What a non-paying tenant costs a Plainview landlord
The hardest part of a non-paying tenant is that you cannot see the end of it. A court sets the pace rather than you, and the timeline depends on the court and on the specifics of the case.
Meanwhile the meter runs. That is why some landlords decide the sensible move is to turn the property into cash now rather than spend an unknown number of months trying to restore a tenancy that has already failed.
Why ordinary buyers walk away from arrears
Owners often go through several rounds of this before calling us. Interest, an accepted offer, then the arrears surface during attorney review and the buyer withdraws. Each cycle puts more days on the house and less confidence behind the price.
The pattern is not bad luck. A financed buyer genuinely cannot get comfortable with a non-paying tenant, because their lender will not. Starting with a cash buyer means starting where that process was always going to end up.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A three-bedroom on Gerhard Road. A three-bedroom on Knickerbocker Road North. A two-bedroom on Manetto Hill Road. All of them in Plainview, all bought by us.
Plainview is roughly 27,100 people in Nassau County, ZIP 11803, and the housing stock is mostly ranch, split-level, hi-ranch. Around Old Country Road and Manetto Hill Road, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. We know which of these streets take water, where the older systems fail first, and what the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District does to a resale price.
Selling a Plainview 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.
What we bring beyond the offer
Selling is not always the right answer and we will say so. Sometimes a tenant who has stopped paying is a fixable situation, and what the landlord actually needs is a good landlord-tenant attorney rather than a buyer.
We know the attorneys who do this work on Long Island and we are glad to make the introduction whether or not the house ends up being ours. Where selling is the right move, we have bought a great many houses with a non-paying tenant in place and none of the details will surprise us.
What you do not pay when you sell a house with a non-paying tenant
Listing a house with a non-paying tenant the usual way brings each of these costs with it. Selling to us brings none of them.
- Agent commission
- $48,500 at 5% of the Plainview median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $19,400 on a $970,000 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 through the 73 to 88 days a listing takes to sell and close none
What the tenant gets told, and when
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 Plainview
These are the two routes open to you with a house with a non-paying tenant, priced against what Plainview houses actually sell for.
Work it against Plainview's own numbers. The median sale here is $970,000. A 5% commission on that is $48,500, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $19,400. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $67,900 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 Plainview the median house takes about 28 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 73 to 88 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 | $970,000 (Plainview median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$48,500 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$19,400 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 28 days (Plainview 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 | 73 to 88 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 | $902,100 | 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 comparison worth making is our offer against what the listed route actually produces for a house with a non-paying tenant in it. Months of carrying a property that generates nothing, commission and closing costs at the end, and a real chance of a buyer withdrawing once the arrears come up in attorney review.
The median house in Plainview sold for $970,000 and took about 28 days to go under contract, then another 45 to 60 days waiting on the buyer's mortgage. That is 73 to 88 days in total, for a house that was ready to show on day one. We will go through both columns with you plainly.
Common questions
Will you buy my Plainview house with a non-paying tenant in it?
Yes. A non-paying tenant is one of the most common reasons landlords call us. We price the house as it stands and take the arrears situation on ourselves after closing.
Do I have to start an eviction before you will make an offer?
Not at all. Whether starting a case makes sense for you is a question for a landlord-tenant attorney and we can introduce you to one. It is not something we require.
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 Plainview unit first?
We would like to, and we can work from whatever you are able to show us. A non-paying tenant rarely welcomes visitors, so we plan for that rather than making it a condition.