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Homes in Belle Sherman, Ithaca New York 2025
The Belle Sherman neighborhood, basically on the back door-step of the Cornell University campus, and especially convenient to the Veterinary school, is a favorite pick for buyers who would like an easy commute up the hill to Cornell for any reason.
Last year I worked with the owners of 36 Woodcrest Ave. to successfully sell their 2 bedroom, 2 bath home. What did I learn along the way? I learned that even if you have a sizable footprint and ample square footage, 2 bedrooms can be a tough sell. We were fortunately able to secure a full price offer within about 10 days of the home going on the market, and the former owners are off in another state with another sale on their hands this year!
The year before, in 2023, I assisted the owners of 48 Woodcrest Ave. in a massive downsizing/pruning and relocating to Boston effort! They made the leap after securing the best out of 4 offers, and received a significant bump on their list price for their efforts.
For your leisure reading, I’m happy to share the following statistics for the Belle Sherman elementary school district. This information is taken from the Ithaca Board of Realtors MLS.
| Single Family Sales | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| Number of homes sold | 28 | 40 | 52 |
| Average List Price | 426082 | 395,295 | 351,121 |
| Average Sold Price | 430,528 | 430,616 | 380,346 |
| Average Days on Market | 26 | 14 | 22 |
| Average SF | 1976 | 1905 | 1717 |
| Condo/PUD sales | 8 | 12 | 14 |
Remember that in 2023, interest rates took their biggest hike in about 20 years. That had a big dampening effect on sales. But even with 30% fewer closed sales in the neighborhood from 2023 to 2024, prices on the average flattened out last year. The highest sold price in the Belle Sherman school district last year was $808,000, vs $193,000 for the most affordable home.
If you are in need of an objective opinion about the the various aspects of a home sale or purchase, please feel free to give me a call or send an email to Santos@WarrenHomes.com. It’s never too soon to start preparing for such an important event.
36 Woodcrest, shown below, had a lot of great square footage, but the stone work on this property would really take your breath away!
48 Woodcrest, shown below, with an impressive addition to the rear of the home, featuring a full wall of windows and a fabulous stone patio – the entertainment center for the summer months!
Your rights as a Real Estate Buyer or Seller
Growing a business takes time. I have been working on expanding my presence and service in the Seneca and Schuyler county markets since March of 2020. My efforts are starting to bear fruit! If you are looking for help with a purchase or sale, I’d like to be at the top of your list for a call in Seneca, Schuyler, or Tompkins counties. It’s an honor to be someone’s Realtor. The fiduciary duties are important, and the NAR Code of Ethics is our compass. The real estate experience CAN be fun and easy to understand. Most important though, you should get results! You can expect your agent to provide REASONABLE CARE, UNDIVIDED LOYALTY, CONFIDENTIALITY, FULL DISCLOSURE, OBEDIENCE, AND DUTY TO ACCOUNT. You should discuss the expectations as you start to work with someone. Here’s a link to the form you should receive in the early days of working with your agent: https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2023/09/dos-1736-f-disclosure-form-for-buyer-and-seller_09.2021.pdf
If you are wondering what buying or selling property could be like, work with me! My idea is that clients should be well informed and on top of the transaction, with their agent’s help. Smooth sailing is the goal. Sometimes there is a knot to untangle. Call me first, so you’ll have fewer knots. And if you are not getting the service you expect and deserve, don’t settle for that – talk to you agent. Ask for the changes you want. Trust, “good faith”, and cooperation are necessary to get to a great result, in real estate..
Lucy the Library Dog! What is she doing this week?
In 2022 I had the good fortune to find and adopt my first dog – LUCY!
Lucy was a revelation. Being my first dog, there was a steep but very enjoyable learning curve!
My husband Bruce helped me a lot with this transition – he is an avid dog lover, and has owned 3 German Shepherds plus several other dogs in his time.
But Lucy and I did a lot on our own too, in our first year. We enrolled in obedience training and earned our CGC (Canine Good Citizen) designation! We got through the test on our first try – I was incredibly proud and touched by what could be accomplished in a relatively short time – six weeks.
We earned a certification with the Alliance of Therapy Dogs (ATD), to allow us to visit facilities that were interested in having a dog on premises to interact with and bring some joy to the participants. https://www.therapydogs.com/
As a result of taking that step, we are now able to visit a couple of important places (for us) – The South Seneca Elementary school, and our beloved Lodi Library! https://www.southseneca.org/ https://www.lodilibrary.net/
And so, as we are charged with fulfilling the ATD mission of bringing smiles and joy to those we meet, I am so excited to share news of this next event with you, especially if you live nearby!
In honor of St. Valentine’s Day, we will make homemade healthy dog treats to share with our canine companions, and we will enjoy a sweet treat of chocolate fondue for the humans, as part of our workshop on February 12th at 5 pm. Please spread the word and call 607-582-6218 if you’d like to sign up!
