What we take on when the house comes occupied
Landlords who call us about a Huntington tenant-occupied house have usually tried the ordinary route already and watched buyer after buyer lose interest at the tenant question.
We are the other end of that market. We take the property occupied, take the rent roll as it stands, and take the occupant on after closing. Security deposits transfer through the attorneys as normal. If a holdover proceeding is already underway, we can often carry it forward rather than asking you to finish it first.
You do not have to remove the tenant first
You do not have to get the tenant out before you sell. We take the property subject to the existing tenancy and handle the tenant ourselves afterward.
That means no notice to serve, no proceeding to start, and no cash-for-keys offer to fund out of your own pocket. For a landlord who has already been told by three buyers that the house has to be delivered empty, that is usually the whole conversation.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A five-bedroom on Broadview Drive. A house on Harmon Drive. Both in Huntington, bought and paid for by us.
Huntington is roughly 19,474 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11743, and the housing stock is mostly victorian, colonial, tudor. Around Heckscher Museum of Art and Paramount Theater, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Huntington stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We have been buying across Suffolk County for 15+ years. We know what the Huntington Union Free School District does to a resale price, which blocks still have oil tanks in the ground, and what a house like yours is actually worth here.
Selling a Huntington house with a tenant who has stopped paying
Holdover tenants are the version landlords find hardest, because the lease is over, the tenant is still there, and every ordinary buyer treats that as a deal-breaker.
We treat it as a number. Tell us where things stand, whether anything has been filed, and what has actually been paid recently. We have bought houses at every stage of that, and a difficult occupant has never been the reason we walked away from a seller.
Multi-family property with tenants in Huntington
Two-family and converted houses are the ones where a single tenant holds up an entire sale. Three units paying and one occupant refusing to cooperate is enough to end most retail deals.
We buy them occupied, whether every tenant is paying or not, and we do not need the difficult unit emptied, or even shown, before we give you a number.
What the two paths cost in Huntington
These are the two routes open to you with a tenant-occupied house, priced against what Huntington houses actually sell for.
Work it against Huntington's own numbers. The median sale here is $935,000. A 5% commission on that is $46,750, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $18,700. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $65,450 gone before anyone counts the repairs it took to get the house listable.
There are two waits in a listed sale and people usually only count the first. In Huntington the median house takes about 38 days to go from listed to a signed contract. Then it waits again, typically 45 to 60 days, while the buyer's lender orders an appraisal and underwrites the loan. Call it 83 to 98 days from sign to keys, assuming nothing goes wrong.
The part worth understanding is what a signed contract actually guarantees, which is less than most sellers assume. A retail buyer with a mortgage contingency can walk away right up to the end. If they do not qualify, if the appraisal comes in under the price, if they change their mind and let the financing lapse. A share of deals die exactly there, after months of waiting, and the house goes back on the market with time on it. We are not borrowing anything, so there is no lender to satisfy, no appraisal to come in low and no contingency to exercise.
| Listing with an agent | Selling to us | |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $935,000 (Huntington median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$46,750 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$18,700 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 38 days (Huntington median, once listable) | 24 hours to a written offer |
| Contract to closing | 45 to 60 days (waiting on the buyer's lender) | A date you choose |
| Total wait | 83 to 98 days if nothing falls through | Yours to set |
| Can the buyer walk? | Yes (mortgage contingency runs to the end) | No financing to fall through |
| Before repairs and carrying | $869,550 | The number we put in writing |
The agent column uses a 5% commission and about 2% of seller closing costs, which are typical rather than fixed. It leaves out repairs and holding costs because no two houses are alike there. Where a house is in good condition, listing with a capable agent can beat our number, and we will be upfront if that is the case.
What to send us before we make an offer
The practical list is short: who the tenants are, what they pay, what they owe, and what has been signed. If you have estoppel-level detail, good. If you have a shoebox, that is workable too.
We confirm the deposits at closing and take the transfer through the attorneys. From there the leases run with the house, and every tenant relationship becomes ours to manage rather than yours to lose sleep over.
What you do not pay when you sell a tenant-occupied house
Listing a tenant-occupied house the usual way brings each of these costs with it. Selling to us brings none of them.
- Agent commission
- $46,750 at 5% of the Huntington median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $18,700 on a $935,000 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- Whatever it takes to make it listable, paid in advance none
- Cleanout and removal
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 83 to 98 days a listing takes to sell and close none
What a tenant does to a listed sale in Huntington
The median house in Huntington sold for $935,000 and took about 38 days to go under contract, then another 45 to 60 days waiting on the buyer's mortgage. That is 83 to 98 days in total, for a house that was ready to show on day one. Those timelines assume a house that shows well from day one, and a tenant-occupied house rarely does.
If the tenants are cooperative, the leases are clean and you have months to spare, listing may well net you more, and we will tell you so. The case for selling to us is when the occupancy, rather than the house itself, is what stands in the way.
Common questions
Do you need to inspect the tenant-occupied units in Huntington?
Ideally yes, realistically often not, and we plan for that. Show us what the tenants will allow, tell us what you know about the rest, and we price the unseen units conservatively rather than walking away from the house.
What happens to the security deposits?
They transfer at closing, handled through the attorneys in the normal way. You do not need to refund or reconcile anything with the tenant beforehand.
Can you buy if the tenant is already in a court proceeding?
Yes. A pending case does not stop a sale, it just needs coordination between the attorneys. In many cases the proceeding can carry on after closing rather than you having to see it through first.
Will the tenants find out the Huntington house is for sale?
Not from a sign or a listing, because there is neither. Most landlords tell their tenants when they choose to, and if the tenancy is tense it is worth a word with your attorney about how and when.
Do I have to give the tenants notice before selling?
That is a legal question worth five minutes with an attorney, because New York rules around tenants are specific. The selling side we can answer now: no tenant has to be given notice to leave in order for us to buy.