You do not have to empty the inherited house
The part people dread most about inherited property is the cleanout. Forty years of a parent's life, and somebody has to decide what happens to all of it.
You can take what matters to you and leave the rest where it is. We buy the inherited house with the contents in place and handle the clearing ourselves. There is no charge for that and it does not come off the offer.
Working through Suffolk County estates with you
Most families arriving here have had one confusing conversation with someone and come away less certain than before. What we can offer first is somebody who has handled a great many inherited houses telling you plainly what stage you are at and what usually happens next.
If selling suits you, we buy the inherited property as-is and close on your date. If the house is sound and a listing would net more, we will say so and introduce you to an agent. Selling is what we do, and we do it well enough to know when it is not the answer.
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.
What the Suffolk County process usually means for timing
An estate in Suffolk County goes through the Surrogate's Court in Riverhead. Until the executor has authority to sell, the sale of inherited property cannot close.
That is normal and it is not a problem for us. We hold a signed contract while the estate catches up, and we do not charge for the wait or renegotiate because it took longer than anyone expected.
Inherited property: as-is sale or Bay Shore listing?
The comparison worth making on inherited property is not offer against asking price. It is money in hand on a date you choose, set against a listed number minus commission, repairs, concessions and several months of carrying a Bay Shore house nobody lives in.
We will lay ours out in writing so it can be compared honestly. If the listing wins, take the listing.
How we arrive at a number on an inherited house
On an inherited house, the number comes from three things: what it will be worth when the work is finished, what the work will cost, and a cushion in case we are wrong on either. That is all there is to it. There is no formula we are keeping from you.
- What it is worth repaired. Not the Bay Shore median of $650,000 on its own, but what houses like yours on your street actually closed at recently.
- What the work costs. Roof, boiler, electric, the kitchen and bath. In Bay Shore the stock is largely cape cod and colonial, and on houses that age the mechanicals are usually the expensive part rather than the cosmetics.
- How long we will hold it. The median Bay Shore house goes under contract in about 32 days once it is showable, then waits 45 to 60 days more on the buyer's lender. Ours has to get to showable first, and we carry taxes and insurance across the whole of it.
- What we are wrong about. Some of what a house needs only shows once the work starts. We price that in, and it is a big part of the gap between a cash offer and a retail sale.
Why this works for us when it would not for you
This is the part cash buyers tend to gloss over. We run millions of dollars of construction a year. That buys materials at contractor pricing and keeps our own crews working through the year, so the same renovation costs us roughly half what it would cost you to hire it out.
That is the business in one line. It is also why renovating before a sale rarely pays: you would buy the same roof and boiler at retail and hope to get it back at resale, which usually does not happen. We do not make our money by paying you less. We make it by building for less.
If the number does not work for you, tell us so. We would rather have that conversation than pressure anyone. We will look at where you are and give you an honest read on your options, including ones that do not involve selling to us. Plenty of sellers are better off with an agent, and we will say so if you are one of them.
Houses we have bought around Bay Shore
A four-bedroom on Gardiner Drive. A four-bedroom on Brentwood Road. A three-bedroom on Nugent Avenue. We have been buying on Long Island for 15+ years and we buy in Bay Shore specifically, not as part of a national footprint that happens to include it.
The tax question almost everyone gets backwards
The most expensive assumption families make about inherited property is a tax bill that may not exist in the form they fear.
We are not going to state a tax rule as settled fact, because your circumstances decide it. What we will say is that the difference between the assumption and the reality is frequently large enough to change what a family decides to do with a Bay Shore house. One conversation with a CPA, before the sale, is the whole of the advice.
What you do not pay when you sell an inherited house
These are the costs of putting an inherited house on the market through an agent. None of them apply when you sell to us.
- 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
- Charged by the truckload, and done before the first showing none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 77 to 92 days a listing takes to sell and close none
What happens to the mortgage on an inherited house
If there is still a loan on the inherited house it does not disappear, and it does not automatically become your personal debt either. It stays attached to the property and gets paid off at closing out of the proceeds, like any other lien.
What matters is keeping it current, or at least keeping the servicer informed, while the estate works through.
Common questions
Can we sell a Bay Shore house before the estate is settled?
A contract can usually be signed early. Closing on inherited property follows the Riverhead court's timeline, and we hold our number while that runs rather than repricing at the end.
There is still a mortgage on it. Does that stop you buying?
No. It gets paid off at closing out of the purchase price, like any lien on inherited property.
Will we owe tax on selling an inherited Bay Shore house?
That is a CPA question and worth an hour of one's time. Ask specifically about basis on inherited property. We can recommend accountants who handle estates if you do not have one.
What if the siblings disagree?
Every person on the deed has to sign. What we can do is put a firm written number in front of everyone at the same time, so the conversation is about one real offer rather than a range somebody guessed at.
Do we need to clear the Bay Shore house out first?
Never. Contents stay where they are. The cleanout on inherited property is our cost and it is the task families are most relieved to hand over.