Seller Financing in Soundview, Bronx: Houses Near the 6 Train

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

When a Soundview 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 Soundview

Soundview runs south from Westchester Avenue, where the 6 train rides an elevated track, through flat residential blocks to Clason Point, where the Bronx River meets the East River. The Bronx River forms its western edge, and Soundview Park, a large waterfront park built largely on filled land, lines the river's east bank near its mouth. The Bruckner Expressway cuts across the northern part of the neighborhood, and Soundview Avenue, Story Avenue and White Plains Road are among the main local streets.

Since 2018 an NYC Ferry route has stopped at a landing in Clason Point Park, linking the area by boat to East 90th Street, Midtown East and Wall Street. Housing ranges from large mid-century apartment complexes to quiet blocks of one- and two-family homes, many of them postwar brick houses with driveways or built-in garages. Most shopping sits beneath the 6 train along Westchester Avenue or on a few avenues farther south, while much of the area below the Bruckner is almost entirely residential.

Getting around: 6 train at Elder Av, Morrison Av-Soundview and St Lawrence Av on Westchester Avenue; NYC Ferry Soundview route at Clason Point

What you will find for sale

• Attached and semi-detached brick one- and two-family houses from the 1950s and 1960s, many with a below-grade garage or a shared side driveway.
• Newer brick two- and three-family infill houses from the 1990s and 2000s, built on land that had been vacant or used for industry.
• Small older frame houses on narrow lots near Clason Point, some dating to the period when the shoreline served as a summer resort area.
• Six-story and taller apartment buildings and mid-century housing complexes, which hold much of the area's housing but rarely sell as individual properties.

Why seller financing fits Soundview

Soundview's one- and two-family houses are within reach for many first-time buyers on price, yet plenty of those buyers get stuck at the lender. People who work in hospitals, transit, retail or the building trades may hold more than one job, earn overtime that swings from month to month, or have only a short history with a current employer. Add a modest credit file and a house that needs a new roof or has an unpermitted cellar apartment, and a bank may decline or demand repairs the seller will not make. Flood insurance on blocks near the water adds another cost a lender weighs.

Many Soundview houses have been owned by the same people for decades and are fully paid off. Owners planning a move out of state, or simply to a smaller home, may want income that continues after the sale rather than a single check. Others inherited a parent's two-family and would rather receive monthly payments than wait for a bank-qualified buyer who may never appear for a house that needs updating. Offering terms lets these owners sell to a local buyer who can make the payments but cannot get a conventional loan.

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 Soundview.

How to buy owner-to-owner in Soundview

1. Find owners open to financing. Start with Soundview 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 Soundview, check:
   • Low-lying parts of Clason Point and the blocks nearest the Bronx River and Soundview Park shoreline sit inside FEMA flood zones, so look up the exact address and price flood coverage before you sign.
   • Houses with shared side driveways may depend on recorded easements or informal arrangements with the neighbor, so have your attorney confirm access rights in the title report.
   • Below-grade garages are sometimes converted into living space without permits; compare the house to its certificate of occupancy and any plans filed with the Department of Buildings.
   • Some lots near the Bronx River and the Bruckner Expressway once had industrial uses, and a Phase I environmental review is sensible for any property with a commercial past.
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 Soundview