the time he was a teenager working in property preservation, and how the business itself has been around since 2019.
“Phil’s been in the real estate space as long as I can remember,” says Brophy. He’s known Greiner since middle school. “Phil had his own property preservation company while he was in college. From there, he's been a real estate agent. He's been a former appraiser’s assistant. He used to sell foreclosures for the banks. So he's been doing this for a very long time now. With Buffalo Brick & Mortar, he wanted to offer an additional resource for sellers when the traditional real estate transaction didn't make sense.”
Building a local team has also been important. Nearly all the 17 staff members either live in or are from the region.
“I talk to people on the phone all the time. They ask where we are located, because that’s important to people,” says Quinn Pafk, marketing and advertising manager. He grew up in East Aurora. “I tell them that we're right in Larkinville. We can come to your house today if you want. I think being here, and knowing the area, it's very helpful to make that relationship with the sellers and have a good transaction with them.”
Brophy said people can contact them for an assessment and quickly get a cash offer. The company purchases homes that are distressed and works with the seller as much as possible, especially with closing dates. Brophy says the average closing date is one month, but if a person needs the process to go faster or slower, they make those arrangements.
Most of the houses that Buffalo Brick & Mortar purchases will either be renovated to resell or turned into rental units that they manage. In the last three years, the company averaged 100 transactions a year. This year sales are trending higher, potentially reaching 160 transactions.
“We do want to separate ourselves from the other companies who buy houses for cash,” Pafk says. “We're trying to change the community for the better. Maybe taking some houses that have been vacant or abandoned for a long time and flip them and make them affordable for people in the community, just to make it a better place.”
