Seller Financing in Stapleton, Staten Island: Houses Near Tappen Park

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

When a Stapleton 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 Stapleton

Stapleton lies on Staten Island's North Shore, south of Tompkinsville and north of Clifton, rising from the harbor at Bay Street up the slopes of Stapleton Heights. Its center is Tappen Park, where the 1889 Edgewater Village Hall recalls the years when this was the independent village of Edgewater. The Staten Island Railway stops at Stapleton station, buses run along Bay Street, and the St. George ferry terminal is a short ride north. The former Navy homeport on the waterfront has been redeveloped with new rental housing and a public esplanade.

The housing stock is older and varied. Stapleton Heights, up the hill, has Victorian and early-1900s frame houses, many large and some with harbor views, while the flatter blocks near Canal Street and Bay Street mix two-family frame houses, attached brick homes and small mixed-use buildings. Large public housing complexes sit just inland, and new apartment buildings are reshaping the waterfront. The Bay Street Corridor rezoning extends into Stapleton, allowing taller mixed-use buildings along parts of Bay Street, which means the blocks near the water will keep changing.

Getting around: Staten Island Railway at Stapleton station; buses along Bay Street to the St. George ferry terminal

What you will find for sale

• Victorian, Italianate and early-1900s frame houses in Stapleton Heights, some on large hillside lots and many altered or divided over time.
• Two-family frame houses and attached brick homes on the flatter streets between Bay Street and Van Duzer Street.
• Small mixed-use buildings around Tappen Park and along Bay Street and Canal Street, often with a store or office below and one to three apartments above.
• New waterfront rental buildings on the former homeport site, which trade as large investment properties rather than through owner financing.

Why seller financing fits Stapleton

Stapleton's older housing can be tough for banks to finance. Hillside frame houses often need structural, roof or heating work, and an appraiser may find few recent comparable sales for a large Victorian with an unusual layout. Storefront buildings around Tappen Park are commercial loans with tighter terms, and a vacant store makes lenders more cautious still. Buyers here include self-employed contractors, small business owners and first-time buyers with limited credit histories who could carry the payment on a two-family with rental income, but who cannot meet the documentation rules a bank applies.

On the selling side, Stapleton has owners who bought or inherited houses decades ago and watched the waterfront change around them. Some want a smaller home or a move out of the city but have no appetite for months of repairs to satisfy a bank appraisal. Carrying the note gives them income and interest on their equity, and spreading the gain over several years can ease the tax bill. For a small storefront building, a seller-financed deal can be the most practical way to find a buyer who will actually operate the property rather than simply hold it.

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 frame house in Stapleton.

How to buy owner-to-owner in Stapleton

1. Find owners open to financing. Start with Stapleton 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 Stapleton, check:
   • Blocks along Front Street and lower Bay Street sit low and close to the harbor; check whether the address is in a FEMA flood zone and whether the basement has ever taken water.
   • Hillside lots in Stapleton Heights can be steep and irregular, with shared driveways or informal access; have a survey done and your attorney confirm lot lines and easements.
   • Waterfront and Bay Street development means construction on nearby lots for years; check DOB for permits filed next door before buying.
   • Older frame houses converted to two or three units should be checked against DOB records, since unpermitted conversions can block insurance or a future refinance.
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 Stapleton