Complete 2026 Guide · Updated 2026-09-01
Selling a house in New York without a listing agent is legal, common, and — because New York already puts an attorney at the center of every sale — more practical than in many states. The commission you save is real: roughly 5-6% of the price, or $25,000-$30,000 on a $500,000 house. The risk is also real: a mispriced or poorly marketed FSBO can lose more than that. This guide covers the three routes (pure FSBO, flat-fee MLS, and a direct cash sale), what New York agents cost after the 2024 commission changes, exactly what your attorney does, the disclosures you still owe (including the now-mandatory Property Condition Disclosure Statement), and the transfer taxes and closing costs that come out of your check in NYC, Yonkers, Long Island, and upstate. Tony the Cash Guy is one of the routes; the guide is honest about when he's the wrong one. This is not legal advice — a NY real estate attorney should handle any contract you sign.
§·· / Schedule
Tell Tony where the house is and what shape it's in. Get a cash number on the same call. Pick a closing date.
7 days a week, 8 AM to 9 PM Eastern.
Route one is pure for-sale-by-owner: you price, photograph, market, show, and negotiate, and your attorney drafts the contract. Route two is a flat-fee MLS listing: for roughly $100-$500 a licensed broker puts your house on OneKey MLS (Long Island, Westchester, Hudson Valley), the REBNY listing service in NYC, or your upstate MLS, which feeds Zillow, Realtor.com, and every agent's search; you do everything else. Route three is a direct sale to a cash buyer like Tony: an offer over the phone, no showings, no repairs, no commission, contents left behind, and a 7-14 day close at a price below retail. For a house in decent shape, route two is the sensible default. Route three is for when condition, tenants, an estate, or a deadline make a listing impractical. Pure FSBO without MLS exposure is the hardest path to a full-price sale in New York, where buyer's agents dominate downstate and find houses through the MLS feed.
The customary New York commission has been 5-6% of the sale price, split between the listing broker and the buyer's broker — roughly $25,000-$30,000 on a $500,000 sale, and noticeably more in NYC where 6% has been standard on houses and 5-6% on co-ops and condos. The August 2024 National Association of Realtors settlement barred offers of buyer-agent compensation on MLS listings and required written buyer-agent agreements before touring; REBNY made a parallel change in NYC in early 2024. In practice through 2025-2026, most New York sellers still end up paying roughly 2-2.5% toward the buyer's agent as a negotiated concession, and listing-side fees run roughly 2-3%. Going without a listing agent saves the listing side with certainty; the buyer side is now a negotiation. On the same $500,000 sale, a flat-fee listing plus a 2% buyer-agent concession costs roughly $10,000-$11,000 instead of $25,000-$30,000.
Price from closed sales in the last three to six months — ACRIS in NYC, county clerk records elsewhere, and the sold data on the portals — not from asking prices. Overpricing is how New York FSBOs sit for months and then sell below what a correct first price would have brought. Get professional photos (roughly $150-$500). List through a flat-fee broker on the right MLS for your area. Decide whether you'll pay a buyer's agent and say so in the listing. Show safely: verify identity, avoid solo showings after dark, secure valuables and medications. In downstate New York, the buyer inspects before a contract exists, so expect inspectors within days of an accepted offer; upstate, inspection contingencies inside the contract are more common. When terms are agreed, your attorney drafts the contract, the buyer's attorney reviews it, the buyer signs with roughly 10% down into your attorney's escrow, and you countersign. Nothing is binding until both sides sign. A financed buyer then needs roughly 45-60 days for the mortgage commitment and closing; a cash buyer can close in two to three weeks.
New York has no attorney-review period because the attorneys are already doing the work: in nearly every NY residential sale the seller's attorney drafts the contract, the buyer's attorney negotiates riders, and the attorneys — not agents — carry the deal from accepted offer to closing. That's why FSBO is more workable in New York than in states where agents draft contracts. A seller's attorney typically charges roughly $1,500-$3,500 for a downstate house (less upstate) and handles the contract and riders, escrow of the buyer's deposit, the Property Condition Disclosure Statement, title clearance and payoff letters, the deed and transfer-tax forms (TP-584 and, in NYC, the RPTT return), the smoke/CO affidavit, the IT-2663 nonresident estimated tax form if it applies, and the closing itself. Selling without an agent is fine; selling without an attorney is not something a NY title company or buyer's lender will let happen.
