I've been digging into the numbers this week, and I need to give it to you straight — buyers and sellers both. 10-Year Treasury Yield: Where It Stands The 10-year yield sits at 4.99% as of September 16, briefly touching 5.01% intraday earlier this week — its highest level since October 2023. It has climbed … Continue reading Buyer’s stop waiting, the {mortgage} interest rate fairy isn’t coming.
Tompkins, Cayuga, Cortland, Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler & Seneca Counties | September 7–14, 2026 County-by-County Snapshot (Past 7 Days) CountyNew ListingsPrice CutsPending / Under ContractExpired / WithdrawnTompkins33301137*Cayuga2735207Chemung25301611Tioga106121Cortland79104Seneca7493Schuyler6273Total1151167467 *37 expired/withdrawn in Tompkins includes a 28-lot builder batch expiration in Lansing. The Story Behind the Numbers Seneca County is quietly the tightest market in the region. Pending homes … Continue reading Beyond the Blips: Real Estate Pulse Across the Finger Lakes & Southern Tier
Selling Your Home in Ithaca? How to Find the Right Real Estate Agent... So you're thinking about selling your house. Maybe you're ready to make a move. Maybe you've been talking about it for six months. Maybe you're just curious what your house is worth and wondering, “If I actually decide to sell, who the … Continue reading How to shop for a listing agent intelligently.
If you've been watching headlines about a red-hot national housing market, our local numbers tell a different story. The Ithaca Board of REALTORS' June 2026 Monthly Indicators show a market that's quietly rebalancing — more choices for buyers, more patience required from sellers, and a few signals worth understanding before you list or make an … Continue reading From Seller’s Market to Balanced: What Tompkins County’s June 2026 Numbers Are Really Telling Us
If you're renting in Ithaca, please read this before you send anyone a dollar for a lease, a deposit, or a set of keys. I recently spotted another suspicious rental post on Nextdoor — the kind that's becoming all too common in our area. A property was listed "for rent" by someone claiming to represent … Continue reading Rental Scams Are Getting Smarter — And They’re Hitting Closer to Home
Pip: Lindsay Hart knows that buying a home in the Finger Lakes is exciting — and that "exciting" is doing a lot of heavy lifting once the utility bills arrive.Mara: Hart is Where Your Home is has been working through exactly that gap — the distance between what buyers expect and what ownership actually costs. … Continue reading Podcast Episode: Finger Lakes Home Buying Reality
Pip: Lindsay Hart knows the Finger Lakes the way a good contractor knows which walls are load-bearing — and today's posts are about what actually moves a home from listed to sold. Mara: Lindsay covers the full seller's journey here: what to fix before you list, what questions sellers are asking right now, and what … Continue reading Selling Homes With Strategy- a quick podcast
Buying a home is exciting—especially in the Finger Lakes, where a home can mean a village porch in Trumansburg, a farmhouse outside Ithaca, a lake-area retreat, or a place with room to grow near Watkins Glen, Seneca Falls, or Canandaigua. But one of the most important parts of preparing to buy is looking beyond the … Continue reading The Cost of Homeownership
If you’re preparing to sell a home in the Finger Lakes, the question usually is not simply, “Should I renovate?” It is: Which improvements will help this particular home compete for its likely buyer—and which ones risk spending money you will not get back? The right answer depends on your home’s condition, price range, location, … Continue reading Should You Renovate Before Selling in the Finger Lakes?
Whether the Finger Lakes market is moving quickly, slowing down, or simply becoming more selective, sellers still have meaningful control over how their home competes. You cannot control interest rates, the number of competing listings, buyer confidence, or the weather on the weekend your home launches. But you can control the decisions that shape a … Continue reading What Sellers Control in Any Market
