Seller Financing in Corona, Queens: Two-Family Homes Near the 7 Train

Today's bank rate vs. a typical seller-finance rate

When a Corona owner sells with financing, the owner becomes the lender. Most owners price that loan off what banks charge: homeowners typically ask about 2 percentage points more than the national average 30-year rate, with a 5-year balloon payment, or an extension if both sides agree to one in the contract. The numbers below update every week.

About Corona

Corona sits in north-central Queens between Junction Boulevard and Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, with Roosevelt Avenue and the elevated 7 train running through it. Stations at Junction Boulevard, 103rd Street–Corona Plaza and 111th Street connect it to Manhattan, and Corona Plaza is a busy public plaza beside the tracks. North of Roosevelt Avenue, the Louis Armstrong House Museum sits on 107th Street; to the south, Corona Heights has the Lemon Ice King of Corona and William F. Moore Park on 108th Street. The park to the east holds the Unisphere, the Queens Museum and the New York Hall of Science.

Corona's housing is mostly small in scale: attached and semi-detached brick two- and three-family houses, older wood-frame homes in Corona Heights, and walk-up apartment buildings, with mixed-use buildings lining Roosevelt Avenue, Junction Boulevard and National Street. Many houses have been expanded or subdivided over the years, so the paperwork does not always match what is inside. The commercial strips are full of small, owner-run businesses, and that shapes the buyer pool: plenty of people with years of steady earnings who struggle to document them the way a bank requires.

Getting around: 7 train along Roosevelt Avenue at Junction Blvd, 103rd St–Corona Plaza and 111th St; Mets–Willets Point station nearby

What you will find for sale

• Attached and semi-detached brick two- and three-family houses from the 1920s to the 1960s, usually with a basement and a small rear yard.
• Older detached and semi-detached wood-frame houses in Corona Heights, south of Roosevelt Avenue, some dating to the early 1900s.
• Mixed-use buildings on Roosevelt Avenue, Junction Boulevard, National Street and 108th Street with shops below and one to four apartments above.
• Three- to six-story walk-up apartment buildings scattered through the blocks near the 7 train.
• Newer infill two- and three-family houses built where older frame homes were torn down.

Why seller financing fits Corona

In Corona, the gap between what buyers earn and what a bank will count is wide. Many prospective buyers are self-employed contractors, restaurant owners or vendors, and after legitimate business deductions their tax returns show far less income than their bank deposits suggest. Others file taxes with an ITIN, which only a limited number of lenders accept. The houses add problems of their own: cellar apartments, extra units added without permits and three-family layouts that do not match the certificate of occupancy can each stop an appraisal. Storefront buildings on Roosevelt Avenue are underwritten as commercial property, with stricter terms.

Sellers in Corona are often owners who bought decades ago, paid down the mortgage with help from tenant rents, and now own free and clear. When they are ready to retire, a lump sum brings a large tax bill, while monthly note payments can replace the rent they are used to collecting. Some prefer to sell to a current tenant or a buyer they know from the block, and would rather make a direct arrangement than wait on a bank approval that may never come. Since so many local buyers cannot qualify conventionally, offering terms can mean a faster sale at a fuller price.

The 5 terms you will negotiate

Every owner-financed deal comes down to five numbers. Here is what each one means, what is typical in New York City right now, and how they work on an illustrative 2-family attached brick house in Corona.

How to buy owner-to-owner in Corona

1. Find owners open to financing. Start with Corona properties on the SellerFinanceNYC live map, where every listing is checked against ACRIS deed and mortgage records. Owners who have held a building for decades with no open mortgage are the most likely to carry a note.
2. Offer on all five terms at once. Price, down payment, rate, amortization and balloon trade off against each other. Put them in a short written term sheet so nothing gets lost.
3. Hire a New York real estate attorney. Your attorney drafts or reviews the contract of sale, the promissory note and the mortgage, and confirms the seller has no existing loan with a due-on-sale clause. See our guide to finding an attorney.
4. Do local due diligence. In Corona, check:
   • Pull the certificate of occupancy and DOB complaint history; illegal cellar apartments and unpermitted conversions can lead to DOB fines and vacate orders that become the new owner's responsibility.
   • Houses on or near Roosevelt Avenue sit beside the elevated 7 train, which brings steady noise and vibration; compare blocks a few streets away before deciding.
   • Citi Field events and the Willets Point redevelopment, which includes a soccer stadium and new housing, bring traffic and construction to the area's northeast edge.
   • Depending on wind direction, LaGuardia Airport flight paths bring aircraft noise to parts of Corona; listen at different times of day.
   • If a storefront tenant runs a restaurant or food business, check Health Department and DOB records for the space, and confirm the lease is written and assignable to a new owner.
5. Close like a normal sale. The deed transfers to you, you sign the note, and the seller's mortgage is recorded with the City Register. Buy title insurance, and consider a loan servicing company to collect payments and escrow taxes and insurance.
6. Plan the balloon from day one. Use the five years to build a payment record, fix up the building and document income so you can refinance well before the balloon is due.

Questions buyers ask about Corona