The Property Condition Disclosure Statement is mandatory on 1-4 family sales — the $500 credit that let sellers skip it was repealed effective March 20, 2024, and the form now includes flood-history questions. Exemptions cover executors, trustees, foreclosure and court-ordered sales, transfers between spouses or co-owners, new construction, co-ops, and condos. The federal lead-paint disclosure applies to any pre-1978 house. In NYC, the buyer's attorney will check the Certificate of Occupancy against the actual layout and pull open DOB, ECB, and HPD violations. Long Island towns require Certificates of Occupancy or Completion for additions, decks, pools, and finished basements, and buyers' attorneys will not close over open permits. Co-op sellers need board approval of the buyer even on a FSBO sale; condo boards usually have a right of first refusal. A smoke and carbon monoxide detector affidavit is standard at closing. None of this changes because there's no agent — it just lands on you and your attorney instead.
New York State charges a real estate transfer tax of 0.4% of the price, paid by the seller — $2,000 on a $500,000 sale. New York City adds its Real Property Transfer Tax: 1% on residential sales of $500,000 or less and 1.425% above $500,000 for 1-3 family houses, condos, and co-ops — $5,000 on a $500,000 house, roughly $10,700 on $750,000. Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Peekskill, and a handful of other municipalities levy their own local transfer taxes, typically in the range of roughly 1-1.5%. (The 1% "mansion tax" on sales of $1 million and up is paid by the buyer.) Add your attorney (roughly $1,500-$3,500 downstate), a co-op flip tax if the building charges one, recording and title-related seller charges, mortgage and lien payoffs, and tax prorations. Nonresident sellers prepay estimated NY income tax on the gain at closing via form IT-2663. Outside NYC, a seller with no listing agent and no buyer-agent concession typically nets roughly 98-99% of the price minus payoffs; inside NYC, roughly 97-98%.
FSBO with a flat-fee listing works when the house is in good condition, the market is active, you price from real comps, you can be present for showings and inspections, and you can live with a 60-120 day process. It works badly when the house needs real work (financed buyers fall away and what's left is investor offers), when there are tenants — especially rent-stabilized ones — when the house is in an estate or a divorce, when you live out of state, when the contents are a problem, or when you need to be done in weeks. In those cases the real choice is between a full-service agent who earns the fee by solving problems and a direct cash sale that skips the problems.
Tony the Cash Guy is the third route: a phone call, a cash number, no showings, no repairs, no commission, contents left behind, and a title-company closing in 7-14 days anywhere in New York. Cash offers typically land at roughly 70-85% of after-repair value minus repairs, so on a clean house in a strong market a flat-fee listing or an agent will net more — and Tony says so on the phone. The cash route wins on a house that can't get financed, a house full of stuff, a tenant-occupied or inherited property, a C of O problem, or a seller who needs a certain closing date. Get Tony's number, get a realtor's net sheet, and compare.
§04 / References
Illustrative examples of the situations Tony handles — composed from common cases, not verified customer statements. Verified seller reviews are being collected and will be published here.
Kitchen fire took out half the first floor. Insurance was going to take a year. Tony bought the property as-is, I kept what insurance paid, and I walked away with the property gone. Best $0 commission deal of my life.
Tenant hadn't paid in five months and I couldn't get her out. Tony bought the building with her still in it. Closed in nine days. I never even told her I was selling.
I was three weeks from a sheriff's sale. The bank wasn't helping. I almost didn't call because I was embarrassed. Tony's offer paid off the mortgage and gave me $34,000 on top. I didn't know that was even possible.
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Yes. No law requires an agent. New York practice does require an attorney in effect — the seller's attorney drafts the contract and runs the closing — and every buyer's lender and title company expects one.
The state transfer tax is 0.4% of the price, seller-paid. NYC adds 1% (sales of $500,000 or less) or 1.425% (above $500,000) for 1-3 family homes, condos, and co-ops. Yonkers, Mount Vernon, and a few other municipalities add local taxes of roughly 1-1.5%. The 1% mansion tax on $1 million-plus sales is paid by the buyer.
Yes, on a 1-4 family home unless an exemption applies (executor, trustee, foreclosure, court-ordered, spouse/co-owner transfer, co-op, condo, new construction). The $500 credit option ended March 20, 2024.
Not by rule since the 2024 NAR and REBNY changes, but most buyers ask for roughly 2-2.5% as a concession and declining it can cost you buyers. It's negotiable.
Typically 60-120 days from listing to closing with a financed buyer: a few weeks to an accepted offer, a week or two to contract, then 45-60 days for the mortgage and closing. A cash buyer can close in two to three weeks from contract; Tony closes in 7-14 days.
When the house needs work, has tenants or a C of O problem, is inherited or part of a divorce, is full of contents, or when you need a firm closing date within weeks. On a clean house in a hot market, list it — Tony will tell you that himself.
§·· / Schedule
Tell Tony where the house is and what shape it's in. Get a cash number on the same call. Pick a closing date.
7 days a week, 8 AM to 9 PM Eastern.
Pick your town for selling a house without a realtor-specific information: