The unit holding up your Riverhead multi-family sale
The pattern is familiar. The good units pay, the building is sound, and one occupant is the reason three deals have fallen through. By the third failed contract the multi-family house has days on market attached to it and a story that follows it around.
We are not going to lose interest over one unit. Tell us which one it is and what is happening in there, and we factor it in rather than walk.
When the paperwork does not match the building
Undocumented conversions are common enough on Long Island to be ordinary, and they become a problem at exactly two moments: when the municipality takes an interest, and when you try to sell. A buyer with a mortgage generally cannot close on a multi-family property that is not what the records say it is.
We can. We buy the house as it exists, deal with the legalization or the reversal ourselves afterward, and never ask a seller to resolve a conversion issue before closing.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A three-bedroom on Promenade Drive. In Riverhead, bought and paid for by us.
Riverhead is roughly 14,993 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11901, and the housing stock is mostly colonial, ranch, cape cod. Around Main Street and the Peconic River, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Riverhead 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 Riverhead 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.
Some units paying, some not
Send the rent roll as it truly is rather than as it was meant to be. Which units are occupied, what each one pays, who is behind and by how much, what is signed and what never was.
A multi-family house with two paying units and one in arrears is completely normal to us. We price the paying units on what they actually collect and the rest on what it realistically is. Nobody is being asked to make the numbers look better than they are before we make an offer.
How we help Riverhead owners sell a multi-family house
Most owners of a difficult multi-family house have already had the conversation with an agent and come away discouraged. What is useful first is people who have bought these buildings many times telling you plainly which parts are ordinary and which parts need attention.
If the building would do better listed, we will say so. If the answer is a landlord-tenant attorney rather than a sale, we will introduce you to one. And if selling to us is right, you get a written number on the whole multi-family property, tenants and conversion and all.
What the two paths cost in Riverhead
These are the two routes open to you with a multi-family property, priced against what Riverhead houses actually sell for.
Work it against Riverhead's own numbers. The median sale here is $650,000. A 5% commission on that is $32,500, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $13,000. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $45,500 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 Riverhead the median house takes about 46 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 91 to 106 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 | $650,000 (Riverhead median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$32,500 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$13,000 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 46 days (Riverhead 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 | 91 to 106 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 | $604,500 | 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.
Two of everything, and what that costs
A multi-family house has two of nearly everything, and when the repairs come they come doubled. Two heating systems reaching the end at the same time. Separate meters wired creatively somewhere along the way. A shared roof over units with different tenants under it.
Deferred maintenance on a multi-family is normal and we expect it. We look once, price what is there, and do the work ourselves. There is no inspection renegotiation afterward, because the number already assumes a working building rather than a finished one.
What you do not pay when you sell a multi-family property
Each of the following comes with a retail listing of a multi-family property, and none of it comes with ours.
- Agent commission
- $32,500 at 5% of the Riverhead median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $13,000 on a $650,000 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
- Dumpsters or haulers by the load, ahead of any viewing none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities across the 91 to 106 days it takes to find a buyer and then wait on their lender none
What a retail sale looks like for a multi-family house
A multi-family house with cooperative tenants, clean leases and a certificate of occupancy that matches reality should probably be listed. We say that to owners regularly.
The median house in Riverhead sold for $650,000 and took about 46 days to go under contract, then another 45 to 60 days waiting on the buyer's mortgage. That is 91 to 106 days in total, for a house that was ready to show on day one. The case for selling to us is the other version. The unit that will not cooperate, the conversion nobody permitted, the arrears a buyer's attorney would find in week three.
Common questions
Do you buy two-family and three-family houses in Riverhead?
Yes. Two-family, three-family and converted houses are a regular part of what we buy, occupied or vacant, and we do not need every unit shown before making an offer.
The conversion was never permitted. Can you still buy it?
That is a condition we price, not a reason to walk away. It does matter to a buyer with a mortgage and to a title company, which is usually why these multi-family houses struggle on the open market and not with us.
One unit pays and one does not. Does that kill the deal?
No. A mixed multi-family is ordinary. Give us the real rent roll and we price the paying units on what they collect and the rest on what the situation actually is.
Can you make an offer if a tenant will not let you in?
We will not ask you to force entry on anybody. Show us what the tenants allow, tell us what you know about the rest, and we will still put a written number on the Riverhead multi-family.
What happens to the leases and the deposits?
The leases run with the building and the deposits transfer at closing through the attorneys in the normal way. You do not need to reconcile anything with a tenant beforehand.