Navigating the Long Island Real Estate Market: Executive Q&A with Mike Plactere

Selling residential property across Nassau and Suffolk County comes with distinct local challenges. Long Island homeowners frequently face high carrying costs, strict municipal codes, aging housing stock, and complex legal situations such as probate or tenant occupancy. In these scenarios, traditional open-market listings involving formal inspections, agent commissions, staging, and prolonged financing contingencies can introduce delays and friction that many sellers simply cannot manage.

Mike Plactere founded We Buy Long Island Homes Fast to offer property owners a direct, dependable alternative to the traditional brokerage model. Through We Buy Long Island Homes Fast, Plactere works with homeowners across Nassau and Suffolk counties, including sellers dealing with distressed properties, inherited homes and tenant-occupied rentals. In this interview, he shares practical insights into the mechanics of direct cash home buying, explains how to evaluate different selling routes, and breaks down the realities of managing complex property sales on Long Island.

Q: What led you to launch We Buy Long Island Homes Fast, and how has your hands-on experience in Nassau and Suffolk County shaped the way you work with local homeowners?

Mike Plactere: I’m a CPA and a licensed New York real estate agent. The business started with one house, an old ranch in Bellport that another agent sent my way. The price was good, but it needed a full renovation. Years of cigarette smoke had stained the walls yellow, it had cockroaches, and the contractor I hired for that first project turned into a nightmare.

The town inspector failed some of his work because he’d installed a flexible accordion-style drain under a sink instead of PVC. After that, I started wondering what else he’d cut corners on. It took about a year before I found the contractor I still use today.

Since 2019, I’ve bought more than 300 homes across Nassau and Suffolk counties, representing more than $130 million in property. I work out of an office in Locust Valley, and I also own four rental houses in Suffolk County that are inspected every quarter, so I understand the landlord side of the business firsthand.

For a homeowner, that experience means that when I make an offer, I’ve walked the property and priced the repairs, and I’m the one actually buying the house. I don’t put a house under contract and then shop that contract to another investor. We Buy Long Island Homes Fast purchases the property directly, and we can work around the seller’s timeline.

Q: Landlords often face additional complications when selling an occupied rental. From your experience purchasing tenant-occupied properties across Long Island, what challenges do owners face when selling a property with tenants still living in it, and what options are available to them?

Mike Plactere: Selling a rental property doesn’t automatically end the tenant’s lease in New York. Depending on the lease and circumstances, a buyer may take over the property with the existing tenancy, so one of the first decisions for a landlord is whether to sell with the tenant in place or get the property vacant before selling.

Selling with a tenant can reduce the pool of potential buyers because an occupied property may be better suited to another landlord or investor than an owner-occupant. If you list the property traditionally, you also need to coordinate showings, inspections and appraisals around someone who is still living there.

Getting the property vacant can take time as well. Depending on the tenancy, notice requirements can apply, and some landlords negotiate an agreement with a tenant to leave by a certain date. If the situation becomes an eviction, it can turn into a court process while the owner continues paying the mortgage, taxes, insurance and other carrying costs.

The other option is to sell directly to a buyer who’s comfortable purchasing the property with the tenant still there. I bought a house in Wyandanch with a Section 8 tenant who had lived there for about 15 years. I was comfortable purchasing the property with the existing tenancy because most of the rent was subsidized and she wasn’t looking to leave. She’s been a great tenant ever since. 

We’ve also purchased rental properties from out-of-state owners and dealt with more difficult tenant situations. The important point is that a Long Island landlord doesn’t necessarily have to wait until a rental property is vacant before selling it. The right option depends on the lease, the tenant, the property and the owner’s priorities.

As a CPA, I’d also tell any landlord to speak with their accountant before selling. Depreciation recapture can create a federal tax liability, including on depreciation that could have been claimed but wasn’t. And if you’re considering a 1031 exchange into another investment property, the deadlines are strict, so the timing of the sale matters.

