Sell Your Hempstead House for Cash, As-Is

Your assessed value is set by Nassau's Department of Assessment. For 2025 the state rated the town at 0.14. Under New York's own definition, a rate that low tells you assessments overall run well under market value, so the assessment printed on your bill is a tiny fraction of the sale price.

To fight that number, you file an appeal with ARC (the Assessment Review Commission). Appeals aimed at the 2028/29 roll can be filed starting January 4, 2027, with a March 1, 2027 cutoff, on the county's AROW site, free of charge. Watch the lag, though. The county says the time to appeal a new assessment ends before taxes based on it are billed.

Collection belongs to the town Receiver, (516) 538-1500, and the schedule is split in two. School halves are due October 1 and April 1, and penalties begin after November 10 and May 10. General halves are due January 1 and July 1, and penalties begin after February 10 and August 10. The Receiver stops taking school payments after May 31 and general payments after August 31. When you sign a contract, check which half is open.

Redfin tracks a town-wide Hempstead area, and its recent-sales list includes Levittown, East Meadow, Valley Stream and Merrick. Over summer 2026 (June through August) the median sale came to $799K, which is 6.5% higher than in June to August 2025. Typical time on market was 28 days, one day longer than a year before. Redfin's sale-to-list figure was 101.8%. More than half the sales, 58.7%, closed above asking. Its Compete Score for the area was 77, which Redfin calls very competitive.

Flood zones change what you can do to a house. The town's disaster page explains that its design flood elevation is the FEMA base flood elevation plus two feet of freeboard. If repairs or improvements cost 50% or more of the structure's market value, the house needs full compliance with state and FEMA construction rules plus a certificate of occupancy, and it may have to be raised. Smaller repairs can get a like-and-kind permit that ends with a certificate of completion. The Building Department or FEMA's Map Service Center can tell you your flood zone.

Second kitchens need approval. The town code calls a one-family home with a second kitchen for the owner's children or parents a mother-daughter or immediate family residence. Getting one approved means a trip through the Board of Architectural Review and then a public hearing at the Board of Zoning Appeals. The application includes a $25 Building Department record search fee, and the house has to go back to a single unit once that use ends.

Is the house older than 1978? Federal law then requires a lead disclosure. Share whatever lead-based paint information you have, provide EPA's pamphlet and the warning statement the rule calls for, and give the buyer ten days to inspect for lead paint unless they waive it. Keep signed copies on file for three years.

Bottom line: a rental here needs a permit, and that permit stays with you, not the house. Chapter 99, Article II of the town code covers rental dwelling units. A single rental unit permit costs $500, renewal costs $450, and permits run two years. They're nontransferable, so anyone buying to rent applies on their own. Owners who live or do business outside Nassau must name a Nassau agent. The town also says this article is not meant to legalize occupancy of structures built before 1930 or that have a letter in lieu.

Building questions go to the second floor of One Washington Street, (516) 538-8500, and permit applications are filed through an online portal. Before the buyer signs a contract, New York requires that they receive your completed PCDS (Property Condition Disclosure Statement). Paying $500 instead stopped being allowed on March 20, 2024, and sellers now answer flood questions, including whether the property lies partly or fully in a FEMA floodplain.

The seller owes the transfer tax New York charges, $2 for every $500 of price, reported on a TP-584. Buyers pay the 1% mansion tax when the purchase price is $1 million or more. If you'd rather skip listing altogether, Easy Sell buys in any condition and can advance up to $10,000 in cash before closing.

Begin at the Building Department, second floor of One Washington Street. The front counter opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 4:45 p.m. Questions can go by email to TOHBuildingQuestions@hempsteadny.gov first. If your question is about housing or zoning, the inspectors take calls at (516) 812-3289 between 9 and 10:30 a.m.

Have a second kitchen? Find the approval in your file before a buyer asks. A new mother-daughter application costs a $150 filing fee plus the $25 record search, and it goes to the Board of Architectural Review before the zoning board hearing, so it is not a quick fix.

Then visit or call the Receiver of Taxes, first floor of 200 North Franklin Street, (516) 538-1500, open weekdays, 9 a.m. until 4:45 p.m. That office collects county and town taxes, school taxes, and levies for 99 special districts, so one call shows where your bill stands.

Pull your county property record at mynassauproperty.com and make sure the inventory matches the house. If you filed with ARC, its office is at 240 Old Country Road in Mineola, phone (516) 571-3214.

If you rent any unit, sort out where your rental permit stands before contract, since the permit can't go to the buyer. Get the disclosure form into the buyer's hands ahead of their signature, and have the TP-584 ready for closing.