How we help Islip owners in mortgage arrears
We have had the behind-on-mortgage-payments conversation with a great many Long Island owners, and it never starts with the house. It starts with the payoff figure, because the gap between what is owed, arrears included, and what an Islip house is worth decides which options are genuinely open.
Get that number in writing from the servicer. Then call us and we will walk through what it means, including the routes that do not involve selling to us at all.
What to do about missed mortgage payments on an Islip house
You can catch up, through a modification, forbearance or refinance, and where that is achievable it is usually the best outcome for the household. You can sell, which clears the missed mortgage payments and the mortgage together and protects any equity behind them. Or you can do nothing and let the process run, which is almost always the worst of the three.
We only do the middle one. We will still tell you plainly when the first one looks like the better fit for your mortgage situation, and we will make the introduction to somebody who handles it.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A six-bedroom on Gladstone Avenue. A four-bedroom on Storey Avenue. A three-bedroom on Montauk Avenue. All of them in Islip, all bought by us.
Islip is roughly 18,418 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11751, and the housing stock is mostly colonial, cape cod, ranch. Around Main Street and Sunrise Highway, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Islip stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We have bought enough here to know which streets take water, which blocks still have oil tanks in the ground, and what the Islip Union Free School District does to a resale price.
The payoff figure is the number that matters
Owners consistently underestimate the payoff, because they are thinking about the principal balance while the mortgage payoff is that balance plus everything the missed payments have piled on top of it.
Ask the servicer for a written payoff quote, good through a date far enough out to be useful. It takes a phone call and you are entitled to it. With that figure and a written offer on an Islip house in front of you, the decision becomes arithmetic instead of anxiety.
Missed mortgage payments compound in ways people do not expect
Missed mortgage payments do not sit still. Each one adds a late fee, default interest accrues at a higher rate than your note, and once the file reaches the lender's attorneys their costs get added to the payoff as well.
Every one of those comes out of your equity rather than the lender's side of the ledger. An Islip house sold while the mortgage is a few months behind frequently leaves real money with the seller. The same house sold after the missed mortgage payments have run another year often does not.
What you do not pay when you sell a house in mortgage arrears
These are the costs of putting a house in mortgage arrears on the market through an agent. None of them apply when you sell to us.
- Agent commission
- $33,850 at 5% of the Islip median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $13,540 on a $677,000 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 while you spend 80 to 95 days finding a buyer and waiting for their loan none
Selling without the neighbors knowing you are behind on the mortgage
A listing means a sign on the lawn in Islip and strangers walking through on a Sunday, at exactly the moment you would rather nobody knew about the arrears.
There is none of that with us. We do not list the property, photograph it, or hold an open house. For most owners working through mortgage arrears, that discretion is worth as much as the timeline is.
What the two paths cost in Islip
These are the two routes open to you with a house in mortgage arrears, priced against what Islip houses actually sell for.
Work it against Islip's own numbers. The median sale here is $677,000. A 5% commission on that is $33,850, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $13,540. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $47,390 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 Islip 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 | $677,000 (Islip median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$33,850 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$13,540 | 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 (Islip 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 | $629,610 | The number we put in writing |
For the listing side we have used a 5% commission and about 2% in seller closing costs; your real figures may differ. Repairs and carrying costs are left out because they depend on the house. If yours is in good shape, a good agent may well get you more than we would, and we will tell you if so.
The window is wider today than it will be
Mortgage arrears do not become a foreclosure overnight in New York. There are notices first, then a filing, then a long court process, and the whole thing can take a good while.
That length is why people wait, and it is also why waiting costs. Every stage adds to the payoff and the options narrow as it goes. Arrears handled early leave you choosing between three routes. Arrears handled late often leave one, and it is rarely the one you would have picked.
Common questions
How far behind on the mortgage is too far?
We have bought Islip houses from owners a couple of payments behind and from owners whose arrears had been running a long time. What changes is the payoff and how much room is left in it, not whether there is a conversation worth having.
Can you pay off my arrears and let me stay in the house?
No. We buy houses, we do not lend against them, and we are not going to offer you a rent-back arrangement dressed up as a rescue. Be careful with anyone who does.
Will selling cover the arrears?
That depends entirely on the payoff set against what an Islip house like yours is worth. Get the payoff in writing and we will give you the value in writing, and then you will know rather than guess.
Should I keep making partial payments?
Ask a HUD-approved housing counselor or an attorney before you decide, because servicers treat partial payments differently and some hold them in suspense rather than applying them to the arrears. It is worth one call before you send money.
Does being in arrears stop me selling an Islip house?
Not at all. Owners in arrears sell houses every day. The mortgage, the arrears and the fees are all cleared out of the closing proceeds, which is exactly why the payoff figure decides everything.