Squatters, holdovers and the difference between them
The two situations look alike from the street and are not quite the same. A holdover tenant started out lawfully. There was a lease, it ended, and the tenant stayed on. Squatters never had a right to be there at all, or had one that lapsed a long time ago.
Either way the practical position for the owner is identical. Somebody is in your property, you are carrying the costs, and getting them out is not fast. We buy in both situations and we do not ask you to work out which one you have before we make an offer.
No access, and how we work around it
An unseen interior gets priced as an unseen interior and we are straightforward about it. There is a real difference between a house we have walked and a house we have not, and we would rather explain that difference than pretend it away.
What does not change is our willingness to buy. Squatters or holdover tenants in the property do not put us off, and we will not use an inspection we could not do as a reason to cut the number later.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A house on Bark Lane. A house on Dogwood Lane. Both in Levittown, bought and paid for by us.
Levittown is roughly 51,758 people in Nassau County, ZIP 11756, and the housing stock is mostly levitt cape, levitt ranch, cape cod. Around Hempstead Turnpike and Wantagh Avenue, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. We have been buying across Nassau County for 15+ years. We know what the Levittown Union Free School District does to a resale price, which blocks still have oil tanks in the ground, and what a house like yours is actually worth here.
Why an ordinary buyer cannot close on this house
Most contracts require the seller to deliver vacant possession at closing. For an owner facing holdover tenants that is a promise nobody can safely make, because the date depends on a court rather than on the seller.
So the sale becomes conditional on something outside your control, and those deals collapse. Ours is not written that way. We take the property occupied and the occupancy becomes our responsibility at closing.
Working through Nassau County occupancy cases
Owners sometimes call us apologetically, as though having squatters in a property reflects on them. It does not. It happens to careful people, particularly with a house that sat empty after a death in the family or during a renovation.
We take it from wherever it is. Tell us what you know, we will tell you plainly what we can pay and what we would do next in your position, and we will put you in front of an attorney if that is what the situation needs.
How selling a house with squatters or holdover tenants in Levittown works
- 1
You tell us about the house
An address in 11756 and a rough idea of condition. Two minutes on the phone or the form. We do not need photographs, a clean house, or anything fixed first.
- 2
We walk through it once
A single visit by one person, normally under thirty minutes. With a levitt cape or levitt ranch built when most of Levittown was, the roof, heating and electric matter far more to us than the kitchen does.
- 3
We put a figure in writing
You have a written number within 24 hours, a single figure rather than a "somewhere around". Feel free to check it with a Nassau County agent. When a house is ready to list as it is, listing can beat us, and we would rather you knew.
- 4
Closing happens on your date
If you need it done quickly, it can be. If probate, a tenant or a move means waiting, we wait. What you skip is the 89 to 104 days a Levittown listing usually spends on finding a buyer and then on that buyer's lender.
If a holdover proceeding has already been started
A pending case does not prevent a sale. It needs coordination between the attorneys, and in many situations the proceeding carries forward after closing rather than the owner having to finish it.
Tell us what has been filed, when, and where it currently stands. Your attorney and ours work out the sequencing between them. Owners are frequently relieved to learn that reaching the end of a holdover case is not a prerequisite for getting out.
What you do not pay when you sell a house with squatters or holdover tenants
Listing a house with squatters or holdover tenants the usual way brings each of these costs with it. Selling to us brings none of them.
- Agent commission
- $36,400 at 5% of the Levittown median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $14,560 on a $728,000 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
- Paid per load, before a single buyer walks through none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 89 to 104 days a listing takes to sell and close none
Listing a Levittown house with an occupant in it
The honest comparison is our number against what a listing on a house with squatters in it produces here. Months of carrying a property that earns nothing, commission at the end, and a buyer pool limited to people who can close without a lender.
The median house in Levittown sold for $728,000 and took about 44 days to go under contract, then another 45 to 60 days waiting on the buyer's mortgage. That is 89 to 104 days in total, for a house that was ready to show on day one. We are happy to walk through it with you even if the conclusion is that you should wait.
Common questions
Will you buy a Levittown house with squatters in it?
Yes. We buy houses with squatters in place and take the occupancy on after closing. Nobody asks you to remove anyone, fund anyone's departure, or finish a case first.
My tenant's lease ended and they will not leave. What now?
You have options and one of them is selling the house with the holdover tenants still in it. Proceedings in New York are slow and the timeline depends on the court, so knowing what the house is worth with the holdover tenants in place is useful information while you decide.
How long does it take to get somebody out?
Nobody should hand you a number. It depends on the court, on the specifics, and on things outside anyone's control. A landlord-tenant attorney who works in your county will give you the most realistic read available, and we can introduce you to one.
Do you need to get inside before making an offer?
We prefer it, and we work with what is possible. Not being able to get inside is one of the defining features of these situations, so we plan for it rather than treat it as a surprise.
Will the neighbors know the Levittown house is being sold?
Not from us. There is no sign, no listing and no photographs online. One visit and a private closing.