Where our experience with Coram back taxes helps
Where our experience matters most with back taxes is knowing how far the enforcement process has actually gone, because that is what determines how much time you have.
We will help you establish it. We will also be honest if the arrears plus everything else recorded against a Coram house exceed what the property is worth. If that is the position, there are other routes, and we know the attorneys and housing counselors who handle them. You will get a straight answer either way, and it costs nothing to ask for one.
Back taxes get paid from the sale, not from your savings
The back taxes are settled out of the purchase price at closing, handled by the attorneys on both sides. You do not need to find the money first.
Plenty of people delay selling for exactly that reason and lose more equity to accruing interest while they try to save up. If the house is worth more than everything recorded against it, the arrears become a line on the closing statement rather than a bill you have to pay in advance.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A four-bedroom on Judith Drive. A three-bedroom on Winside Lane. An one-bedroom on Skyline Drive. All of them in Coram, all bought by us.
Coram is roughly 40,220 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11727, and the housing stock is mostly hi-ranch, ranch, colonial. Around Route 112 and Middle Country Road, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. We know which of these streets take water, where the older systems fail first, and what the Longwood and Middle Country school district does to a resale price.
How Suffolk County handles back taxes
Delinquent property taxes in Suffolk County accrue interest and eventually lead to enforcement, so the current figure is worth getting from the county directly rather than working from an old bill.
The practical point is that back taxes are not static. They grow, and the enforcement steps that follow run on a schedule that does not care whether anyone opened the mail. Knowing where a Coram property stands on that schedule is the single most useful thing you can find out this week, and one phone call usually establishes it.
Back taxes on a Coram house that have gone to a lien sale
The point at which back taxes stop being a bill and start being somebody else's lien is the point at which speed begins to matter.
Establishing which stage you are at is quick. The county can give you the current figure in writing, and an attorney can tell you what has already been filed against a Coram property. Once you know, tell us, and we will be straight with you about whether a sale still works from where you are standing.
What the two paths cost in Coram
These are the two routes open to you with a house with back taxes, priced against what Coram houses actually sell for.
Work it against Coram's own numbers. The median sale here is $575,000. A 5% commission on that is $28,750, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $11,500. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $40,250 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 Coram the median house takes about 38 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 83 to 98 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 | $575,000 (Coram median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$28,750 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$11,500 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 38 days (Coram 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 | 83 to 98 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 | $534,750 | The number we put in writing |
Assumptions: 5% commission and about 2% seller closing costs on the listing side, and both move from deal to deal. Repairs and the cost of holding the house are not deducted, since they vary by property. A well-kept house with a good agent can come out ahead of a cash sale, and if that describes yours we will say it.
What waiting costs when back taxes are accruing
Back taxes are one of the few problems in a house that grow on their own. Nothing has to happen for the number to get larger. Interest and penalties do it while the mail sits unopened on the counter.
Every dollar added comes out of the equity you would otherwise walk away with, not out of anybody else's side of the ledger. That tends to be the more persuasive argument for dealing with it sooner, because the enforcement argument is easy to postpone and this one is not.
What you do not pay when you sell a house with back taxes
Every line below is a cost of listing a house with back taxes the retail way that simply does not arise here.
- Agent commission
- $28,750 at 5% of the Coram median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $11,500 on a $575,000 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
- Charged by the truckload, and done before the first showing none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities while you spend 83 to 98 days finding a buyer and waiting for their loan none
When selling is not the right answer for a Coram owner
Not every owner with back taxes owed should sell. If you want to keep the house and there is a realistic path to doing that, we would rather help you find it than walk you through a process that ends somewhere you did not want to be.
We can point you to a housing counselor, to an attorney who handles tax enforcement, and to a CPA if there is a tax question buried in this that deserves a professional answer. Ask us. The worst outcome of the call is that you leave it knowing more than you did.
Common questions
How do I find out what back taxes I owe on my Coram house?
Ask the county directly and get it in writing. Do not work from a bill that is a year old, because interest will have moved the figure since it was printed.
Can you buy a Coram house with years of back taxes on it?
We buy houses with back taxes against them regularly. What decides it is not the size of the arrears on its own, it is whether the value of the house covers everything recorded against it.
Do I have to pay the back taxes off before closing?
Not in the ordinary case. The arrears come off the top of the proceeds at closing. Please talk to us and to an attorney before you spend savings on the assumption that you have to clear them first.
What happens to the back taxes if I do nothing?
They accrue interest and the county continues through its enforcement process. Exactly where that leads and how quickly is a question for an attorney, and it is worth asking sooner than feels comfortable.
Will I have anything left after the back taxes are paid at closing?
That depends on the payoff against what the house is worth. We will tell you honestly if the arrears and the mortgage have consumed the equity rather than take you through a process that ends at zero.