Where our experience with mortgage arrears helps you
Being behind on mortgage payments is a problem with three possible answers, and the most useful thing we do is help you work out which one is yours.
Catching the missed mortgage payments up through a modification or forbearance is usually best where it is achievable, and we will put you in front of a HUD-approved housing counselor for it. Selling clears the mortgage and the arrears together and protects whatever equity is left, which is where we come in. Doing nothing is almost always worst. We will give you an honest read on which applies, and we are not paid either way.
Three real options, honestly described
The reason people stall is that all three options feel like admitting something. They are not. People fall behind on mortgage payments for ordinary reasons: a job goes, somebody gets ill, a marriage ends, a business has a bad year.
What matters is only which route the numbers allow. Cure the missed mortgage payments, sell and clear them, or let it run. The third one costs the most, and it is the one that happens by default while people are deciding.
Why local knowledge changes the number
The median is down 8.08% year over year as of 2026-10. In a market going backwards the properties that sit longest are the ones needing work, and each month on the market makes the next price reduction more likely. A $1,344,311 median means Garden City buyers are financing heavily and scrutinising accordingly. Appraisals are tighter, inspections are more thorough, and a property that will not satisfy a lender has a very small retail audience. The median house here goes under contract in about 19 days, which is quick for Long Island. It is also a figure that only applies to property in showable condition.
Garden City is roughly 23,272 people in Nassau County, ZIP 11530, and the housing stock is mostly colonial, tudor, split-level. Around Stewart Avenue and Franklin Avenue, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Garden City stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We have been buying across Nassau County for 15+ years. We know what the Garden City Union Free School District does to a resale price, which blocks still have oil tanks in the ground, and what a house like yours is actually worth here.
The payoff figure is the number that matters
Two numbers settle everything here: the mortgage payoff including missed payments, and what the house is genuinely worth today.
We will put the second one in writing for you after one visit, at no cost. The first one only the servicer can give you. If the house is worth more than the mortgage payoff, selling clears the missed payments and you keep the difference. If it is not, you are looking at a short sale, and we can work one of those with you rather than sending you elsewhere.
Missed mortgage payments compound in ways people do not expect
The slow pace of all this in New York is the trap. Nothing appears to happen for long stretches, so waiting feels safe, and the missed mortgage payments climb quietly the whole time.
People assume the dangerous moment is a court date. Financially, the damage accumulates for months before that. By the time missed mortgage payments reach the later stages, the mortgage payoff can be materially higher than the original balance, and the difference is money that would otherwise have been yours.
What you do not pay when you sell a house in mortgage arrears
Listing a house in mortgage arrears the usual way brings each of these costs with it. Selling to us brings none of them.
- Agent commission
- $67,216 at 5% of the Garden City median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $26,886 on a $1,344,311 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- The work it needs to show well, out of your pocket first none
- Cleanout and removal
- Paid per load, before a single buyer walks through none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 64 to 79 days a listing takes to sell and close none
A private sale while you are behind on the mortgage
Court filings become public record, which owners in arrears usually discover at the worst possible moment. A private sale does not.
We buy directly, so the only people who know are the ones you tell and the attorneys handling the closing. You choose the date, you tell whoever you want to tell, and nothing about the arrears gets advertised in your own neighborhood.
What the two paths cost in Garden City
These are the two routes open to you with a house in mortgage arrears, priced against what Garden City houses actually sell for.
Work it against Garden City's own numbers. The median sale here is $1,344,311. A 5% commission on that is $67,216, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $26,886. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $94,102 gone before anyone counts the repairs it took to get the house listable.
There are two waits in a listed sale and people usually only count the first. In Garden City the median house takes about 19 days to go from listed to a signed contract. Then it waits again, typically 45 to 60 days, while the buyer's lender orders an appraisal and underwrites the loan. Call it 64 to 79 days from sign to keys, assuming nothing goes wrong.
The part worth understanding is what a signed contract actually guarantees, which is less than most sellers assume. A retail buyer with a mortgage contingency can walk away right up to the end. If they do not qualify, if the appraisal comes in under the price, if they change their mind and let the financing lapse. A share of deals die exactly there, after months of waiting, and the house goes back on the market with time on it. We are not borrowing anything, so there is no lender to satisfy, no appraisal to come in low and no contingency to exercise.
| Listing with an agent | Selling to us | |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $1,344,311 (Garden City median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$67,216 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$26,886 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 19 days (Garden City median, once listable) | 24 hours to a written offer |
| Contract to closing | 45 to 60 days (waiting on the buyer's lender) | A date you choose |
| Total wait | 64 to 79 days if nothing falls through | Yours to set |
| Can the buyer walk? | Yes (mortgage contingency runs to the end) | No financing to fall through |
| Before repairs and carrying | $1,250,209 | The number we put in writing |
The listing column assumes a 5% commission and seller closing costs of about 2%. Both vary. We have not subtracted repairs or the cost of carrying the house while it sits, because those depend on the property. A house in good condition listed with a good agent can absolutely beat a cash offer, and we will say so if that is your situation.
The window is wider today than it will be
Early arrears are a workout conversation. Later arrears are a legal one, and by then you want an attorney rather than a phone call.
We work with owners at every stage of this, including cases that have already been filed, and a filed case does not prevent a sale. It adds a clock and some coordination between the attorneys. Tell us where things stand with the arrears on a Garden City house and we will be straight with you about whether the timing works.
Common questions
How far behind on the mortgage is too far?
There is no fixed point, and it depends on where the lender has got to rather than on the number of missed payments. Call earlier rather than later, and speak to an attorney at the same time.
Can you pay off my arrears and let me stay in the house?
That is not what we do. Anyone offering to clear your arrears in exchange for the deed while you stay on as a tenant is offering something you should put in front of an attorney before you sign it. We buy houses outright, and that is the whole of it.
Will selling cover the arrears?
If the house is worth more than the payoff, yes, and the balance is yours. If it is not, you are looking at a short sale, which needs the lender's agreement to take less than it is owed. We can work one of those with you.
Should I keep making partial payments?
We are not going to tell you what to do with your money, but we will tell you it is a question worth asking a counselor. How partial payments get applied against arrears varies by servicer, and the answer matters.
Does being in arrears stop me selling a Garden City house?
No. Arrears are paid from the proceeds at closing like anything else secured against the property. The title company obtains a payoff figure, the mortgage and the arrears are settled out of it, and the balance goes to you.