Unpermitted work is ordinary in older Uniondale houses
You may not know which parts are the problem, and that is common. Owners who bought years ago inherited whatever the previous owner built and had no reason to go looking.
A certificate of occupancy describes the house the town believes it approved. If the basement, the deck or the extension is not in that description, the work was very likely done without a permit. An expeditor or an attorney can pull the file and tell you where the gaps actually are.
What we bring to unpermitted work, beyond the money
Most owners get here after one call to the building department that raised more questions than it answered. What we can offer first is somebody who has been through this repeatedly telling you plainly what your options are.
If selling suits you, we buy with the unpermitted work in place. If the addition could be legalized without much trouble and the house would net more legalized and listed, we will say so and give you the name of an expeditor. Neither conversation costs you anything.
What this looks like in Uniondale specifically
Uniondale is roughly 32,473 people in Nassau County, ZIP 11553, and the housing stock is mostly cape cod, colonial, ranch. Around Hempstead Turnpike and the Nassau Coliseum, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. We have been buying across Nassau County for 15+ years. We know what the Uniondale 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 median has slipped 1.95% year over year as of 2026-10. It is a small move, but a softening market punishes the houses that need work first - buyers with choices do not choose the project. At a $684,649 median, Uniondale is a market where buyers expect to do some work. That helps a seller with a dated house and hurts one with a genuinely broken one, because the pool that will take on a project is not the same pool that will take on a gut. Houses here take a median of 50 days to go from listed to under contract, and that clock only starts once the property is ready to show.
Appraisals, unpermitted square footage and the certificate of occupancy
The awkward part is how late it surfaces. Everything feels fine until a search comes back and the deck, the basement or the extra bathroom is not on file anywhere and no permit was ever pulled.
By then there is a signed contract, a mortgage commitment with conditions attached, and a buyer who has started packing. Renegotiation follows, then often a collapse, and an Uniondale house goes back on the market with more days on it and a story attached.
Why legalizing unpermitted work takes longer than anyone expects
The construction itself can be the smallest part. Drawings have to be produced, an application filed, fees paid, and inspectors given access to things that are now behind finished walls, which sometimes means opening them up again.
Then there are the outcomes nobody plans for: a structure standing where nothing is allowed to stand, or a conversion the zoning will not allow at all. Legalizing unpermitted work can end in a variance application, and that is a timeline of its own entirely.
What the two paths cost in Uniondale
These are the two routes open to you with a house with unpermitted work, priced against what Uniondale houses actually sell for.
Work it against Uniondale's own numbers. The median sale here is $684,649. A 5% commission on that is $34,232, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $13,693. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $47,925 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 Uniondale the median house takes about 50 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 95 to 110 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 | $684,649 (Uniondale median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$34,232 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$13,693 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 50 days (Uniondale 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 | 95 to 110 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 | $636,724 | The number we put in writing |
For the listing side we have used a 5% commission and about 2% in seller closing costs; your real figures may differ. Repairs and carrying costs are left out because they depend on the house. If yours is in good shape, a good agent may well get you more than we would, and we will tell you if so.
Legalizing the unpermitted work first, or selling as-is
The comparison worth making is not our offer against an asking price. It is money in hand on a date you choose, set against a listed number minus commission, minus whatever the permit process costs, minus the concessions a buyer asks for once the file comes back, and minus several months of carrying an Uniondale house.
We will lay ours out in writing so it can be compared honestly. If the listing wins on that arithmetic, take the listing.
How we arrive at a number on a house with unpermitted work
The honest answer on a house with unpermitted work is that we work backwards from what it is worth once it is fixed, subtract what fixing it costs, and subtract what we need to make for the risk of being wrong about either. There is no secret to it and no algorithm.
- What it is worth repaired. Not the Uniondale median of $684,649 on its own, but what houses like yours on your street actually closed at recently.
- What the work costs. Roof, boiler, electric, the kitchen and bath. In Uniondale the stock is largely cape cod and colonial, and on houses that age the mechanicals are usually the expensive part rather than the cosmetics.
- How long we will hold it. The median Uniondale house goes under contract in about 50 days once it is showable, then waits 45 to 60 days more on the buyer's lender. Ours has to get to showable first, and we carry taxes and insurance across the whole of it.
- What we are wrong about. Opening a wall finds things. That risk is priced in, which is a large part of why a cash number sits below a retail number.
Why the number works for us and not for you
This is the part most cash buyers are vague about, so here it is plainly. We run millions of dollars of construction a year. That volume buys materials at contractor pricing and keeps the same crews working year round, which means the identical renovation costs us roughly half what a homeowner would pay to have it done.
That gap is the business. It is also why doing the work yourself before selling so rarely pays: you would be buying the same roof and the same boiler at retail, then hoping the market hands it back to you at resale. It usually does not. We are not making money because you sold cheaply. We are making it because we build cheaply.
And if the number does not work for you, say so. We would rather hear that than talk anyone into anything. We will look at your situation and tell you honestly what we think your options are, including the ones that do not involve us. Plenty of people are better off listing with an agent, and when you are one of them we will say so rather than let you find out later.
What to do next
Nothing has to be legalized, opened up, drawn or approved before we buy. The unpermitted work stays exactly as it is through the closing, and the file becomes ours.
That is not a concession, it is simply the work we do. We take on the file, commission the drawings, meet the inspectors on site and pay for the corrective work when one of them asks for it. What would be a year of your life, spent on a house you have already decided to leave, is a line in our budget.
Common questions
Will unpermitted work stop a buyer getting a mortgage on an Uniondale house?
Frequently, yes, and it is the reason unpermitted work matters far more at sale than it ever did while you lived there. The loan is secured against the house as the town's records describe it, and an unpermitted addition is not in those records. Some Uniondale buyers get past it with a cooperative lender and a long timeline. Many do not. Selling for cash removes the question entirely.
Do I have to pull permits before selling my Uniondale house?
Not to sell to us. We buy with the work unpermitted and take the file on afterward. Whether you need them for any other purpose is worth putting to an attorney.
The previous owner did the unpermitted work. Does that change anything?
It is extremely common and it does not affect our offer. What you are personally exposed to is an attorney question, but unpermitted work done by a previous owner is not a reason we walk away.
Will the town find the unpermitted work when I sell my Uniondale house?
A buyer's attorney will usually order a municipal search, which is where open permits and missing sign-offs surface. Selling to us does not require that search to come back clean.
There is already a violation for the unpermitted work. Can you still buy?
Yes, and it is a common starting point for these conversations. Tell us what the notice says and we will price it once rather than being vague now and revising on you later.
How much does unpermitted work take off the price of an Uniondale house?
It depends what it would take to legalize it and what the risk is that the town says no. A finished basement is usually a smaller adjustment than an addition sitting in a setback. We would rather price it accurately once than revise later.