What a non-paying tenant costs an Elmont landlord
Landlords tend to count what a non-paying tenant costs them as unpaid rent and stop there. The fuller number includes the carrying costs you keep paying, the legal fees if a proceeding is underway, the repairs you make to a unit occupied by somebody not paying for it, and the months of your own attention it quietly consumes.
Against all that, a sale that closes on a date you pick is worth more than a comparison of prices alone suggests. Do that arithmetic honestly before deciding to wait it out.
Why an Elmont house with a non-paying tenant will not finance
There is also the access problem. A tenant who has stopped paying rarely welcomes an appraiser, and a lender will not fund a property it cannot value properly.
So the retail pool for a house with a non-paying tenant narrows to cash buyers before you even begin. You can start there rather than arrive there four months and two failed contracts later.
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.
Selling an Elmont house with a non-paying tenant still in it
Most purchase agreements hand the tenant problem straight back to the seller. Deliver the property empty by closing or there is no closing. Ours does not.
We buy subject to whatever occupancy exists. You do not serve notice on our behalf, you do not fund a cash-for-keys offer out of your own pocket, and you do not have to see a proceeding through to the end. The non-paying tenant becomes ours at closing.
Working with Nassau County landlords whose tenants have stopped paying
We have been doing this on Long Island for 15 years, and the first useful thing is usually somebody telling you plainly which parts of your situation are ordinary. Rent taken in cash. A lease that ran out years ago. A tenant who came with the house and never signed anything. A relative who moved in and stayed.
All of that is familiar. Tell us what is true and we price the house with the non-paying tenant in it. Where it needs an attorney, you get a name and an introduction.
What you do not pay when you sell a house with a non-paying tenant
Every line below is a cost of listing a house with a non-paying tenant 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
- 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 88 to 103 days it takes to find a buyer and then wait on their lender none
Handling the sale without a confrontation
Some tenancies have become tense enough that the landlord wants no contact with the non-paying tenant at all. That is workable. We ask for whatever access you can reasonably give, we will not ask you to force entry on anybody, and we do not make an unrealistic showing schedule a condition of the offer.
If the relationship has reached the point where communication should go through counsel, your attorney will tell you so, and we will work around it.
What the two paths cost in Elmont
These are the two routes open to you with a house with a non-paying tenant, priced against what Elmont houses actually sell for.
Work it against Elmont's own numbers. The median sale here is $725,000. A 5% commission on that is $36,250, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $14,500. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $50,750 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 Elmont the median house takes about 43 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 88 to 103 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 | $725,000 (Elmont median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$36,250 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$14,500 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 43 days (Elmont 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 | 88 to 103 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 | $674,250 | 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.
The honest comparison
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 is the ordinary path for an ordinary house. Add a non-paying tenant and it frequently does not finish at all, because the buyer's lender will not go where the occupancy is unresolved.
Weigh the retail figure against a closing you control and the two are often much closer than owners expect.
Common questions
Will you buy my Elmont house with a non-paying tenant in it?
A non-paying tenant is ordinary work for us. Tell us how far behind they are and whether anything has been filed, and it goes into the number rather than stopping the conversation.
Do I have to start an eviction before you will make an offer?
No. We never ask a seller to begin or finish a proceeding as a condition of buying a house with a non-paying tenant in it. If one is already underway that is fine too, and in many cases it can carry on after closing.
Can I still recover the back rent I am owed?
Selling does not by itself settle what a non-paying tenant owes you, and how it is handled wants writing into the contract properly. Have your attorney look at that point, and we will work with whatever they ask for.
How long is this going to take?
A sale to us moves at whatever pace suits you, because there is no lender on our side to satisfy. The non-paying tenant case is the part with an unpredictable timeline, and that becomes our problem rather than yours.
Do you need to see inside the Elmont unit first?
Ideally yes, realistically often not. We price the space we cannot see conservatively and tell you clearly what we assumed, rather than walking away from a house over access.