Q: Many Long Island homeowners aren’t sure whether they should sell to a cash buyer or list with a Realtor. How should they compare repairs, commissions, closing timeline, certainty and ultimately what they will net from the sale?

Mike Plactere: I’m on both sides of this. I buy houses directly from homeowners, and after renovating them, I sell those properties on the open market. So I don’t think a cash sale is automatically the best choice.

If a house is in good condition and the owner has enough time, listing with a good Realtor will usually produce a higher sale price and may result in more money for the seller. A direct cash sale is generally about trading some of that potential upside for speed, certainty and not having to prepare or repair the property.

With a traditional listing, a seller may spend money getting the house ready for market, and the buyer’s inspection can lead to additional repair requests or credits. On Long Island, permit and certificate-of-occupancy issues can create problems as well.

I bought a house in Mastic Beach where a shed was too close to the house under Town of Brookhaven requirements. We had to address it, and because it was too heavy to move, we ultimately tore it out, including the electrical work. When I’m buying the property directly, issues like that become my problem instead of something the homeowner has to resolve before selling.

A financed sale also has more contingencies. The buyer needs financing, there’s generally an appraisal, title work has to be completed, and the transaction can still run into problems if the mortgage isn’t approved or the property doesn’t appraise as expected.

With We Buy Long Island Homes Fast, we don’t charge the seller a commission or service fee, and we cover the seller’s standard closing costs associated with our purchase. We make a cash offer after evaluating the property, and once the attorneys and title work are complete, we can typically close in about 14 to 28 days. Many sellers actually ask for around 30 days because they need time to move.

The important number isn’t simply cash offer versus listing price. It’s what the homeowner expects to walk away with under each scenario.

For a traditional sale, start with a realistic sale price and subtract the commissions and other transaction costs, repairs or buyer credits, plus the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities and other carrying costs for however long you expect to own the house before closing. Then compare that estimated net with the direct offer.

A good listing agent should be willing to help a seller calculate that number. If listing clearly leaves you better off and you have the time and appetite for the process, that’s probably what you should do.

Q: Inherited homes can come with very different problems from a normal home sale. What should Long Island families know when they’re deciding what to do with an inherited or probate property? 

Mike Plactere: An inherited house can keep costing a family money long before they’re ready to sell it. Property taxes, insurance, utilities and mortgage payments don’t stop while an estate is being settled, and on Long Island, the property taxes alone can be significant.

One of the first things to establish is who has the legal authority to sell the property. Unless the house was held in a trust or another arrangement applies, that can involve the Surrogate’s Court in the county where the owner lived. If there’s a will, the executor may need letters testamentary. Without a will, the court can appoint an administrator. That process can take time, so families shouldn’t assume they’ll be able to sell the house immediately.

While that’s happening, find out what’s owed against the property, including any mortgage, reverse mortgage or unpaid property taxes. If the house is vacant, tell the insurance company and find out whether the coverage needs to change. Keep the heat on or have the plumbing winterized, and make sure somebody checks the property regularly. A small problem like a burst pipe can become a major repair if nobody is living there to notice it.

I still do estate and trust work as a CPA, and taxes are another area families often misunderstand. People sometimes assume they’ll owe tax on the difference between what their parents paid for the house decades ago and what it sells for today. Inherited property generally receives a new tax basis based on its value at the owner’s date of death, so if it’s sold close to that value, the taxable gain may be relatively small. I recommend getting a date-of-death appraisal and keeping it with the estate records. If the property was transferred before the owner’s death, talk to your accountant because the tax treatment can be different.

When several people inherit a house together, I’d also try to agree early on whether the plan is to keep it, rent it or sell it, and who will cover the expenses while that decision is being made.

If the house is in good condition and the family has the time and money to carry it, making the necessary improvements and listing it on the open market will usually produce a higher sale price and may net the family more. If the property needs substantial work, the heirs live somewhere else, or the family simply doesn’t want to manage repairs and cleanout, selling the inherited house as-is to a direct buyer can be a simpler option.

