<p>I am looking to actually purchase a house or apartment near the Cornell campus for my 4 years there. I was wondering if any of you knew about the apartment complexes / neighborhoods nearby and whether or not they have good public transportation or if I need a car.. etc. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>there is pretty good bus service in ithaca, but depending on how far away you choose to live, you may want a car for convenience. i have found a car to be really convenient for exploring restaurants, getting groceries/running errands, going home or to visit friends, etc. if you do a google search for tcat buses, you will find a route map.</p>
<p>i would highly suggest living on north campus with freshmen for your first year. this is if you chose to buy a house now, i would rent it out your first year and then move in afterward. either that, or wait until you are on campus and have a better feel for the neighborhood/transportation/campus life. most people live in collegetown or below west campus on stewart ave area. there are other apartments up on north campus/cayuga heights area, however, those are generally the farthest away, and most secluded. there is also housing in the commons, but again that is quite far away from campus, and you would need to take a bus or drive up (unless you want to walk 20-30 mins uphill everyday). its important to be relatively close to campus because the farther you are away the more difficult it is to have flexibility in your day. </p>
<p>in collegetown it generally stretches from oak to e state street, and blair to stewart ave. other streets are catherine, cook, dryden, eddy, williams, highland drive. most of the places in this area are owned by landlords and rented out to students. you can rent for approx 400/month if you live farther away, up to 1000+ per month if you live on college ave. </p>
<p>from my limited perspective, it seems difficult to actually buy a place close to campus, but if you are willing to drive or take public transport, this could be a good investment, and you could rent out your rooms. again, I would highly highly suggest living on north campus with freshmen just for the sake of joining activities, meeting friends, and getting situated. i was thinking about purchasing a house after my freshman year as an investment, but i realized that i would not be able to live as close to campus as i would have liked. i also ended up joining a fraternity and did not need to find housing for my soph/junior years.</p>
<p>It largely depends on how much money you are willing to spend. Generally speaking, there are not a lot of condos for purchase within walking distance to the University, but there are some condos available downtown, namely the new Cayuga Green complex. These will be on an easy five minute bus ride to Central.</p>
<p>So that means you would have to consider purchasing a house, and there are two ways to go about this: 1) Look close to campus in Lower Collegetown, Belle-Sherman, or Cayuga Heights, where prices will tend to be more expense, or 2) Look farther afield in the West End or the Sapsucker Woods area where you will still have decent bus service but prices will be cheaper.</p>
<p>The trade-off is that it will be easier to find people to rent from you the closer you are to the University.</p>
<p>In Lower Collegetown, you can find places like this one for ~$200k – practically falling over and no off-street parking.</p>
<p>[505</a> E State St, Ithaca, NY 14850 - Zillow](<a href=“http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/505-E-State-St-Ithaca-NY-14850/2141738879_zpid/]505”>http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/505-E-State-St-Ithaca-NY-14850/2141738879_zpid/)</p>
<p>Up in Belle-Sherman, you can get a nicer space (albeit, less) for a bit more money:</p>
<p>[110</a> Delaware Ave, Ithaca, NY 14850 - Zillow](<a href=“http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/110-Delaware-Ave-Ithaca-NY-14850/32812515_zpid/]110”>http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/110-Delaware-Ave-Ithaca-NY-14850/32812515_zpid/)</p>
<p>In the West End, prices fall a bit:</p>
<p>[508</a> W Seneca St, Ithaca, NY 14850 - Zillow](<a href=“http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/508-W-Seneca-St-Ithaca-NY-14850/32812270_zpid/]508”>http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/508-W-Seneca-St-Ithaca-NY-14850/32812270_zpid/)</p>
<p>And you can start to find good values up in Sapsucker Woods:</p>
<p>[41</a> Sapsucker Woods Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850 - Zillow](<a href=“http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/41-Sapsucker-Woods-Rd-Ithaca-NY-14850/32817767_zpid/]41”>http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/41-Sapsucker-Woods-Rd-Ithaca-NY-14850/32817767_zpid/)</p>
<p>For most of these you technically don’t need a car, as they are all on bus-lines. But I would think any homeowner would need a car for those late night trips to the hardware store when the toilet stops working.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the info!</p>