What we take on after storm damage
The practical trouble with storm damage on an Amityville house is that it stops being a storm problem and becomes an administrative one: the adjuster, the contractor who disappeared, the permit nobody closed.
We deal with all three. What we need from you is an honest account of where things stand. Storm damage has not put us off a house yet, and the fastest route to a real number is to show us the worst of it rather than tidy it up first.
Storm damage that was never fully repaired
Owners often feel they should complete the storm damage repair before selling, on the theory that a finished house sells better. Sometimes that is true. Frequently it is not, because the remaining work costs more than it adds.
Run that arithmetic before you spend another dollar. We will give you a written number on the Amityville house exactly as it sits today, so you can compare it against the cost of finishing.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A five-bedroom on Sunshine Lane. A house on Washington Avenue. Both in Amityville, bought and paid for by us.
Amityville is roughly 9,500 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11701, and the housing stock is mostly colonial, victorian, cape cod. Around Broadway and the Triangle, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Amityville stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We have been buying across Suffolk County for 15+ years. We know what the Amityville 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.
Flood zones, premiums, and the buyer pool
Flood zone status is the quiet reason a lot of storm-damaged listings stall. A buyer who loves the house runs the premium, and the payment no longer works.
We do not carry that constraint. We have bought Suffolk County houses in flood zones with unrepaired storm damage and closed them on schedule. If you have an elevation certificate, bring it. If you do not, we will work without one.
When a tree comes through the roof of an Amityville house
Roof and tree damage is the most common storm damage we see in Amityville, and the most consequential, because water follows it in.
A compromised roof means ceilings, insulation, wiring and eventually framing. If that is where your house is, the honest advice is to move rather than wait, since another season of weather makes the storm damage materially worse. We will look at it as it stands today.
What you do not pay when you sell a storm-damaged house
Each of the following comes with a retail listing of a storm-damaged house, and none of it comes with ours.
- Agent commission
- $30,563 at 5% of the Amityville median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $12,225 on a $611,250 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- Whatever the house needs, paid up front none
- Cleanout and removal
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 80 to 95 days a listing takes to sell and close none
Who gets the insurance money at closing
If the carrier has already paid and the money is sitting in an account, say so early. It changes the arithmetic rather than the answer.
A storm damage payment you have already received is yours. What we are buying is the house in its current condition. Being straight about that up front is the difference between a smooth closing and a renegotiation nobody enjoys.
What the two paths cost in Amityville
These are the two routes open to you with a storm-damaged house, priced against what Amityville houses actually sell for.
Work it against Amityville's own numbers. The median sale here is $611,250. A 5% commission on that is $30,563, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $12,225. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $42,788 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 Amityville the median house takes about 35 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 80 to 95 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 | $611,250 (Amityville median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$30,563 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$12,225 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 35 days (Amityville 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 | 80 to 95 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 | $568,463 | 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.
Why a storm-damaged house will not sell the usual way
An agent can sell a storm-damaged house. It just takes longer, and the process is harder on the seller than anyone warns: repeated showings, buyers whose lenders back out after inspection, and an appraisal that comes in below contract.
The median house in Amityville sold for $611,250 and took about 35 days to go under contract, then another 45 to 60 days waiting on the buyer's mortgage. That is 80 to 95 days in total, for a house that was ready to show on day one. That is the comparison worth making before you decide, and we are happy to make it with you even if the conclusion is that you list.
Common questions
There is an open storm damage claim. Can we still sell?
Yes, and it is common. The storm damage claim and the sale can run in parallel as long as the assignment of proceeds is documented properly.
Do you need an engineer report?
Not from you. If the storm damage needs one, we will order it ourselves and pay for it.
The storm repairs on our Amityville house have an open permit. Is that a dealbreaker?
No. Open permits from storm damage repairs are routine on the houses we buy, and we resolve them after closing.
The damage is from a storm years ago and was never finished. Do you still want it?
We buy Suffolk County houses in exactly that state regularly. A storm repair that stalled years ago is a cost to finish, not a reason to walk away.
Can you close before the next storm season if we need to be out?
Tell us the date you need and we will work to it. Nobody can guarantee a specific day before title comes back, but we can move quickly when the house is already damaged and sitting.