A Genuine Choice Rather Than a Constraint
Owners here typically have a working policy, a settlement that reflects the loss, and a house worth substantially more repaired than damaged. That is a better position than most of this site describes.
What it produces is a real decision. Repair and keep, repair and sell, or sell as it stands, and the arithmetic genuinely supports more than one of those. The framework is on our page covering the trust and the records.
Does the Trust Apply If I Decide to Sell Instead of Repair?
Where the Money Usually Goes Wrong Here
Not through pressure, but through delay. A settlement arrives, the decision takes months, and by the time work starts the account has been dipped into for things that felt reasonable at the time.
Section 75 requires records and section 75(4) makes their absence presumptive evidence of diversion. Owners in comfortable circumstances are frequently the least careful about this, because nothing feels urgent.
What Is the Minimum I Should Be Doing?
We publish no trust assessments, claim positions or values for individual east side properties. A New York lawyer, your insurer and local sale evidence answer those.
Values Make Repairing the Usual Answer
Where a finished house is worth a great deal, the cost of repair is a smaller proportion of it, and an owner doing the work or a rehabber will beat any cash offer including ours.
Combined with a settlement that has paid properly, that describes most of what we see here, and our written figure says so at the start rather than after a negotiation.
Older Framing Supports It
Timber of the era common here chars on the surface rather than failing at connections, so members can frequently be assessed, cleaned back and retained. An engineer settles it and on these values the fee is trivial against what it decides.
Secure It Anyway
A comfortable position does not stop a Rochester winter. Freeze and thaw works water into charred timber and a frame retainable in autumn frequently is not by spring, which converts a repair file into a rebuild file.
The East Side in Context
Where payouts are modest and pressure is real, see our page about the northeast and northwest. Where the sums are largest, see our page for the inner suburbs.
The Sections That Apply However Comfortable the Position
Article 3-A of the Lien Law, sections 70 to 79-a, applies without reference to the size of a settlement. Section 70(3) starts the trust when an asset comes into existence and section 70(5)(f) covers fire insurance proceeds.
Section 75 requires books and records, section 75(4) makes their absence presumptive evidence of diversion, and section 79-a(1)(b) carries a 31 day limit in the contracting chain.
East Side Questions
Should I Open a Separate Account?
Not required, and it is the easiest way to keep the records section 75 expects. An afternoon's work.
Should I Repair or Sell?
On this stock at these values, repairing usually wins. Get the finished value from somebody who is not buying.
Will You Buy on Park Avenue?
Yes, and we expect to lose most of these files to repairs and conventional sales.