Sell your Yonkers house without fixing it, listing it or waiting on a lender
Yonkers is a city of hills, river views and a lot of two-family houses that have been rented, inherited or patched up more than once. If yours needs work, still has tenants in it, or simply has to be sold sooner than a listing allows, we can make you a cash offer and close with attorneys on a date you pick.
Who we are, and where we drive from
Velocity House Buyers is a small company run by Greg Helbeck and Brett Gennarelli out of an office at 9 Factory Street in Montgomery, in Orange County. We are not a Yonkers outfit and won’t pretend to be one. Westchester sits inside our buying area, so when a Yonkers owner calls, one of us comes across the river to see the property in person. Nobody gets a price from a drive-by photo or an algorithm.
What you get from us is simple to describe. We look at the house, we write down a cash number, and if you accept, a title company and the attorneys handle the transfer. There is no listing, no commission and no stream of weekend showings. If the place is full of furniture or the basement hasn’t been cleared in twenty years, that stays our problem.
Got a well-kept house and no deadline? Then a Westchester listing agent may get you more money, and we will tell you so.
The houses we see in Yonkers
The 2020 census counted 211,569 people in Yonkers, which makes it the largest city in Westchester County. Only about 46 percent of its occupied homes are lived in by their owners, according to the Census Bureau’s recent survey estimates, so a big share of the housing is rented out. That matches what owners tell us: the typical call is about a two-family with an apartment upstairs, a frame house carved into units decades ago, or a single-family that was a rental before the owner moved away.
Older Yonkers houses tend to share a handful of problems that make retail buyers and their lenders nervous:
- Steep lots and long stairways, where retaining walls and drainage are worth a hard look.
- Basement or attic apartments whose permit history nobody can quite reconstruct.
- Original electrical service and old steam or oil heat in buildings that have changed hands many times.
- Deferred maintenance on porches, roofs and masonry after years of tenants.
None of that stops us from making an offer. We price the work in, explain how we did it, and buy the building as it stands.
Yonkers costs a seller should know about before signing
The city transfer tax. Yonkers charges its own real estate transfer tax on top of the New York State one. The city’s finance department puts it at 1.5 percent of the selling price, owed by the seller, with no city tax due on a sale of $25,000 or less. On a sizable sale that is real money, and it can surprise sellers who expected only the state tax. When we hand you a written offer, we walk through roughly what you’ll net after this tax, the state tax and your own attorney, so the figure you’re weighing is the one you’ll actually receive.
Property tax timing. Yonkers bills its real property tax in three equal installments, and the city lists October 6 and January 6 as the due dates for the second and third. If you sell partway through the year, the taxes are adjusted between buyer and seller at closing, and anything past due is paid off from your proceeds. You don’t need to scrape together a missed installment before calling us.
Where the deed goes. Deeds for Yonkers property are recorded by the Westchester County Clerk, whose land records office is in White Plains. The title company files the paperwork; you won’t need to visit.
Why Yonkers owners call us
Tired landlords. Rent collection, repairs on a tenant’s schedule and the occasional court date wear people down. We buy with tenants in place, so no one needs to leave before the deed changes hands. Have the leases and rent amounts handy and we can price the building as an income property.
Heirs. Many calls come from children who grew up in Yonkers, now live somewhere else, and have inherited a parent’s house. Estate sales in New York run through the Surrogate’s Court, and the deed can only be signed by someone that court has appointed. We are used to waiting for the paperwork and can set the closing for after it arrives.
Owners behind on the mortgage. New York foreclosures go through the courts, and lenders must mail a 90-day notice before filing on a home loan. Owner-occupants are also offered settlement conferences once a case starts. That process takes time, which leaves room to sell on your own terms. Talk to a housing counselor or attorney early, and call us if a sale is one of the options you’re weighing.
Near the water
Yonkers sits on the Hudson, and the Saw Mill River runs through downtown on its way into it. For most of the twentieth century the Saw Mill was buried under a parking lot; it was uncovered and turned into Van der Donck Park, which opened in 2012. If your home sits on low ground near either river, look it up on FEMA’s flood map, because a flood zone usually means required insurance for a buyer with a mortgage. We pay cash, so a flood designation changes our price rather than ending the conversation.
Plenty of Yonkers buyers come for the train. The Hudson Line stops at Ludlow, Yonkers, Glenwood and Greystone, and closeness to a station is one of the things we weigh when we look at comparable sales.
Questions Yonkers sellers ask us
Who pays the Yonkers transfer tax when I sell to you?
Under the city’s rules the seller owes it: 1.5 percent of the selling price, with nothing due on sales of $25,000 or less. It is paid at closing out of your proceeds, and we include it when we show you what you should walk away with.
Can you buy my Yonkers two-family while the tenants are still there?
Yes. We can buy an occupied building and take over the leases at closing. Send us the rents, lease dates and any security deposits you’re holding, and tell us about tenants who are behind, because that affects the number but doesn’t rule the house out.
Should I hire a lawyer for a Yonkers sale?
New York practice is for buyer and seller each to retain an attorney, and we encourage you to do the same. Any attorney you trust is fine. We work with whoever you choose.
There’s a basement apartment that was never approved. Is that a problem for you?
Usually not. We see this often in older Yonkers homes. We factor the cost and risk of sorting it out into our offer, and the house can be sold as it is.
How soon could we close?
With a clear title, we can be at the closing table roughly a week after you say yes. Estates, liens or tenant situations can take longer, and if a closing a couple of months out suits you better, we can plan around that.