We Buy Houses & Buildings in Clifton, Staten Island

Housing Stock

What Clifton Is Built From

Clifton is a waterfront neighborhood that climbs from Bay Street up toward the foothills of Grymes Hill. Its oldest streets, near Vanderbilt Avenue, Tompkins Avenue and Townsend Avenue, carry Victorian houses from the late 1800s, many of them built when the area was a fashionable suburb served by the Vanderbilt ferry. The blocks between Vanderbilt Avenue and Norwood Avenue are especially rich in them.

Most of Clifton’s housing today is one- and two-family homes, with attached houses and duplexes built in the last decade or so on land that used to be zoned commercial. West of the railway, Park Hill adds a cluster of six-story brick apartment buildings from the 1960s, and Bay Street adds mixed-use buildings and small commercial properties.

The Vanderbilts, a Hospital and a Railway Yard

The name Clifton dates to the early 19th century, and Vanderbilt Avenue recalls the family whose ferry ran from here to Manhattan. On Vanderbilt Avenue between Talbot Place and Tompkins Avenue stands a row of eight houses built around 1900 for George Vanderbilt and designed by Carrère and Hastings. The large hospital campus at Bay Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, later known as Bayley Seton Hospital, was a U.S. Public Health Service hospital and the original home of the laboratory that became the National Institutes of Health. The Staten Island Railway’s Clifton yard is here too. These large institutional and rail uses explain why some Clifton blocks have irregular lots and mixed zoning.

Zoning

Zoning Context in Clifton

Clifton’s residential streets are mostly lower-density districts, with commercial zoning along Bay Street and some manufacturing or mixed zoning near the waterfront and the railway. All of Staten Island is a Lower Density Growth Management Area, which generally means stricter parking, yard and minimum lot rules in lower-density districts than in the rest of the city. Those rules matter when a buyer is considering whether a lot can be subdivided or a house replaced with two.

City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, adopted in December 2024, applies on Staten Island, but most of the borough kept its existing parking minimums. Accessory dwelling units are restricted in flood zones, which affects the lower blocks near the bay. The 2019 Bay Street Corridor rezoning ends at Stapleton, so most of Clifton was not part of it.

Flood Zones and Resiliency

Some low-lying blocks east of Bay Street and near the shoreline sit in mapped flood zones, a risk owners here took seriously after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ planned East Shore seawall begins farther south at Fort Wadsworth, and its first construction contract was terminated in 2026, so its timeline is uncertain. Flood status changes insurance costs and building rules, and we price it in. Confirm specifics for your lot with a zoning professional or attorney.

Regulated Buildings

Tenant-Occupied and Regulated Buildings

Staten Island has relatively few rent-stabilized buildings, because most of its housing is one- and two-family homes. Clifton’s older walk-ups and small apartment buildings are among the exceptions. Buildings with six or more units built before 1974 are generally covered by rent stabilization unless deregulated or exempt, and the registration history confirms the status of each apartment.

Since the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, owners have had few ways to raise regulated rents. We buy regulated buildings with tenants in place and price them on the actual rents. See our rent-stabilized building page.

Far more Clifton owners have a two- or three-family with tenants. We take over existing tenancies at closing. If a tenant has stopped paying, read our guide to selling with tenants who are not paying.

Where We Buy

Where We Buy in Clifton

We buy throughout Clifton, from the bay to the hills. Its three main parts are quite different.

Clifton Proper: Vanderbilt Avenue to the Bay

The original Clifton runs along Bay Street, Tompkins Avenue, Townsend Avenue and the streets off Vanderbilt Avenue, near the Clifton station. This is where the Victorians, the Vanderbilt Avenue houses and many of the newer attached homes are. We buy frame houses, two-families, mixed-use buildings on Bay Street and lots near the railway.

Park Hill

Park Hill sits on the foothills west of the railway, around Park Hill Avenue, Targee Street and the streets toward Van Duzer Street. Its best-known feature is a complex of six-story brick apartment buildings covering roughly 15 acres, built largely in the 1960s under urban renewal plans and later operated as subsidized housing. Around them are frame houses, two-families and small apartment buildings on streets such as Mosel Avenue.

