Where our experience with occupied property helps
Selling with a tenant in place asks a buyer to accept something they cannot fully inspect and cannot fully control. Experience is what makes that acceptable, and we have bought a great many tenanted houses, including multi-family where one tenant was holding up everything.
We work from whatever access you can reasonably give us. We will not ask you to force entry on anybody, and we will not make an unrealistic showing schedule a condition of the offer.
Selling a Roosevelt house with the tenant still in it
Most sale agreements hand the tenant problem straight back to the seller: deliver vacant possession by closing, or there is no closing. Ours does not.
Whatever the tenant does between now and the closing date is our concern rather than yours. You are not being asked to evict anyone, negotiate with anyone, or spend money persuading somebody to go. We buy occupied, and occupancy becomes ours at closing.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A house on Lincoln Avenue. In Roosevelt, bought and paid for by us.
Roosevelt is roughly 18,066 people in Nassau County, ZIP 11575, and the housing stock is mostly cape cod, colonial, ranch. Around Nassau Road and the Meadowbrook State Parkway, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. We have been buying across Nassau County for 15+ years. We know what the Roosevelt 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.
When the occupant is the reason you are selling
Frequently the tenant is not a complication in the sale. The tenant is the reason for the sale. Somebody stopped paying, the proceeding is slow, and being a landlord stopped being worth it.
That is a completely ordinary call to make to us. We price the house with them in it, close on your date, and inherit the problem. What happens with that tenant afterward is our expense and our time, not yours.
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 Roosevelt
These are the two routes open to you with a tenant-occupied house, priced against what Roosevelt houses actually sell for.
Work it against Roosevelt's own numbers. The median sale here is $598,693. A 5% commission on that is $29,935, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $11,974. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $41,909 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 Roosevelt the median house takes about 51 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 96 to 111 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 | $598,693 (Roosevelt median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$29,935 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$11,974 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 51 days (Roosevelt 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 | 96 to 111 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 | $556,784 | 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.
Leases, deposits and the paperwork you actually need
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 Roosevelt 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
Each of the following comes with a retail listing of a tenant-occupied house, and none of it comes with ours.
- Agent commission
- $29,935 at 5% of the Roosevelt median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $11,974 on a $598,693 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 96 to 111 days a listing takes to sell and close none
Listing an occupied house, honestly
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 Roosevelt?
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 Roosevelt 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.