Before You Decide to Sell, Know What You'd Actually Keep
A sale price is not your proceeds. The five lines between them, the NJ transfer fee, the over-$1M graduated fee, and a worked example from the seller net sheet.
Every edition published on this site, newest first. Each one reports the market as the records stood on its publication date. We do not restate past editions when later data revises a figure; a correction is recorded in the corrections log and the edition keeps its original text so the record of what we said stays intact.
A sale price is not your proceeds. The five lines between them, the NJ transfer fee, the over-$1M graduated fee, and a worked example from the seller net sheet.
In 2021, a $1M budget put you above the median in nine of ten Union County single-family towns. Five years later, that same budget is near or below the midpoint in four. The shift isn't about what $1M is worth — it's about where these markets moved.
In Bergen County's $600K–$1M market, July active inventory exceeded April in every year where both months are verified from 2023 through 2026. For sellers, early spring and early summer have not offered the same level of competing supply.
The 30-year hit 6.95%, its highest Freddie Mac print since January 2025. Same payment, less house — and why demand cooling hasn't produced discounts.
312 Essex homes closed this summer at a median 110% of list, while 38 of 182 active listings have sat 60+ days. What closed-sale stats miss.
With NJ rates and prices flat, the move-up question isn't timing — it's which transaction happens first. How to underwrite your own sequence before you list.
NJ months of supply rose 2.2 to 2.6 in July 2026 - but the statewide average hides the range: one Essex tier sold at a median 111% of list in 14 days.
New Jersey sellers cut 5,270 prices last month. In Morris County's $1.5M-$2M band, 83% of homes still sold at or above asking. The gap, explained.
New NJMLS data on 791 Bergen County $1M–$1.5M transactions: 1.7 months supply, 13-day median DOM, 78% selling at or above ask — even as mortgage rates climb past 6.7%.
Last fall’s data says wait — and it was worth about $32,000.
Thirty-eight of forty-five July closings cleared list price, and Glen Ridge went eleven for eleven. One Montclair sale closed $805,000 over ask, but seven other closings that same month landed under it.
In July 2026, Nutley closed 28 home sales. Below $800,000, 19 of 23 sold over asking; above it, only 1 of 5 did. Two homes on Irving Place, listed weeks apart, showed exactly what that line costs a seller who guesses wrong.
Morris County's $1.2M–$1.5M buyers aren't fazed by rising rates. GSMLS data shows flat pricing, 15-day DOM, and thin inventory, unchanged from last year.
Montclair homes in the $1M–$1.5M tier are selling ~$300K over list, and most were listed under $1M. What that means for buyers setting a search filter. GSMLS data, July 2026
Bergen County's $1.5–$2M market is clearing at full asking price in about 18 days, and 1 in 6 buyers is coming from New York. A Northern NJ mid-year read.
If you have glanced at the financial pages this week, the mortgage story has not moved much from the one I flagged last week: the 30-year fixed is parked in the high sixes — Bankrate’s daily average i
Rates broke the multi-month peak. At $1.5M-$2M in Bergen, here's what the math actually looks like — and a Closter colonial under contract in seven days.
When a $599K listing in a $1.5M town isn't really a $599K house.
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