To me, Westdale is anything from the foot of the mountain in the south to main street (in the north)
And from McMaster (in the west) to James Street (in the east).
"Westdale Proper" I suppose would be the King Street area around Mac. This house is in "westdale proper" and I guarantee it will go for less than 400. Toronto a similar neighbourhood would be Riverdale or High Park and it would be 800 plus.
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=11903998&PidKey=-1030712631
Trust me, Hamilton is a buyer's market.
Here's a 5 bedroom, 3 story house for 179k and it's a decent neighbourhood (I even know this street)
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=11808434&PidKey=-951493404
In my experience, Hamilton is HALF of what Toronto is price wise. (But it truly is location, location, location)
The two areas I would consider living in in Hamilton are: Westdale (first) and Gage Park (second)
The 2 funky areas are Locke Street and Hess Street.
The downtown core is hard hit. No doubt about that.