Seller Financing in Elmhurst, Queens: Row Houses and Two-Families

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

When a Elmhurst 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 Elmhurst

Elmhurst is one of the oldest settled parts of Queens, founded in the colonial era as the town of Newtown and renamed in the late 1800s. It sits between Jackson Heights to the north, Corona to the east, Rego Park and Middle Village to the south, and Woodside and Maspeth to the west. The M and R trains stop at Grand Avenue–Newtown and Elmhurst Avenue, the 7 runs along Roosevelt Avenue, and the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue hub sits at the northwest edge. Broadway and Whitney Avenue are the local shopping streets, and Queens Center mall anchors Queens Boulevard.

The housing runs from 1920s and 1930s attached brick row houses and two-families on the side streets to six-story elevator apartment buildings along Broadway, Queens Boulevard and the avenues, many of them co-ops or rent-stabilized rentals. Older detached frame houses survive on scattered blocks, and newer infill buildings keep appearing. Elmhurst Hospital on Broadway is a major presence, and Elmhurst Park, built on the site of the old gas tanks off Grand Avenue, adds green space. Because co-op boards usually control financing, seller financing in Elmhurst tends to involve houses, two-families and small mixed-use buildings.

Getting around: M and R at Grand Ave–Newtown and Elmhurst Ave; 7 along Roosevelt Avenue; E, F, M, R and 7 at Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Ave

What you will find for sale

• Attached brick row houses from the 1920s and 1930s, many one- or two-family, with a basement garage or small rear yard on narrow side-street lots.
• Semi-detached and attached brick two-families with an owner's unit and a rental unit, a common target for buyers who plan to live in the building.
• Six-story prewar and postwar elevator buildings along Broadway, Queens Boulevard and the side streets, many converted to co-ops.
• Older detached frame houses on scattered blocks, sometimes on larger lots that draw interest from developers.
• Mixed-use buildings on Broadway, Whitney Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue with ground-floor stores and apartments above.

Why seller financing fits Elmhurst

Many Elmhurst houses hold more apartments than their paperwork allows, and that is often the first thing to derail a bank loan. Row houses with a cellar unit, two-families split into three, or attics converted without permits can lead an appraiser to value only the legal space or a lender to decline outright. Buyers here frequently run restaurants, shops, delivery operations or construction businesses, or juggle income from several jobs, and some file taxes with ITINs. Their savings may be substantial while the income a lender can verify looks thin, which is exactly where a seller can step in.

Elmhurst owners often bought their row houses or two-families decades ago and have collected rent from an upstairs tenant for years. Selling with a note lets them keep a similar monthly income without the work of being a landlord, and spreading the gain over several years can lower the tax hit in any single year. Some would rather sell to a current tenant or someone they know than list publicly. And because bank buyers often walk away from houses with unpermitted units, a seller willing to finance can reach buyers prepared to bring the house back into legal shape.

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 semi-detached brick house in Elmhurst.

How to buy owner-to-owner in Elmhurst

1. Find owners open to financing. Start with Elmhurst 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 Elmhurst, check:
   • Hurricane Ida flooded basements across Queens in 2021 and exposed the risks of illegal basement apartments; ask how the cellar fared and check for a backwater valve on the sewer line.
   • Whole buildings with six or more units built before 1974 are generally rent-stabilized; review DHCR registrations and any rent-reduction orders before agreeing on price.
   • Co-op apartments here require board approval of buyers and financing, and many boards will not accept a seller-held loan; read the bylaws and proprietary lease first.
   • Blocks near Queens Center, Queens Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway get heavy traffic and highway noise; visit at rush hour before committing.
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 Elmhurst