The Short Report on Newfield NY Real Estate
In 2023 there were 38 residential sales in Newfield, in spite of interest rates doubling during the second half of the year. While Tompkins County overall took a loss of $30M last year, and 61 fewer homes sold in the county, Newfield had its best year ever in terms of the number of residential sales, along with an increase in the sold price per square foot/SF ($166.85).
| Year | Res. Sales | Avg. Sold Price | Avg. DOM | Avg. Sold price/SF |
| 2019 | 25 | 191,163 | 85 | 124.79 |
| 2020 | 23 | 206,758 | 47 | 107.26 |
| 2021 | 29 | 245,830 | 46 | 161.07 |
| 2022 | 28 | 288,311 | 16 | 151.47 |
| 2023 | 38 | 237,569 | 10 | 166.85 |
| 2024 YTD | 20 | 285,295 | 25 | 172.02 |
Newfield will likely end the year with a total of 28-32 residential sales. There are currently 8 listings pending.
Statistically speaking, since 2019 when the average price was 191,163 Newfield has been participating along with the rest of the county in significant appreciation in real estate. Between 2019-2023, 24% average appreciation over 5 years breaks down to roughly 5% per year. Remember, this is a theoretical average based on ALL of the sales we have recorded through the MLS. Many homes exceed these expectations, and some do not rise as high in gains. For the real drama though, reflect on the change in DOM – days on market. This is a huge story for Newfield! In 2019 it took an average of 3 months to get a home under contract there. Last year, a 10 day average for all sales indicates high demand, and a lack of inventory here as elsewhere. This trend is back up to 25 DOM, year to date. For a home in good condition, well priced, this could still be a time of good opportunity for a sale.
Can’t wait!
I am so excited to list this new property on Ithaca’s West Hill! I have been working with these clients for approximately 10 months since they first approached me last year after being referred by their friend who worked with me on a 2023 sale. It’s always so nice to have business sent from a client – thank you Rebecca and Will!!
Anyway, this house is one of the best under 400K homes available right now in a great downtown location. There isn’t a lot left to do since the owners painted ALMOST all of the inside recently. The windows are spotless, giving you a clear view beyond the trees. Thoughtful and PLAYFUL landscaping graces the front entry. Who doesn’t love a Dahlia springing forth with a burst of vibrant color? Then there are the ZINNIAS! Those too.
The home has nice hardwood floors, 2 big enclosed porches on the back of the house, one one each level, and a lower level with history as an apartment – this space is ready to go in multiple directions for a new owner; it could be captured to use all as one home, or separated by a new owner into a rentable living space.
Our hope is that the home will be irresistible for someone who likes the West Hill! If that could be you, give your agent a call today and come see a wonderful house just going on the market today! Link to the listing: https://portal.onehome.com/en-US/share/1073808N20052
What does it mean to be a “Market Leader”?
We hear this term often enough, but what does it really mean?
What is a so called “Market Leader”? At Warren Real Estate, we are fortunate to have earned this designation for decades running now. If a company is consistently placing at the top of the rankings, it is usually not by accident.
Warren as a company has the statistics to show their track record as leader of the pack in regional real estate sales. But the numbers are just one part of the story. I think there is more to it.
When I joined this company myself in 2010, I was looking for something in the leadership team. I might not have known exactly what that was, but I recognized it when I saw it early on, and it is what has kept me happy here for 13 years. The elusive quality that I really go for in a work environment, is connection. I knew the managers and owners at Warren Real Estate before I interviewed with them, but I didn’t really “know” them. Soon after joining the company, it became clear to me that I was a valued member of the team. My first office was down the hall from Bryan W. and Ed Dellert’s offices. I was across the hall from senior agent Ken Carnes. I regularly walked laps around the office to take breaks and would basically shout hello to Ed and Bryan, and chat with Ken when he was in. Another regular in my early days was Ed Laine – a Realtor/maple syrup maker from Newfield. Once, I needed help with a buyer who needed to see a place near Ed’s house. I offered to pay Ed to help me with the showing, but he refused to take a penny. Downstairs we had some legends of the local market – Linda Hirvonen, Alice Moore, Mo Reycroft, Lucy Missirian, Susan Lustick (all still with us). As I was truly struggling to make ends meet in those early days, I would hire myself out to the senior agents to do errands and stand in for inspections or broker open houses. I was thankful for the extra work between deals, and loved the contact and interaction this provided. I’m more of a loner than a joiner so I never joined a “team” in the formal sense. But I felt I was already on a great team, so that need was really being met. Tam W. invited me out to lunch in those first months just to ask how it was going. I was pleased as punch to be recognized, and again, affirmed by my leadership team through these gestures of interest and kind attention.
As the years move us forward and we encounter new challenges each year, this team continues to stay connected to their agents in the field. I see it in so many ways, and that comes back around to values, for me. This company is not only a market leader in the way of sales statistics; they lead the way with heart and soul. Anyone who works here gets to know this eventually; Warren Real Estate values their people! They make time, even in busy spells, to help; to answer questions; to plan a casual happy hour to touch base, or a town hall meeting to tackle a huge problem, with us. It feels like they see each and every individual who plays for the team, and take time to acknowledge and thank them for their unique contribution.
So in addition to my usual “unique value proposition”, I have this to think of – how valuable it is to me, and to my clients, to have this kind of support happening in the background.
As we roll up to Thanksgiving 2023, I want to thank my company and all of its members for providing leadership, inspiration, and a wonderful work environment in a hugely dynamic industry! And here, for your perusal, are some of our local board AND Warren RE actual statistics from the first 3 quarters of 2023!
