Last updated: September 19, 2026
What would you actually keep if you sold your home?
Less than the value you have in your head. After commission, New Jersey transfer fees, an attorney and your mortgage payoff, what a Bergen County seller keeps can sit well below the value they are carrying around. On the sample report the cost of selling alone runs $70,390.
You know the value. You have probably never seen the net.
Every homeowner I know can tell me roughly what their house is worth. They have looked it up. The number is usually within reason.
Ask the same person what they would keep and the room goes quiet.
That is not a failure of attention. It is that nobody has ever handed them the arithmetic. A value estimate is free and everywhere. A net figure requires somebody to sit down with the current cost structure in your county and work it through. So starting this fall I am running a Home Equity Report for the people I work with, and I have put a complete sample report online so you can see exactly what arrives before you decide whether you want one.
There is no listing conversation attached to it. It is a checkup.
What sits between your home's value and your net proceeds
Five things, and most sellers meet the newest one at the closing table.
- Commission, at whatever rate you negotiate.
- The New Jersey Realty Transfer Fee, paid by the seller on a graduated schedule. The state also publishes a reduced schedule that turns on several conditions at once, and the closing attorney who signs the RTF-1 decides whether it applies, not your agent.
- The Graduated Percent Fee, which applies above one million dollars of consideration. What changed in July 2025 is who pays it. It is now the seller's cost, and it applies to the entire consideration with no reduced schedule.
- An attorney fee, and in New Jersey you will have one.
- Your mortgage payoff, which is the number you can get in two minutes off a statement and the one most owners guess at.
Not on that list, and worth knowing before closing week: municipal certificate and smoke certification fees, tax and utility adjustments, and any repair credit negotiated after inspection. New Jersey resident sellers file a GIT/REP-3 and no income tax is withheld.
None of this is a reason not to sell. It is a reason to know the real number before you build a plan around the wrong one.
The line most homeowners have never been shown
If you have owned in Bergen or Hudson County for fifteen or twenty years, your gain may sit above the federal exclusion, and documented capital improvements are what bring it back under.
The Internal Revenue Code excludes up to $250,000 of gain on the sale of a principal residence, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, when the ownership and use conditions are met. On a house bought decades ago in this market, the gain can clear that. What reduces it is your basis, and what raises your basis is documented capital improvements. The kitchen. The roof. The windows. The heating system. The addition.
Almost nobody has kept the receipts, and the reason is simple. Nobody ever told them the number they were working against.
So the report computes it: the specific dollar figure of documented improvements that brings the gain under the exclusion. That figure has a clock on it. Receipts get thrown out, and the gain grows as the value grows, so the number you need gets larger every year you wait. Your CPA decides what qualifies and what it is worth. My job is to tell you the target exists and what it is. I am a licensed real estate agent, not a tax advisor or attorney. Confirm tax treatment with your CPA before acting on it.
What actually moves your number
Most of what sets your home's value is fixed, and two or three things are entirely yours.
The report lists them in a table with what each is worth and a column saying whether you control it. Lot position is fixed. The tax bill relative to the comparable set is fixed. The bath count moves only at a cost. What is yours, at no cost at all, is the folder of improvement receipts.
One that matters more than people expect in this market: whether finished space sits below grade. A finished basement is real, it widens the buyer pool and it shortens time on market. It also carries no gross living area, so an appraiser will not count the square footage no matter how well it is finished, and a price pushed to the top of a range on the strength of it may not support the loan for a financed buyer. That is the kind of thing you want to hear from your agent rather than from an offer.
Why fall, and why every year
One percent of a Bergen County home is real money, which is the argument for looking once a year instead of once a decade.
I am running these in the fall for two reasons. The summer selling season has closed, so the comparable sales are as complete as they get. And it is still early enough that anything worth raising with your accountant can be raised before year end rather than in April.
The second year is the one that matters. It opens with the change: last fall your house was here, and here is where it moved and why. One number is a number. Two is a trend, and a trend is something you can plan around.
What I need from you, and it is about four minutes
Most of the work is mine. Four facts are not in any public record in Bergen County, so I have to ask:
- Your bedroom and bathroom count, full and half. The county does not carry it.
- Whether any finished space sits below grade. This is the question that pays, and the one most reports skip.
- Your ten largest improvements since you bought, with a rough year and a rough cost.
- Your mortgage balance, which turns an illustrated payoff into your actual number.
The worksheet that collects it is Section 6 of the sample report. If you would rather start from the value side, you can also use my home valuation page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Home Equity Report?
A Home Equity Report is a written analysis showing a homeowner's supported value range, the cost of selling, the resulting net proceeds and the capital gains position, built from recent closed sales near the property. It is a Competitive Market Analysis, not an appraisal, and it is prepared whether or not the owner has any intention of selling.
How much does it cost to sell a house in New Jersey?
New Jersey sellers typically pay commission, the state Realty Transfer Fee, an attorney fee, and, above one million dollars of consideration, the Graduated Percent Fee that became a seller cost in July 2025. Municipal certificate and smoke certification fees, plus tax and utility adjustments, are handled at closing and sit outside those main lines.
Do I owe capital gains tax when I sell my home in New Jersey?
Not necessarily. Federal rules exclude up to $250,000 of gain on the sale of a principal residence, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, when the ownership and use conditions are met. Gain above that is taxable, and documented capital improvements raise your basis and reduce it. A CPA decides what qualifies in your situation.
Does a finished basement add to my home's value?
It adds to marketability more reliably than it adds to the square footage an appraiser will count. Finished space below grade carries no gross living area, so it is not counted in the same way as above grade space, though it widens the buyer pool and often shortens time on market. Pricing at the top of a range primarily on that space can create a financing gap for a buyer using a mortgage.
Is there any obligation if I request a Home Equity Report?
No. There is no listing conversation attached to it. It is run once a year in the fall, and the owner keeps the PDF whether or not they ever sell.
Resources and further reading
- New Jersey Division of Taxation, Realty Transfer Fees. Official schedules and exemption conditions, accessed September 2026.
- IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home. Internal Revenue Service, 2025 returns edition, accessed September 2026. The exclusion, the ownership and use tests, and what counts toward basis.
- IRS Topic No. 701, Sale of your home. Internal Revenue Service, accessed September 2026. The short version of the same rules.
Get yours
Reply with your address and I will put you on this year's fall run. That is enough to start.
Not sure where you are in the process yet? The 7 question resource quiz takes about 90 seconds and points you at the right guide for your situation. If you would rather talk it through, book a call or call or text me at (201) 970-3960.
More about how I work and why: the long version of my story. And if you want the depth of the track record behind the analysis, my career production record is public and drawn from the MLS record.
Scott Selleck
Broker / Sales Associate, The Selleck Group, KW City Views Realty
SRES, e-PRO. AI-Enabled Listing and NJ to FL Transition Specialist
Licensed since 1993. Over 500 transactions closed.
2200 Fletcher Avenue, Suite 502, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
Cell: (201) 970-3960 | Office: (201) 592-8900
[email protected] | SelleckSellsNJ.com
This article describes a Competitive Market Analysis, not an appraisal, and it is not prepared by a licensed residential appraiser. I am a licensed real estate agent, not a tax advisor or attorney. Confirm residency dates and tax treatment with your CPA before acting on them.
NJ Real Estate Broker / Sales Associate License #9236275. Keller Williams City Views Realty. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity.