Since the 1990s, Park Hill and the blocks along Targee Street have been the heart of one of the largest Liberian and West African communities in the United States, sometimes called Little Liberia. Many owners here bought two-families decades ago and now have tenants, deferred repairs or family members abroad who share in the property. We buy these houses as-is, with tenants in place, and we work with heirs and co-owners wherever they live.

Fox Hills

Fox Hills takes its name from the Fox Hills golf club that occupied this hillside in the early 1900s and closed in the 1930s. The land was later used for military purposes, including a camp for Italian prisoners of war during World War II, before it was built up with apartments and houses. The Fox Hills apartments lie just south of Park Hill, and Eibs Pond Park, a wetland of about 17 acres that became a city park in 1989, preserves part of the old landscape. Houses here are mostly modest detached and attached homes and two-families; some sit near wetland and sloping terrain, which can complicate additions and new construction.

Inherited Property

Selling an Inherited Home in Clifton

Estate sales are common in Clifton. Long-time owners of Victorians near Vanderbilt Avenue, two-families in Park Hill and attached homes in Fox Hills are passing them to children and relatives who may live elsewhere in the city, out of state or overseas. Meanwhile, a vacant house keeps costing money: taxes, insurance, water and sewer charges, and repairs that get worse with every winter.

On Staten Island, the estate process runs through the Richmond County Surrogate’s Court at 18 Richmond Terrace in St. George. If there is a will, the named executor receives letters testamentary. If there is no will, the court issues letters of administration to an administrator, usually a close relative. Those letters let the representative sign a contract and deed. Some administration letters are limited and require court approval before real estate can be sold, so ask the estate’s attorney what yours allow.

• Siblings or co-heirs who disagree can review one written offer together
• Heirs abroad or out of state can sign through their attorney or a notary; we arrange access to the house
• Houses full of belongings or needing major repairs are fine as-is
• Two-families with tenants: we take over the tenancies at closing
• Vacant houses: we can close on the estate’s schedule to stop the carrying costs

See our guide to selling inherited property on Staten Island for the full process. This is general information, not legal advice.

Why Owners Sell

Why Clifton Owners Sell to Us

• A Victorian that needs a roof, porch, siding or full systems replacement
• A two-family with tenants the owner does not want to remove
• An unpermitted basement or attic unit that blocks a financed sale
• Flood zone status on the lower blocks, with insurance costs rising
• Open HPD or DOB violations or stalled renovation work
• Co-owners or heirs in different places who need a simple process
• A newer attached house with construction defects or open permits

Violations do not stop a sale to us; our guide to selling a building with violations explains how they are handled. HPD and DOB enforce the same rules on Staten Island.

Potential

Potential in Clifton

Clifton’s potential is mostly lot by lot rather than block by block. Former commercial land has already turned into attached housing, and deep lots, corner lots and underused commercial parcels near Bay Street can still carry value as development sites. The railway station and the proximity to the ferry support rental demand.

We look at every property as it stands and as land, and price whichever is higher. See our vacant lot page and development site value guide.

Your Options

Your Options for Selling in Clifton

Listing on the Open Market

A renovated, vacant house with clean paperwork may bring more if you list it, especially near the station. Expect showings, inspections, appraisal and financing contingencies, and uncertainty about timing, particularly for houses in flood zones.

Fixing It Up Yourself

Renovating a Victorian or legalizing a unit can add value if you have capital, time and contractors you trust, but costs and approvals add up quickly.

Selling Directly to Us

We are the right fit when the house has tenants, unpermitted units, violations, flood issues or estate complications, or when you want a private sale on your timeline. Our off-market sale guide compares the options.

How It Works

How Selling to Us Works

• Get in touch. Use the form or call. We reply within one business day.
• We evaluate. Lot, zoning, flood status, leases and condition, with a visit we can arrange even if you live far away.
• Written offer. A clear number in writing, no obligation.
• Attorneys draft the contract. Your attorney reviews everything.
• You pick the closing date. We work around your tenants, family or estate.

Begin at Sell Your Property or read about what we buy.

Market Context

The Clifton Market

Clifton is a working, diverse North Shore neighborhood with a station a few stops from the ferry, older housing, a strong rental market and a mix of conditions from fully restored Victorians to houses that have not been updated in decades. Values depend heavily on condition, legal unit count, flood status and the specific block.

We do not publish price claims or sales statistics. We will tell you in writing what we would pay after reviewing your property. See our North Shore overview for the surrounding area.