We buy Paterson houses, including multi-family buildings with tenants in them
Most Paterson homes are rented, and a lot of them are older two- and three-family buildings. If you own one and you’re ready to be done, whether it’s fully rented, half empty or in need of serious repairs, we’ll look at it and give you a cash price in writing.
Honest about the distance
We are Velocity House Buyers, a two-person company led by Greg Helbeck and Brett Gennarelli. Our office is in Montgomery, New York, so Paterson is not around the corner for us; it’s a drive we make when an owner asks us to look at a property. We don’t send a stranger with a clipboard, and we don’t price houses off a listing photo.
Once we’ve seen the place, you get a written offer, generally within a day. It covers the price, the closing date and who pays which costs. Closing happens through attorneys and a title company, and anything you leave behind becomes our job to clear.
If your property is in great condition and you have time, an experienced local agent might net you more. That is worth hearing before you decide, and we will say it.
A city built for work, and the houses that came with it
Paterson started as an experiment. In 1791 Alexander Hamilton helped launch the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures, and the city began the next year beside the Great Falls of the Passaic, using the river’s power to run its mills. The National Park Service now runs the falls and the old mill district as a national historical park.
The housing that grew up around those mills is what we see today: two- and three-family houses on small lots, and single-family homes that were later split into apartments. The 2020 census counted 159,732 people, and Census survey estimates put owner occupancy at only about 27 percent, with households averaging just over three people. In plain terms, most Paterson homes are rentals, and many owners are landlords.
Common issues in these buildings include shared or outdated heating systems, old knob-and-tube circuits still running behind updated outlets, porches and stairs that need rebuilding, and units added without permits. We price them in rather than asking you to fix them.
Seeing an occupied building takes a little coordination. We ask you to give your tenants whatever notice your leases call for, and we try to see every unit in one trip so nobody is disturbed twice. If a tenant won’t allow access, tell us; we can sometimes price a unit from the others in the building and adjust once we’re in. Bring a rent roll if you have one, even a handwritten list of who pays what and when. It turns a guess into a number we can stand behind.
Selling with tenants in place
New Jersey’s Anti-Eviction Act allows tenants to be removed only for the reasons the law lists, and simply selling the building is not one of them in most cases. There is a narrow exception for buildings of three units or fewer sold to a buyer who will live in the tenant’s unit, but it doesn’t help most landlords who just want out.
That’s why buying occupied is a big part of what we do in Paterson. We take the building with the tenants, the leases and the security deposits. Behind-on-rent tenants, month-to-month arrangements and missing paperwork all affect our price, but none of them is a reason we can’t buy.
Paterson’s construction office issues Certificates of Occupancy and Continued Certificates of Occupancy. Your attorney will tell you what the city requires for your sale, and the state’s smoke alarm certificate applies to one- and two-family homes as it does everywhere in New Jersey.
The river, honestly
The Passaic River loops through Paterson, and it floods. The National Weather Service’s flood-impact notes for its gauge at Little Falls say the West Broadway Bridge in Paterson is subject to closures as the river rises, and that at higher levels Tyler, Shady, Arch, Lowe, Wood and Bleeker streets are closed by flooding.
If your property sits in or near those areas, you probably already know what a bad storm looks like. Buyers using a mortgage will be told to carry flood insurance in a mapped flood zone, and some walk away when they see the premium. We pay cash and factor the flood risk into our number instead.
If you’re behind on the mortgage or settling an estate
New Jersey foreclosures are court cases. Under state law the lender has to mail you a notice of intention first, then let at least 30 days pass before filing, and the notice has to tell you about the court’s Foreclosure Mediation Program and free housing counseling. Use those resources. Should a sale be the best way out, starting early leaves room to close before a sheriff’s sale and keep whatever equity is left.
For an estate, the Passaic County Surrogate on Hamilton Street in Paterson is where an executor gets the authority to sell. Deeds are recorded by the Passaic County Clerk at 401 Grand Street. You won’t need to handle either filing yourself; the attorneys and the title company do.
Paterson seller FAQ
Can you buy my Paterson three-family with every unit rented?
Yes. Occupied buildings are routine for us; the leases and deposits become ours when the deed transfers. Nobody has to move out first.
One of my tenants hasn’t paid in months. Does that kill the deal?
No. It changes how we value the building, because we will be the ones dealing with it, but we still buy. Give us whatever records you have about the rent owed.
My house is near the river and has flooded before. Can you still make an offer?
Yes. Tell us when it flooded, how high the water got and what was repaired. We pay cash, so flood insurance requirements that scare off financed buyers do not stop us.
A foreclosure notice just arrived. How long before the lender can go to court?
The notice must come at least 30 days before the lender can file in court, and it should explain the mediation program and free counseling. Speak with a housing counselor or attorney right away, and call us if you want a sale on the table as one of your options.
Do you have an office in Passaic County?
No. We work from Montgomery, New York, and travel to Paterson to see each property ourselves before making an offer.