Laurelton, Queens, NY
Sell your house fast in Laurelton, Queens.
We buy Laurelton houses as is for cash. 1920s and 1930s brick Tudors, colonials on the tree streets, houses with a basement tenant, estates held since the 1970s, houses near the Belt Parkway that flood, any condition.
$740,000
Median Laurelton sale
49 days
Avg market days
+5.2%
YoY change
About the area
Why Laurelton sellers call us.
Laurelton is the neighborhood in the far southeast of Queens between Springfield Gardens and Rosedale, with Merrick Boulevard and the Long Island Rail Road station on the north, the Belt Parkway and Brookville Park on the south, and Nassau County a few blocks east. It was planned in the 1900s as a commuter suburb and built mostly between 1920 and 1940, brick and stucco Tudors with slate roofs and leaded windows on the numbered streets, colonials with a porch on 40 foot lots, and a few blocks of 1950s capes toward the parkway. It was a Jewish neighborhood until the 1960s and has been one of the most stable Black middle class neighborhoods in the city since, with families from Jamaica, Trinidad, Haiti and the Carolinas who bought in the 1970s and 1980s and whose children are in Nassau, Georgia and the Carolinas now. The houses are beautiful and ninety years old, and the parents who bought in 1975 are estates, with a slate roof that needs pieces, a basement tenant, and a boiler from the first Bush administration.
The typical home value in Laurelton is around $740,000, up roughly 5.2% over the past year, with houses averaging about 49 days on the market.
The Tudor your parents bought in 1975 and the slate roof
The most common Laurelton call is an estate. A brick Tudor on 228th or 231st Street bought in 1975 by a nurse and a Transit Authority man, paid off by 1995, with a slate roof missing a dozen pieces, leaded windows that leak, a stucco gable that needs work, a kitchen from 1985, a basement finished for a tenant, and fifty years of a family’s belongings. The children are in Elmont, Atlanta and Charlotte. Queens County Surrogate’s Court has the file. An agent wants the roof fixed and the house emptied before photos, and a slate roof in Laurelton is a thirty thousand dollar line. We buy the house with the roof as it is, full, wait for the letters, and each heir signs where they live.
The basement tenant and the side door
Laurelton basements are finished and a large share have a kitchen, a bathroom, a side entrance and a tenant paying cash, often a relative, often someone who has been there a decade. A basement apartment in New York City needs a certificate of occupancy that almost none of these have. The appraiser notes the second kitchen, the lender wants it removed, and the financed buyer walks or asks for a cut at the end. A 311 complaint brings a Department of Buildings inspector and a violation. We buy the house as its legal rooms, with the violation open, and handle whoever is downstairs on terms worked out with you.
The blocks near the Belt Parkway and the water in the basement
The streets south of 140th Avenue toward Brookville Park and the parkway sit low, the sewers back up in a heavy rain, and the basements take water. Ida in 2021 filled some of them to the ceiling. A house there carries a flood premium the next lender may require, a sump pump and a check valve, and a story. We price the water in rather than walking away from it.
Reverse mortgages, modifications and the 2006 loans
Laurelton was hit hard in the subprime years and a good number of its houses carry a 2005 or 2006 loan that was modified once and is behind again, or a reverse mortgage that came due when a parent died. Queens County Supreme Court foreclosures take years and a reverse mortgage servicer gives the estate six months. Both windows are openings. A cash closing before the referee’s date or the servicer’s deadline pays the loan and leaves the remaining equity with the family.
Where listing still wins in Laurelton
A renovated Tudor with a sound roof, a legal basement and no deadline should be listed, and we will say so, because Laurelton buyers with FHA and VA loans are waiting for exactly that house. Where a cash sale wins is the estate with the slate roof and three heirs in three states, the basement tenant the appraiser will flag, the house near the parkway that takes water, the loan from 2006, or the reverse mortgage with a deadline.
What we buy in Laurelton
Brick and stucco Tudors, colonials, capes and two families, houses with a basement unit or an open violation, houses near the Belt Parkway that flood, mixed use buildings on Merrick Boulevard, estates in any condition, houses in foreclosure, and vacant lots. We do not buy cooperative apartments. If you own something unusual, call anyway.
North of 137th Avenue, the tree streets, and the blocks by the parkway
Laurelton is priced by elevation and by the roof. The Tudors and colonials on the numbered streets between Merrick Boulevard and 137th Avenue are the center of the market, priced on the block, the slate, and whether the basement is legal. The streets between 137th and 140th Avenues, the ones the neighborhood calls the tree streets, are the top. South of 140th Avenue toward Brookville Park and the Belt Parkway, the sewers and the water take over and the price follows. We build the offer from sales on your blocks, with the comparable addresses on the sheet, and we show you which band your house is in before we show you the number.
What the bands share is the 1920s and 1930s build. A Laurelton house that was never renovated carries the same list: a slate roof missing pieces, leaded windows that leak, stucco coming off a gable, knob and tube on the second floor, a basement kitchen with a side door, galvanized pipes, and a boiler from 1990. A bank’s inspector hands the seller that list to fix first. We price it, buy the house as it stands, and fix it ourselves.
Slate, stucco and the Tudor details a lender wants fixed first
A Laurelton Tudor is a beautiful house to own and an expensive one to make lender ready. Slate is a specialty roof and a specialty price, leaded windows are a specialty repair, and the half timbered stucco gables fail in a way a vinyl sided house never does. A financed buyer’s lender wants the roof sound and the water out before closing, and the seller is asked to spend thirty or forty thousand dollars on a house she is leaving. We price those lines, buy the house with the tarps on it, and do the work under our own contractors after closing.
