Pip: Lindsay Hart is a realtor who apparently decided that "here's a listing" wasn't enough — so she built a full research department instead.

Mara: Hart is Where Your Home is has been digging into Tompkins County from two angles: what the market has actually done over the past seven years, and how to figure out which neighborhood you'd actually want to live in.

Pip: Two very different questions, one very useful answer set. Let's start with the numbers.

Seven Years of Prices Going One Direction

Pip: The Tompkins County market trend report covers 2018 through 2025, and the core question it's answering is: did prices really keep climbing even when everything else got harder?

Mara: They did. The report puts it plainly: "Even after interest rates doubled in 2023, prices continued climbing due to a shortage of available homes."

Pip: So higher borrowing costs didn't cool the market — they just reduced the number of transactions while prices kept rising. Fewer sales, higher prices, classic supply squeeze.

Mara: The numbers back that up. Average closing prices went from $243,000 in 2018 to $425,000 in 2025 — a compound annual growth rate of roughly 8.3%. Price per square foot moved from $131 to about $207. And average home size stayed nearly flat across those years, so the gains are real appreciation, not just bigger houses.

Pip: The sales volume story is almost the inverse. Peak was 865 transactions in 2021, then a drop to 578 by 2024. The report attributes a lot of that to owners locked into low pandemic-era rates — the golden handcuffs keeping inventory off the market.

Mara: The 2026 to 2027 projection calls for average close prices between $445,000 and $460,000, with median days on market staying in the 8 to 15 day range. The sale-to-list ratio has settled back to 1.00, which the report reads as balanced — competitive, but not the waive-everything frenzy of 2022.

Pip: Eight percent annual appreciation holding through a rate doubling is a fairly striking data point.

Mara: The report's framing is that steady demand plus crushed supply equals higher prices and fewer transactions — and that dynamic hasn't reversed. Which makes the neighborhood question the natural next step.

Decoding Which Block You Actually Want

Mara: The neighborhood guide exists because the Tompkins County map is deceptive — areas that look adjacent on a listing site can differ sharply in school district, tax burden, and price. The guide tries to make those invisible lines visible.

Pip: The Tompkins County Neighborhood Decoder opens with a warning that lands: "Two houses a five-minute walk apart can sit in different school districts, different tax bases, and a $100,000 difference in price for reasons that aren't obvious from a listing photo."

Mara: That's the practical stakes. School district doesn't follow city address lines, taxes vary by municipality and village, and a home listed as Ithaca might actually sit in the Lansing, Dryden, or Trumansburg district. The guide says to confirm the district on the specific parcel, not the address.

Pip: The guide runs through the full county — Fall Creek and Belle Sherman inside the city for buyers who want walkability and strong resale, Cayuga Heights for grand lots and faculty neighbors plus a notably high tax line, and outer towns like Lansing for newer homes and lake access at better value.

Mara: Groton comes in as the most affordable entry point in the county, with the longest commute. Danby and Newfield offer the most land for the money. The guide also flags that rural properties mean private well and septic — and recommends budgeting for those inspections specifically.

Pip: There's a section called "five things that quietly decide the deal" — commute in winter not July is one of them, which is the kind of advice that sounds obvious until February on a hill road.

Mara: The market context woven through the guide lines up with the trend report: median near $380,000 in 2025, well-priced homes still moving close to asking, but buyers with a bit more room than the peak years. The frantic era is over; the tight-supply era is not.

Pip: Knowing the price trend is one thing. Knowing which block that price buys you something you'll actually want — that's where the two pieces connect.

Mara: The through-line across both is supply: it's what's driving prices up and what makes neighborhood selection matter more than it might in a looser market.

Pip: When inventory is thin, the wrong block is a much more expensive mistake. More from Tompkins County next time.