One unit can hold up an entire 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.
Converted and undocumented Brentwood multi-family houses
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 estate sale on Thomas Street. A three-bedroom on Grant Avenue. Both in Brentwood, bought and paid for by us.
Brentwood is roughly 62,387 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11717, and the housing stock is mostly ranch, cape cod, hi-ranch. Around Suffolk Avenue and Crooked Hill Road, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Brentwood 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 Brentwood Union Free 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.
Working through Suffolk County multi-family sales
We have been buying multi-family property across Nassau and Suffolk for 15 years, and the things that frighten a retail buyer off are the things we handle routinely. A unit nobody has been inside for two years. A conversion that was never permitted. Two paying tenants and one who stopped.
We bring in the landlord-tenant attorneys and the expediters we have used for years when a situation needs them, and we do that whether or not we end up buying the building. Tell us where the multi-family stands and we will tell you what your real options are.
What the two paths cost in Brentwood
These are the two routes open to you with a multi-family property, priced against what Brentwood houses actually sell for.
Work it against Brentwood's own numbers. The median sale here is $630,000. A 5% commission on that is $31,500, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $12,600. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $44,100 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 Brentwood the median house takes about 31 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 76 to 91 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 | $630,000 (Brentwood median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$31,500 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$12,600 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 31 days (Brentwood 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 | 76 to 91 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 | $585,900 | 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
The units you cannot get into are the ones owners worry about most, understandably. A tenant who has been there fifteen years may have done things to a unit that nobody has seen in a long time.
We price unseen units conservatively rather than refusing to make an offer, and we say clearly which parts of the multi-family we have assumed rather than inspected. You will know exactly what the number rests on.
What you do not pay when you sell a multi-family property
Listing a multi-family property the usual way brings each of these costs with it. Selling to us brings none of them.
- Agent commission
- $31,500 at 5% of the Brentwood median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $12,600 on a $630,000 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
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 76 to 91 days a listing takes to sell and close none
What a retail sale looks like for a multi-family house
The median house in Brentwood sold for $630,000 and took about 31 days to go under contract, then another 45 to 60 days waiting on the buyer's mortgage. That is 76 to 91 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 single buyer's lender with a single set of questions. A multi-family adds an appraiser who wants every unit, a lender who wants documented rents, and a title company that wants the records to match the building.
When all of that is clean, listing frequently nets more, and we will tell you so.
Common questions
Do you buy two-family and three-family houses in Brentwood?
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 Brentwood 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.