How we help landlords sell a tenant-occupied house in Freeport
Landlords who call us about a Freeport 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.
Nobody has to be moved out before we look
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 three-bedroom estate sale on North Long Beach Avenue. A four-bedroom on Westside Avenue. A four-bedroom on Laurel Road. All of them in Freeport, all bought by us.
Freeport is roughly 43,713 people in Nassau County, ZIP 11520, and the housing stock is mostly cape cod, ranch, colonial. Around Freeport Nautical Mile and Freeport LIRR station, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Freeport stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We have bought enough here to know which streets take water, which blocks still have oil tanks in the ground, and what the Freeport Public Schools does to a resale price.
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 Freeport
These are the two routes open to you with a tenant-occupied house, priced against what Freeport houses actually sell for.
Work it against Freeport's own numbers. The median sale here is $660,000. A 5% commission on that is $33,000, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $13,200. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $46,200 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 Freeport the median house takes about 47 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 92 to 107 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 | $660,000 (Freeport median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$33,000 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$13,200 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 47 days (Freeport 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 | 92 to 107 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 | $613,800 | 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 Freeport 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 Freeport 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
- $33,000 at 5% of the Freeport median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $13,200 on a $660,000 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 92 to 107 days it takes to find a buyer and then wait on their lender none
What a tenant does to a listed sale in Freeport
The honest comparison is not our offer against an asking price. It is our offer against what a tenant-occupied listing actually produces. Showings scheduled around a tenant, a lender's appraiser needing access, a buyer discovering the arrears at the eleventh hour.
Weigh that against one visit, a written number and a closing date you choose. For some Freeport landlords the listing still wins, and we will tell you when we think that is you.
Common questions
Do you need to inspect the tenant-occupied units in Freeport?
We prefer to see them, but we can work from what you are able to show us. We do not expect a landlord to force access on a tenant, and we will not make an unrealistic showing schedule a condition of the offer.
What happens to the security deposits?
Deposits move with the tenancies at closing and the attorneys handle the accounting. If a tenant's deposit was spent or never formally held, say so early and we will work it into the numbers rather than discover it late.
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 Freeport house is for sale?
There is no sign on the lawn and nothing online, so nothing announces the sale to a tenant. The notice that eventually goes out is about where rent gets paid, and it goes out after closing.
Do I have to give the tenants notice before selling?
What notice a tenancy requires depends on the lease and on state and local rules, so ask your attorney rather than guessing. What we can tell you is that we never ask a seller to end a tenancy as a condition of the sale.