What we take on when a house needs work
Most owners facing a list of repairs have been handed numbers by contractors with an interest in the job being large. We price repairs every week, at contractor rates, on houses we own.
So the most helpful thing we can do is give you a realistic read: which repairs genuinely need doing, what they cost at trade pricing against what you would be quoted retail, and whether the Elmont market will return that money. Then a written as-is number, so you can compare the two paths properly instead of guessing at one of them.
Selling an Elmont house without making any repairs
The repairs stop being your problem the moment we agree a price. We are buying the house in the condition it stands in today, and the offer reflects exactly that.
What we will not do is what a retail buyer usually does: agree a price, send an inspector, then come back with a list of repairs and a demand for a credit. The repairs were in our number the first time. An Elmont seller should be able to plan around a figure that does not move.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A four-bedroom on Harrison Street. A three-bedroom on Renfrew Avenue. A three-bedroom on Rosser Avenue. All of them in Elmont, all bought by us.
Elmont is roughly 37,296 people in Nassau County, ZIP 11003, and the housing stock is mostly cape cod, ranch, multi-family. Around Belmont Park and UBS Arena, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Elmont-UBS Arena stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We know which of these streets take water, where the older systems fail first, and what the Elmont Union Free School District does to a resale price.
What the repairs really cost once you count the carry
The median house in Elmont sold for $725,000 and took about 43 days to go under contract, then another 45 to 60 days waiting on the buyer's mortgage. That is 88 to 103 days in total, for a house that was ready to show on day one. That assumes a house in showable condition. Getting there means paying for the repairs up front, carrying the house while the repairs are being done, then paying commission and closing costs on the far side.
Sellers frequently find that the finished-house price, minus the repairs, minus the carry, minus the commission, lands close to a straightforward cash offer they could have taken months earlier with none of the risk attached.
Why the same repairs cost us about half what they cost you
People reasonably ask how we make money buying houses that need repairs when a homeowner making the same repairs often loses money on them. The answer is not clever. It is volume.
Because we are running construction constantly, we buy materials at contractor pricing and our crews are already scheduled. The repairs on your house cost us in the region of half what you would be quoted to have them done. Same work, same standard, different cost basis, and that difference is what funds the offer we hand you.
How selling a house sold as-is in Elmont works
- 1
You tell us about the house
An address in 11003 and a rough idea of condition. Two minutes on the phone or the form. We do not need photographs, a clean house, or anything fixed first.
- 2
A quick look in person
We visit once and it rarely takes more than half an hour. On the cape cod or ranch houses that make up most of Elmont, we check the roof, the boiler and the electric before anything cosmetic.
- 3
We put a figure in writing
You have a written number within 24 hours, a single figure rather than a "somewhere around". Feel free to check it with a Nassau County agent. When a house is ready to list as it is, listing can beat us, and we would rather you knew.
- 4
You choose when to close
Soon, or months away if probate, a tenant or your next move has to come first. You also avoid the 88 to 103 days a listed Elmont house typically takes to find a buyer and get through the buyer's mortgage.
Lender repairs versus pretty repairs
The repairs that matter to a sale are the ones an appraiser or an underwriter will flag. Everything else is a negotiation about taste.
Walk your list with us and we will tell you which is which. What we will not tell you is that every repair pays for itself, because it does not. A homeowner paying retail for repairs and recovering them at market rarely comes out ahead, and anybody promising otherwise has work to sell you.
The kind of houses Elmont actually has
Elmont is largely cape cod, ranch, multi-family stock, much of it built long enough ago that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. Boilers, wiring, roofs, and one bathroom last touched decades ago.
That is ordinary here, and none of it is a reason for us to walk away. Houses of that age come with repairs attached. We have bought plenty of them in Nassau County and we price the repairs rather than react to them.
What you do not pay when you sell a house sold as-is
Every line below is a cost of listing a house sold as-is the retail way that simply does not arise here.
- Agent commission
- $36,250 at 5% of the Elmont median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $14,500 on a $725,000 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- The work it needs to show well, out of your pocket first none
- Cleanout and removal
- Charged by the truckload, and done before the first showing none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities while you spend 88 to 103 days finding a buyer and waiting for their loan none
Get an as-is number before you spend on repairs
A written as-is offer is free and it takes one visit. Get it before you sign a contractor's proposal, not after.
With both numbers in front of you, the decision is arithmetic rather than a feeling. Repairs plus carry plus commission, set against a cash figure available now. Plenty of Elmont owners look at the two and decide to make the repairs, and that is a perfectly good outcome. The mistake is committing to the repairs without ever seeing the other number.
Common questions
Can you sell a house as-is?
Yes. Selling as-is means the buyer takes the house in its current condition and the seller makes no repairs and gives no repair credits. We buy Elmont houses that way every time. What as-is does not change is what the law asks a seller to disclose. Your attorney will tell you what applies to your sale, and nothing about selling to us changes that.
How bad does an Elmont house have to be before you walk away?
We have bought houses that needed taking back to the studs and a few that needed demolition. The scale of the repairs changes the number, not whether we are interested.
Should I get my own inspection?
Not on our account. If you already have a report, show us and it saves a little time. If you do not, spend the money elsewhere, because we will be assessing the repairs ourselves anyway.
Will you ask for a credit for the repairs after the inspection?
That pattern exhausts sellers and it is not ours. We look once, we price the repairs once, and the figure we put in writing on an Elmont house is the figure we close at.
Would I do better making the repairs and listing?
It happens, particularly when the repairs are cosmetic and the Elmont market is moving. It happens less often when the repairs are structural, or when the money has to be borrowed. We will give you an honest read either way.
Can you point me to a contractor if I decide to make the repairs?
Yes. We work with trades across Nassau and Suffolk constantly, and we are glad to point you at people who do good work at fair prices, even when the outcome is that you list the house instead of selling it to us.