We Buy Houses in Putnam County, NY for Cash

Sell Your Putnam County House for Cash — Lake, Hill or Village

Putnam is the quietest of the three counties we buy in, and its houses come with their own set of questions: the well, the septic, the watershed, the road that does not get plowed first. Simply Sold RE buys across all six towns — Carmel, Kent, Patterson, Philipstown, Putnam Valley and Southeast — and the villages of Brewster, Cold Spring and Nelsonville, in whatever condition the house is in today.

A great deal of Putnam's housing started life as something else. Lake Carmel, Putnam Lake, Lake Peekskill and the shores of Lake Mahopac were summer bungalow colonies that were winterized, expanded and made year-round one owner at a time. Add the postwar raised ranches and colonials along Route 6 and Route 52, the farmhouses in Patterson and Kent, and the Hudson Highlands stone-and-clapboard houses of Cold Spring and Garrison, and you have a county where no two houses inspect the same way.

That individuality is charming to live in and difficult to sell through a lender. We solve that by being the buyer ourselves: one visit, one written number, and a closing handled by attorneys whenever it suits you. Nothing to fix, nothing to clean out, nothing to certify first.

Why Putnam County Homeowners Call Us

The reasons Putnam sellers reach us are a little different from the cities to the south — fewer tenants, more distance, more houses that were once someone's weekend place:

• Your parents' lake house in Mahopac or Lake Carmel came to you and your siblings, none of you live nearby, and the estate still has to go through Putnam County Surrogate's Court in Carmel. Read the guide →
• The house on the hill with the long driveway was perfect for thirty years, and now the stairs, the plowing and the tax bill are more than you want to carry. Read the guide →
• The septic failed its inspection, the well needs a new pump, the roof has been patched twice — and every quote tells you the house needs more than you want to invest. Read the guide →
• Work took you out of the region and the house sits empty through a Putnam winter with the heat running so the pipes do not freeze. Read the guide →
• The Putnam County Commissioner of Finance has several years of unpaid taxes on the books and the property is heading toward the county's foreclosure list. Read the guide →
• The mortgage fell behind after a layoff or a medical year, the lender's 90-day notice has passed and the case is moving in Putnam Supreme Court. Read the guide →
• A divorce means the family home in Carmel or Brewster has to be sold, and both of you want it done with one signature rather than a season of showings. Read the guide →
• You have been renting out a converted cottage or a two-family near the Brewster train station and the numbers, the distance or the tenants have made you done with it. Read the guide →

Putnam County's Housing Reality

Putnam runs from the Hudson River at Cold Spring and Garrison east to the Connecticut line at Brewster and Patterson, and the housing changes with the terrain. The western third is the Hudson Highlands — steep, wooded, historic, with river-view houses on rock and villages that predate the railroad. The center is lake country: Mahopac, Carmel, Gleneida, Lake Carmel, Peekskill Hollow, dozens of smaller ponds, and neighborhoods that grew up as seasonal colonies before becoming year-round. The east is Brewster, Southeast and Patterson along the Harlem line and Interstate 84, where commuter colonials and older village stock sit side by side. Almost the entire county lives on private wells and septic systems; municipal sewer is the exception, not the rule.

Most of Putnam also lies inside New York City's East-of-Hudson watershed, which brings the city's Department of Environmental Protection into septic repairs and replacements. For a seller that can mean a failed septic is not a weekend job but a permitted, engineered project — and a financed buyer's lender will usually want it resolved before closing. The same goes for a well that fails a water test, a converted cottage sitting on piers instead of a foundation, or an addition built without a permit decades ago. These are the deals that fall apart in month two of a listing. For a cash buyer they are simply part of the price.

Property taxes in Putnam are high by any national measure, if generally lighter than Westchester's, and the county — not the towns — pursues delinquent taxes and ultimately forecloses and auctions properties under New York's Real Property Tax Law. Owners who fall behind get warnings, then a foreclosure list, then a sale. We help sellers step off that path by paying the arrears from the proceeds at closing so the equity they built stays theirs. Vacancy is the other quiet cost here: a house left empty through a Putnam winter has to be heated, plowed and watched, and every month of that comes out of what you would have netted.

How a Cash Sale Works in Putnam

Putnam closings, like all New York closings, run through attorneys. Once you accept our offer, the two attorneys trade a contract, a title company runs its searches, and the closing happens in Carmel, Brewster or another spot that works for you — typically one to two weeks after contract, or later if your plans call for it. There is no county or town transfer tax in Putnam on top of the state's, and we pay the customary closing costs. Mortgages, tax arrears and liens are satisfied on the closing statement.

Because so many Putnam sellers live elsewhere, we are used to closing at a distance: your attorney handles the documents, we handle the property, and the check is wired. We buy houses that have not been winterized, houses with a full basement of a lifetime's belongings, houses with a septic that has already failed and a well that has already tested badly. Leave what you do not want; we clear it after closing.

If your house is a well-maintained lake home and you have a summer to sell it, listing may bring you more — Putnam buyers pay for turnkey waterfront. We are the right choice when the house needs the work, when it has sat empty, when an estate or a deadline is involved, or when you want it finished without another trip north. See how the two routes compare before you decide.