What we take on after storm damage
The practical trouble with storm damage on a Ronkonkoma 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.
The Ronkonkoma house that was opened up and never closed
A house that was opened up and never closed is harder to sell than one that was simply damaged, because a buyer cannot tell what was done properly and what was abandoned.
Open permits make it worse. We take those on, permit side included, rather than asking you to resolve storm damage paperwork before closing. Half a roof, a gutted bathroom and a stalled permit are an ordinary purchase for us.
Selling in a flood zone after storm damage
Two things stack against a storm-damaged house near the water: the repair itself, and what the flood zone does to anybody who needs a mortgage.
That combination is why these houses sit. It is also why a cash buyer who already understands the storm damage and the zone is usually the practical route. Nobody can guarantee a number before seeing a property, but neither of those facts alone stops us.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A three-bedroom on Pleasure Avenue. A three-bedroom on West 5th Street. A two-bedroom on Terry Road. All of them in Ronkonkoma, all bought by us.
Ronkonkoma is roughly 18,955 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11779, and the housing stock is mostly ranch, cape cod, hi-ranch. Around Lake Ronkonkoma and Long Island MacArthur Airport, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Ronkonkoma 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 Connetquot Central School District does to a resale price.
When a tree comes through the roof of a Ronkonkoma house
A tree through the roof produces the same problem as a fire: the lender will not finance it, so the retail market disappears and you are dealing with cash buyers whether you intended to or not.
The useful question stops being what the house is worth and becomes which cash buyer puts a real number in writing and then closes on it. We buy storm damage of that severity regularly, tarps and all.
Open storm damage claims on a Ronkonkoma house
People assume they have to close the claim before they can list or sell. In practice a great many storm damage claims are still open when the house changes hands.
The part that matters is documenting the assignment of proceeds properly. Your attorney will want to see it, and so will ours. We have run Ronkonkoma closings both ways and neither one is unusual.
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
- $32,050 at 5% of the Ronkonkoma median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $12,820 on a $641,000 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- The work it needs to show well, out of your pocket first none
- Cleanout and removal
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 67 to 82 days a listing takes to sell and close none
Why storm-damaged Ronkonkoma houses sit on the market
Storm damage removes financed buyers from the equation, and financed buyers are most of the market. What is left is contractors, investors, and people willing to take on a project.
So a Ronkonkoma house with storm damage can sit for months collecting price reductions rather than offers. Selling is what we do, and we do it well. If your damage is cosmetic enough that a lender would still fund, we will tell you to list it.
Common questions
There is an open storm damage claim. Can we still sell?
Usually yes, though who receives the claim proceeds has to be agreed and written into the contract. Your attorney will want to see it.
Do you need an engineer report?
No. We have engineers we use across Suffolk County when a structural question comes up, and that is our cost rather than yours.
The storm repairs on our Ronkonkoma 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 Ronkonkoma 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?
Usually. We set the closing date around you, and with storm damage already present there is rarely a reason to wait.