How to Sell your House in Queens NY

If you want to know how to sell your house in Queens NY, you’re in the right place. Whether you’re thinking of selling now or in the future, you’ve probably wondered what the steps to selling are and what you should do in preparation for the sale. Fortunately for you we’ve sold over 200 houses in Queens so we’re extremely familiar with the process, and we understand all of the steps involved for different scenarios, situations and property types.

With that said, below are 24 of the most common steps involved with selling a house in Queens NY. Some steps may vary, but most of these will apply every time. If you have any questions or would like some advice on selling, feel free to contact us anytime.

Step 1

Find out How much your Home is Worth

The first step to selling a house in Queens is obviously knowing how much the property is worth. This valuation is vital because it helps you and your family plan for the next steps with a realistic sale price expectation. You can go about this in one of two ways: 1) You can hire an independent appraiser to conduct an appraisal for you (this typically costs about $300-$400). Or 2) You can have a local Realtor come by and tell you what the property is worth (typically free of charge). If you decide to go the Realtor route, make sure you get at least three opinions because some agents are more thorough than others. Either eay, this should give you a good idea of the value. Also, keep in mind that “Appraised Value” is different from “Market Value” so the idea is just to get an idea of the appraised value. Ultimately you won’t know the true “market value” until you hit the market and open the bidding up to all interested parties. This is your first step in knowing how to sell your house in queens ny.

Step 2

Calculate your Net Profit, Potential Tax Burden, Tax Options, etc.

Once you have a good idea of the property’s value, the next thing you want to do is find out how much you would walk away with after the sale. This is the number that really matters because your net profit is what you will have left over to proceed with the next chapter in your life. Seller closing costs in Queens include: NYC transfer taxes, NYS transfer taxes, your Attorney fee(s), Listing broker commission, Buyer broker commission, Mortgage payoff(s), Home Equity Loan Payoff(s), Title Fees, etc. Once you have an idea of your estimated net profit, you can then speak with a tax advisor regarding your potential tax burden (i.e. Capital Gains) and different Tax Options available (i.e. 1031 exchange). For a complete breakdown of this step on How to Sell your House in Queens NY, contact us and we can send you a Queens closing costs spreadsheet.

Step 3

Decide whether or not to Sell

At this point, you should have a family discussion and decide whether now is indeed the right time to sell. You should have all of the information you need to make this decision so it ultimately comes down to selling, or holding. Try not to speculate as to where the market is going to be 1 month, 6 months, or 1 year from now because at the end of the day, it is just that, speculation. We tell all of the homeowners we meet, selling is all about timing. Usually when people sell, it is because they are ready to unload their property, take their equity, and move in to a new chapter. Either that, or they are in a situation that requires them to sell. Either way, the decision to sell is usually pretty clear.

Step 4

Get your Ducks in a Row

Once you’ve decided to sell, now you need to get your things in order. A lot of these Queens’ houses are very old, and depending on whether you inherited the property or purchased it, there are a lot of documents that you want to gather in order to streamline the sale. You definitely want to locate your old title report, your property deed, any mortgage records, payoff statements, ownership/transfer documents, violation documents, lien documents, wills, administration/probate documents, surveys, certificate of occupancies, etc.

Tips: If you are handling an estate sale, you will need to make sure that the proper probate or administration proceeding is filed with the surrogates court before listing the house. If the person who passed away lived out of state and the probate was done in that state, you will still need to file an ancillary probate in New York State so you will need to get that filed before listing. If you are a non-resident of New York, you will need to pay a portion of capital gains taxes at closing so you should get an idea of the amount from a local CPA. If you have tenants, you should notify them of the sale asap and if they don’t have a lease or the lease has ended, we would advise sending a notice of termination and starting a holdover case if necessary.

We have seen so many issues pop up because these things were not looked into ahead of time. For more advice on this step of how to sell your house in Queens NY, feel free to reach out to us and we can give you some general advice.