Where our experience with occupied property helps
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
New York does not make removing a tenant quick, and a landlord who is already tired of the property should not have to fight that fight just to be allowed to sell.
So we do not ask. The tenant stays, the lease comes with the house, and the situation becomes ours the day we close. If you want out of being a landlord, wanting out should not require one more proceeding first.
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.
Non-paying tenants and holdovers
A tenant who has stopped paying makes a house nearly unsellable on the open market. A buyer with a mortgage cannot get comfortable with it, and their lender gets comfortable even less.
It does not stop us. We price the property for what it is, non-paying tenant included, and we take the arrears situation on ourselves. You do not have to chase the money first to make the house saleable, and you do not have to make them current to make the number real.
Multi-family, and the one difficult unit
On a multi-family, a sale usually dies over one tenant rather than over the building. The other units are fine, the rents are fine, and one of them will not let an appraiser in or has not paid since spring.
We are not going to lose interest over that. Give us the rent roll, tell us which tenant is the problem, and we will price the building as it actually stands rather than as it would stand if everybody behaved.
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 listing column assumes a 5% commission and seller closing costs of about 2%. Both vary. We have not subtracted repairs or the cost of carrying the house while it sits, because those depend on the property. A house in good condition listed with a good agent can absolutely beat a cash offer, and we will say so if that is your situation.
What we need from a Huntington landlord to make an offer
Send whatever you have and do not worry about the gaps. Leases if they exist, a rough rent roll, what each tenant pays and when they last paid it, and anything filed in court.
Plenty of long-standing tenants in Huntington have no written lease at all, and that is not a problem you need to solve before selling. An undocumented tenancy is a condition we price, the same as a roof. Security deposits transfer at closing through the attorneys in the normal way.
What you do not pay when you sell a tenant-occupied house
Every line below is a cost of listing a tenant-occupied house the retail way that simply does not arise here.
- 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 the house needs, paid up front none
- Cleanout and removal
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities across the 83 to 98 days it takes to find a buyer and then wait on their lender none
When listing is the better move
A listing can work on a tenant-occupied house, and when it works it usually nets more. It needs three things: a tenant who will allow showings, a lease a buyer's lender can read, and time.
When all three are true, list it, and we will say so plainly. When the occupant will not cooperate or the timeline is the binding constraint, that is the version we are built for. Either way you get a straight read rather than a pitch.
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?
We buy Huntington houses with live tenant matters regularly. Tell us what has been filed and where it stands, and your attorney and ours will handle the sequencing between them.
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.