Where our experience with Bay Shore back taxes helps
Owing back taxes on a house is one of those things people carry privately, and almost everybody who calls us about it expects to be judged for it. Nobody here is going to do that. The most common misunderstanding is that the arrears have to be cleared before a sale can happen, and they do not. They are settled out of the purchase price at closing.
We buy Bay Shore houses with years of arrears against them. The first thing we will help you do is get the current figure from the county, because interest moves it and an old bill understates what is owed. From there the arithmetic is straightforward, and we will show you all of it rather than handing you a number and asking you to trust it.
Back taxes get paid from the sale, not from your savings
Nobody has to pay off back taxes out of pocket to make a Bay Shore sale possible. The proceeds do that job.
What we would ask you to do instead is get the payoff figure in writing from the county, so the number on the closing statement surprises nobody. That one piece of paper removes most of the uncertainty people carry into these conversations, and it is free to request.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A four-bedroom on Gardiner Drive. A four-bedroom on Brentwood Road. A three-bedroom on Nugent Avenue. All of them in Bay Shore, all bought by us.
Bay Shore is roughly 29,244 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11706, and the housing stock is mostly cape cod, colonial, victorian. Around Main Street and Bay Shore Marina, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Bay Shore stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We know which of these streets take water, where the older systems fail first, and what the Bay Shore Union Free School District does to a resale price.
Back taxes in Suffolk County, and where they lead
Delinquent property taxes in Suffolk County accrue interest and eventually lead to enforcement, so the current figure is worth getting from the county directly rather than working from an old bill.
What matters for you is that back taxes accrue interest and eventually lead to enforcement, so the cost of waiting is real and it compounds. Get the current figure from the county rather than working from an old bill, and ask an attorney where in that process your house actually sits. If you do not have one, we can point you to somebody who does this work regularly.
Back taxes on a Bay Shore house that have gone to a lien sale
The point at which back taxes stop being a bill and start being somebody else's lien is the point at which speed begins to matter.
Establishing which stage you are at is quick. The county can give you the current figure in writing, and an attorney can tell you what has already been filed against a Bay Shore property. Once you know, tell us, and we will be straight with you about whether a sale still works from where you are standing.
What the two paths cost in Bay Shore
These are the two routes open to you with a house with back taxes, priced against what Bay Shore houses actually sell for.
Work it against Bay Shore's own numbers. The median sale here is $650,000. A 5% commission on that is $32,500, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $13,000. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $45,500 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 Bay Shore the median house takes about 32 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 77 to 92 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 | $650,000 (Bay Shore median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$32,500 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$13,000 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 32 days (Bay Shore 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 | 77 to 92 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 | $604,500 | 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.
Protecting the equity in a Bay Shore house from back taxes
Back taxes are one of the few problems in a house that grow on their own. Nothing has to happen for the number to get larger. Interest and penalties do it while the mail sits unopened on the counter.
Every dollar added comes out of the equity you would otherwise walk away with, not out of anybody else's side of the ledger. That tends to be the more persuasive argument for dealing with it sooner, because the enforcement argument is easy to postpone and this one is not.
What you do not pay when you sell a house with back taxes
Each of the following comes with a retail listing of a house with back taxes, and none of it comes with ours.
- Agent commission
- $32,500 at 5% of the Bay Shore median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $13,000 on a $650,000 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 77 to 92 days a listing takes to sell and close none
If the back taxes leave nothing for you
Not every owner with back taxes owed should sell. If you want to keep the house and there is a realistic path to doing that, we would rather help you find it than walk you through a process that ends somewhere you did not want to be.
We can point you to a housing counselor, to an attorney who handles tax enforcement, and to a CPA if there is a tax question buried in this that deserves a professional answer. Ask us. The worst outcome of the call is that you leave it knowing more than you did.
Common questions
How do I find out what back taxes I owe on my Bay Shore house?
Ask the county directly and get it in writing. Do not work from a bill that is a year old, because interest will have moved the figure since it was printed.
Can you buy a Bay Shore house with years of back taxes on it?
We buy houses with back taxes against them regularly. What decides it is not the size of the arrears on its own, it is whether the value of the house covers everything recorded against it.
Do I have to pay the back taxes off before closing?
No. The back taxes are settled from the purchase price at closing by the attorneys, and the house transfers clean. Paying out of pocket first is usually unnecessary.
What happens to the back taxes if I do nothing?
The balance keeps growing, and the options tend to narrow as it does. Ask an attorney what stage a Bay Shore property has reached. We can recommend somebody if you do not already have counsel.
Will I have anything left after the back taxes are paid at closing?
That depends on the payoff against what the house is worth. We will tell you honestly if the arrears and the mortgage have consumed the equity rather than take you through a process that ends at zero.