Selling an old Kingston house without restoring it first
Kingston has been settled since the Dutch arrived in 1652, served as New York’s first state capital in 1777, and was burned by the British that same year. The city of 24,069 people that grew back has some of the oldest housing anywhere in our buying area. If yours is one of those houses, or a newer one with its own set of problems, we can buy it directly and close when it suits you.
Three parts of town, three kinds of house
Uptown and the Stockade. The original fortified settlement on high ground still has stone houses with colonial roots, rebuilt after 1777, alongside nineteenth-century brick and frame homes. Here the work tends to be expensive and specialized: masonry, slate, old-growth timber framing, windows that a historic-minded buyer expects to be repaired rather than replaced.
Midtown. Between uptown and the Rondout, the Midtown neighborhoods hold a large stock of frame houses and two-families. These are the houses where we most often find divided-up interiors, several layers of siding, mixed generations of wiring, and heating systems at the end of their life.
The Rondout. Once a separate village on Rondout Creek, it boomed as the river end of the Delaware & Hudson Canal, shipping coal and later bluestone; the city says most of the bluestone for New York City’s sidewalks was shaped and shipped from Kingston. Houses near the water bring a question the others don’t: flood exposure. Before you decide anything, look your address up on FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center. A mapped flood zone can mean required flood insurance for a buyer with a mortgage, which narrows the field. It doesn’t stop us.
Kingston’s own transfer tax, and who pays it
Every New York seller deals with the state real estate transfer tax, which sellers customarily pay. The City of Kingston adds a local real estate transfer tax of its own, and the city code puts that one on the buyer. When you sell to us, it is our cost. The form for it goes to the Ulster County Clerk along with the deed.
That clerk’s office, at 244 Fair Street, is also where Kingston’s land records are kept, going back to 1685. Old deeds occasionally turn up surprises in a title search, like an easement nobody remembers or a mortgage paid off decades ago but never formally discharged. The title company works through those before closing, and we tell you right away if one needs your signature or a document from your files.
City and school tax timing
Kingston property owners pay city taxes to the City Comptroller in two equal installments, the first due within 45 days after the Common Council sets the levy and the second within 120 days. Kingston City School District bills go out on September 15, with the first payment due to the school tax collector by October 15 without penalty. The school collector generally takes payments until December 15; after that, unpaid school taxes on city properties are collected by the City Comptroller.
None of that has to be current before you sell. The attorneys apportion this year’s taxes at closing, and anything overdue is paid from your proceeds.
Who is selling, and why to a direct buyer
Census estimates show a little under half of Kingston’s homes are owner-occupied, and households average just over two people. So the sellers are a mix: long-time owners whose house has outgrown them, families settling a parent’s estate, and small landlords with a two-family or a building in Midtown that needs more than the rent can support.
A listing makes sense for a house that is in good shape and appeals to the buyers drawn to Kingston’s history. A direct sale makes sense when the house needs a lot of work, when tenants or an estate make showings difficult, or when you simply want a known date and a known number. We visit, we explain what we see, and we put an offer in writing, normally within a day. If you accept, your New York attorney reviews the contract, a title company does its search, and we close in as little as about a week with clean title, or on a later date that you choose.
Our office is in Montgomery, in Orange County, and Ulster County is a regular part of our buying area. The drive up is not an obstacle to a visit.
Two-families, estates and empty houses
A Midtown two-family with a long-time tenant upstairs is a common Kingston situation, and it doesn’t have to be untangled before a sale. We can buy with the tenant in place; bring the lease or, if there never was one, a written note of what the rent is and when it is paid. We take over the tenancy at closing.
Estates are the other frequent case. If the owner has died, the person handling the estate needs letters from the Ulster County Surrogate’s Court before signing a deed, and that can take a while. We are comfortable signing a contract early and waiting for the court. If the house is sitting empty in the meantime, keep the heat on through the winter and check that the insurance still covers a vacant building; frozen pipes in an old Kingston house can turn a manageable sale into a much harder one.
Kingston seller questions
Who pays the City of Kingston real estate transfer tax?
The city code places Kingston’s local transfer tax on the buyer, so when you sell to us we pay it. The New York State transfer tax is separate and is customarily paid by the seller; your written offer spells out who pays which closing costs.
My house is near Rondout Creek. Will a flood zone hurt the sale?
It can limit buyers who need a mortgage, because lenders usually require flood insurance in a mapped flood zone. It does not stop us from buying. Check your address on FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center and tell us what you find.
Do you buy houses in the Stockade District that need historic-quality repairs?
Yes. We price the masonry, roofing and window work into our offer and take it on ourselves after closing, so you do not have to restore anything before you sell.
I am behind on Kingston school taxes. Can I still sell?
Yes. Overdue taxes are a lien that the title search will find, and they are paid from your proceeds at closing. After mid-December, unpaid school taxes on city properties are collected by the City Comptroller, so your attorney will get the payoff from the right office.
Do you buy outside the city, elsewhere in Ulster County?
Yes. Ulster County is part of our regular buying area, including towns around Kingston. The process is the same: a visit, a written offer, and a closing handled by attorneys and a title company.