Inherited properties are a regular part of what I buy on Long Island. I purchased one in Huntington Station from a woman who had inherited the house from her mother and didn’t want to take on the upkeep. Once we evaluated the property, the only major components worth keeping were the windows and boiler. We ultimately put about $155,000 into renovating the house.

That’s a good example of why I don’t think there’s one right answer for every inherited property. Families should understand the condition of the house, the costs of continuing to own it, the estate and tax issues involved, and what they’d realistically net from each selling option before deciding what to do.

Q: How do you evaluate a Long Island property to determine a cash offer, and what red flags should homeowners watch for when vetting a direct buyer?

Mike Plactere: I start by estimating what the house could realistically be worth after renovation, based on recent sales of comparable renovated properties nearby.

On Long Island, I pay close attention to the school district as well. Two houses can be only a short distance apart but fall into different districts and sell at different price points.

Then I walk the property and price the work. That can include the roof, boiler, electrical system, an old oil tank, the cesspool or sewer connection, and whether additions or improvements made over the years have the necessary permits.

From the property’s expected value after renovation, I account for the renovation itself, the cost of holding the property while the work is completed, the eventual resale costs and the margin required to compensate for the investment and risk. That’s how I arrive at an offer, and I’ll walk a homeowner through how I got there.

One thing sellers should understand is whether the company making the offer actually intends to purchase the house.

Some buyers operate by putting a property under contract and then attempting to assign that contract to another investor for a fee. That’s generally known as wholesaling. Wholesaling itself doesn’t mean a transaction is necessarily bad for the seller, but homeowners should understand who they’re contracting with, whether that party has the funds to close, and whether the agreement can be assigned.

I own a property in Wyandanch that came to me after a previous transaction like that failed. The seller had gone under contract with another buyer who intended to wholesale the property. That transaction didn’t close, and when the homeowner eventually came back to me, he sold the property for less than I’d originally offered.

I’d ask a cash buyer for proof of funds and have your attorney review the agreement before signing it. Pay attention to assignment language and inspection or cancellation provisions, and ask exactly who will be purchasing the property at closing.

I’d also be cautious about unrealistic closing promises. In New York, attorneys and title work are part of the process. We typically tell sellers 14 to 28 days rather than promising that every property can close in seven days.

Q: A direct cash sale isn’t the right answer for every homeowner. How can someone objectively decide whether listing on the open market or selling directly is the better fit for their situation?

Mike Plactere:   I’d look at three things: the condition of the house, how much time you have, and what it costs you to wait.

If the house is in good condition, would comfortably get through the normal inspection and appraisal process, and you have several months to sell, I’d seriously consider listing it. That’s what I tell homeowners who call me with properties where I think the open market makes more sense.

A direct sale becomes more attractive when the situation gets complicated. That might mean substantial repairs you can’t pay for or don’t want to manage, tenants still living in the property, an inherited home or probate situation, or simply a deadline by which you need the property sold.

The cost of waiting is the factor homeowners often forget.

I regularly speak with people who have retired and are moving from Long Island to Florida. Once they’ve committed to a home there, every additional month they own the Long Island property can mean carrying two homes. Even if the Long Island mortgage is paid off, the property taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance don’t disappear.

Work out what keeping the house costs you each month. Then multiply that by a realistic selling timeline and include it when comparing your options.

The question isn’t simply, “Which buyer will give me the highest number?” It’s, “After the costs, time and risks of each option, which route works best for my situation?”

Selling a home on Long Island can involve very different trade-offs depending on the property and the homeowner’s circumstances. A seller with a renovated property and time to test the open market may have different priorities from a landlord selling with tenants in place, an heir managing an inherited property, or an owner facing substantial repairs.

As Plactere explains, homeowners should compare their likely net proceeds, repair requirements, transaction costs, desired closing timeline and the certainty of each option before deciding how to sell.

Landlords considering the sale of an occupied property can read We Buy Long Island Homes Fast’s guide to Selling a Rental Property on Long Island.

To learn more about We Buy Long Island Homes Fast, visit the company’s website.