The Attorney Review Window: New Jersey's Most Misunderstood Rule

New Jersey is an attorney-review state. Under N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.2, broker-prepared residential contracts include a mandatory three-business-day window during which either party's attorney can disapprove the contract in writing. If an attorney sends a disapproval notice within that window, the contract is void and neither party is bound.

A few things sellers consistently get wrong about this:

• The clock starts when both parties receive the fully executed contract, not when the last signature is added. Delivery matters.
• Weekends and legal holidays do not count. A contract signed on a Friday afternoon does not start its three-day clock until Monday.
• Disapproval does not always mean the deal is dead. Attorneys often send a disapproval letter as a negotiating move to modify terms, price, contingencies, or closing date, rather than to kill the transaction outright. This is common practice in Bergen and Hudson Counties.
• Until attorney review closes, neither buyer nor seller is legally bound. That is worth sitting with. The deal is not done until it is done.

Most attorney review periods resolve within three to seven business days, even when attorneys exchange modification letters. The process rarely blows up a deal, but it can, and sellers should stay in close contact with their attorney and agent during this window.

Your real estate attorney will read the contract, flag anything unusual, inspection contingency language, deposit terms, closing date, personal property inclusions, and either let the period expire, which makes the contract binding, or send a letter proposing changes. The buyer's attorney does the same on their side. Once both attorneys agree that review is closed, the contract is binding and the transaction clock starts for real.

Inspections, Appraisal, and Mortgage Commitment

Once attorney review closes, three major contingency tracks run, often in parallel, but with different deadlines and different stakes for you as the seller.

Home inspections. The buyer's inspection period is typically negotiated in the contract, often 10 to 14 days after attorney review closes. The buyer hires a licensed home inspector, and sometimes specialists for radon, sewer scope, chimney, or oil tank sweep. In Bergen and Hudson Counties, oil tank sweeps are common. Older neighborhoods like North Bergen and parts of Englewood have a meaningful share of homes with decommissioned underground storage tanks, and buyers routinely request them.

After the inspection, the buyer can request repairs, a price reduction, or a credit at closing. You do not have to agree to everything. What you should expect is a negotiation, not a demand list you are required to fulfill. Your attorney handles the formal response.

Appraisal. If the buyer is financing the purchase, their lender will order an appraisal after the inspection period closes or overlapping with it. The appraiser is an independent third party working for the lender, not the buyer. Their job is to confirm the property supports the loan amount.

In a market where prices have moved quickly, appraisal gaps are a real risk. According to Redfin's Bergen County housing market data, the median sale price for the three months ending June 2026 was $873,000, up 8.4 percent year over year. Hudson County's median came in at $736,000 over the same period, up 4.4 percent. When prices rise faster than comparable sales can support, appraisals sometimes come in below the contract price. Your attorney and agent will advise you on options if that happens, including renegotiating, requiring the buyer to cover the gap, or, in some cases, reconsidering the deal.

Mortgage commitment. The buyer's contract will include a mortgage contingency deadline, typically 30 to 45 days from the contract date. This is the date by which the buyer must obtain a written mortgage commitment from their lender. A commitment letter is not a pre-approval. It is a lender's formal agreement to fund the loan, subject to final underwriting conditions.

As a seller, this is the contingency you watch most carefully. If the buyer cannot get a commitment by the deadline, they can typically walk away and recover their deposit. Extensions are common, but they require mutual agreement. Your attorney tracks this deadline on your behalf. According to the CFPB's homebuying process guidance, the period from application to mortgage commitment typically runs three to six weeks, though it can stretch longer with complex files or busy lenders.

The Full Timeline, Week by Week

Below is a realistic timeline for a financed sale in Bergen or Hudson County. Cash deals compress this significantly. You can often close in two to three weeks without an appraisal or mortgage contingency.

Keep in mind these are typical ranges. Every deal has its own rhythm. The market context matters too: recent Zillow data shows median days on market across the areas I cover ranges from 40 days in Edgewater to 55 days in Fort Lee, which tells you something about how quickly buyers in each area are moving and how competitive the post-contract negotiation environment tends to be.

Source: Zillow sales data, trailing 90 days, as of August 2026. These are area-level medians. Individual home values vary by condition, street, build year, and timing.

After Mortgage Commitment: The Final Stretch

Once the buyer receives their commitment letter, the major contingencies are behind you. The lender moves to final underwriting, the title company or closing attorney prepares the closing package, and both sides confirm the closing date and location. In New Jersey, closings typically happen at the title company's office or at the office of one of the attorneys.

The deed gets recorded after closing through the county recording office. In Bergen County, that is the Bergen County Clerk land records system. In Hudson County, recordings go through the Hudson County Register and Clerk system in Jersey City. Recording is the final public step that transfers legal ownership. You will not see it in real time, but your attorney confirms it after closing.

If you are selling an inherited property and wondering how probate interacts with this timeline, I cover that in selling an inherited home in Bergen County. And if you are selling as part of a move to Florida, the timing of this contract-to-close window is one of the first things I map out with clients, which I walk through in the Bergen County to Florida timing playbook.

Before any of this starts, the number that drives everything is the list price. A current home valuation is where that begins.

You can read what past clients have said about working with me on Google or Zillow.

Ready to Know Exactly Where You Stand?

If you have accepted an offer and want to know where you are in the sequence, or you are preparing to list and want to understand the process before you are in it, start with the seven-question assessment at quiz.sellecksellsnj.com, or book a consultation and I will walk you through your specific situation.

The Three Pillars Behind Every Smart Sale

Every sale decision sits where timing, cash-flow, and lifestyle fit meet. Work all three or the plan stops holding.

Frequently Asked Questions