Looking just beyond Laurelton? You can also sell your house fast in Rosedale NY or sell a house fast in Springfield Gardens NY, and you can read about how we buy houses in St. Albans NY.
Many Laurelton homeowners also ask us how to sell a rental property as a tired landlord, sell a house with bad tenants, or sell a house with code violations.
How a sale like this goes in Laurelton
228th Street Between 137th and 139th Avenues: a 1931 Brick Tudor, a Slate Roof With Tarps on It, a Basement Tenant Since 2012, a Reverse Mortgage Due in May and Three Heirs in Elmont, Atlanta and Charlotte
Their parents bought the brick Tudor on 228th Street in 1975, the year their mother started at Queens General. Their father took a reverse mortgage in 2012 after she retired, and finished the basement the same year for a tenant to cover what the loan did not. Their mother died in 2016. Their father died in the house in November 2024 at eighty nine. The servicer's letter came in December and gave the estate until May. The oldest daughter lived in Elmont, the son in Atlanta, the youngest daughter in Charlotte. The slate roof had tarps on two slopes. The leaded windows on the front leaked. The tenant in the basement paid cash and had a side door.
The Elmont daughter listed it in January 2025. The agent wanted the tarps gone, the roof repaired and the basement kitchen removed before photos. A roofer quoted thirty four thousand dollars for the slate. The first buyer was FHA. The appraiser found the basement unit and the roof, and the lender declined in March. The servicer's second letter had the May date on it.
The estate attorney in Jamaica called us in March. The offer was written on the Tudor as it stood: the slate roof with the tarps, the leaded windows, the stucco gable, a 1985 kitchen, a boiler from 1990, the basement as a basement with the tenant staying ninety days on terms the three of them set, and fifty years of a nurse's household as a cleanout line. One page, the same page to all three heirs and to the attorney. A closing date in April, inside the servicer's deadline, because the Surrogate's letters had issued in February.
The Atlanta son and the Charlotte daughter signed with notaries. We closed on April 22 at a title company on Merrick Boulevard. The reverse mortgage was paid at the table. The tenant moved in July. The Elmont daughter took the photographs, her mother's nursing pin and the dining room set. What she said was that the roofer and the agent had both wanted thirty four thousand dollars before anything could happen, and the deadline had not cared.
Illustrative. Based on the situations we buy in across Laurelton. A composite, not a single transaction, with details changed.
Common reasons Laurelton sellers call us.
A brick Tudor on 231st Street your parents bought in 1975 with a slate roof missing pieces
Heirs in Elmont, Atlanta and Charlotte, a Queens Surrogate's file, a thirty thousand dollar roof. We buy it with the roof as it is and each heir signs where they live.
A basement tenant with a side door and a decade of cash rent
No lender counts it. We price the basement as a basement and buy the house as its legal rooms.
A house south of 140th Avenue that Ida filled to the ceiling
The water is priced in, not used as a reason to leave. We carry the policy after closing.
A reverse mortgage that came due when your mother died
The servicer gives six months. We close inside the window and the rest is the family's.
A 2006 loan modified in 2013 and behind again since 2024
Queens County foreclosures take years and that is the opening. A cash closing before the referee's date pays the bank and leaves the equity.
A Department of Buildings violation from a 311 call about the basement
The violation ends a financed sale. We buy with it open and clear it after closing.
Leaded windows that leak and a stucco gable coming off
We price the list and buy the Tudor as it stands, then do the work ourselves.
A move to Charlotte or back to Kingston with a date
We set the Laurelton closing around it, about 14 days out, and the proceeds wire wherever you are.
Frequently asked questions about selling in Laurelton.
How fast can you buy a Laurelton house?
Call (516) 964-7222 or send the address through the form. We see the house, you get a written offer within 24 hours with the comparable sales on it, and you pick the date. About 14 days when the title is clean, two to four weeks with an estate or a lien.
The slate roof needs work and an agent said it has to be done first. Does it?
Not for us. A slate roof in Laurelton is a line on our sheet, usually a large one, and we do the work after closing. A financed buyer's lender is who wants it done first, and that is why those sales stall.
There is a tenant in the basement who pays cash. Can you still buy?
Yes. A basement unit without a certificate of occupancy is not a legal apartment in New York City, so we price the house as its legal rooms. Whoever is downstairs is handled on terms worked out with you before closing, and any Department of Buildings file comes to us.
The reverse mortgage servicer is sending letters. How long do I have?
Usually six months from the death, with extensions available on request, before the servicer files. We close inside that window. The loan is paid from the price at closing and the remaining equity goes to the estate.
My sister is in Atlanta and my brother is in Charlotte. Do they have to come to Queens?
No. Each heir signs with a notary where they live, our title company prepares the packages, and we coordinate with the Queens County Surrogate's Court file and the estate attorney. A neighbor can let us in.
The basement floods in a heavy rain. Does that end the sale?
No. The blocks near the Belt Parkway and Brookville Park take water and we know which ones. The sump pump, the check valve and the flood premium are lines on the sheet, and the house closes anyway.
Would an agent get more?
Sometimes, and we say so. A renovated Tudor with a sound roof and a legal basement and no deadline usually nets more listed, because FHA and VA buyers are waiting for it. Ours is the better route when the roof is slate and failing, the basement has a tenant, the heirs are in three states, a loan has a deadline, or the basement floods.
What comes off the price?
Your payoff, any liens or water balances, and the New York State and City transfer taxes, each itemized on the offer. No commission, no fees, we pay our own closing costs.
We also buy in nearby Queens neighborhoods.
Ready to sell your Laurelton house?
Submit your address. We respond within 24 hours.
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