Where our experience with occupied property helps
The reason a tenant makes a house hard to sell is that most buyers need vacant possession and their lenders insist on it. We do not.
We buy subject to the existing tenancy and take the tenant situation on ourselves after closing. You do not serve notice, you do not start a proceeding, and you do not pay anybody to leave on our behalf. If the arrangement is undocumented, the rent is behind, or the lease ran out long ago, tell us plainly and we will price it. Those are the Selden calls we get most.
You do not have to remove the tenant first
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 four-bedroom on Corvette Road. In Selden, bought and paid for by us.
Selden is roughly 21,262 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11784, and the housing stock is mostly ranch, hi-ranch, cape cod. Around Middle Country Road and Boyle Road, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. We have been buying across Suffolk County for 15+ years. We know what the Middle Country Central 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 Selden 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.
Two-family houses and the unit holding up the sale
Investors buying multi-family with financing need cooperation from every tenant: access for the appraiser, estoppel letters, paperwork that reads cleanly. One tenant who will not answer the door is enough to collapse the whole thing.
We buy with our own funds, so an occupant who will not participate slows nothing down. We take the building with the tenants it has and sort out the rest after closing.
What the two paths cost in Selden
These are the two routes open to you with a tenant-occupied house, priced against what Selden houses actually sell for.
Work it against Selden's own numbers. The median sale here is $637,173. A 5% commission on that is $31,859, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $12,743. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $44,602 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 Selden the median house takes about 23 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 68 to 83 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 | $637,173 (Selden median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$31,859 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$12,743 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 23 days (Selden 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 | 68 to 83 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 | $592,571 | The number we put in writing |
Assumptions: 5% commission and about 2% seller closing costs on the listing side, and both move from deal to deal. Repairs and the cost of holding the house are not deducted, since they vary by property. A well-kept house with a good agent can come out ahead of a cash sale, and if that describes yours we will say it.
What we need from a Selden landlord to 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
- $31,859 at 5% of the Selden median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $12,743 on a $637,173 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- Everything a buyer would flag, paid for before you list none
- Cleanout and removal
- Dumpsters or haulers by the load, ahead of any viewing none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities across the 68 to 83 days it takes to find a buyer and then wait on their lender none
When listing is the better move
The median house in Selden sold for $637,173 and took about 23 days to go under contract, then another 45 to 60 days waiting on the buyer's mortgage. That is 68 to 83 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 Selden?
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 Selden 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.