Property Perspectives Local Insight
Insights, Trends, and Strategies for Today's Home Buyers and Sellers. Page 9 of 27.
Moving to New Jersey With a Boat: Registration and the Boating Safety Certificate
Once your boat is based in New Jersey, it needs a New Jersey title and registration from the Motor Vehicle Commission, and if you'll run a power boat, you'll need a New Jersey Boat Safety Certificate. Visitors get a…
Moving to New Jersey With a Dog or Cat: Licenses and Rabies Rules
In New Jersey, every dog seven months or older has to be licensed each year through the town where you live, and the license requires a rabies vaccination that lasts through at least ten months of the license year. If…
NJ Mansion Tax in 2026: Who Pays It and How Much Is It?
The seller pays New Jersey's mansion tax now. Since July 10, 2025, the fee on home sales over $1 million, officially called the Graduated Percent Fee, is legally imposed on the seller, at 1% to 3.5% of the entire sale…
Is There a Senior Citizen Exemption From New Jersey's Realty Transfer Fee? How Form RTF-1 Works
Yes. New Jersey has a partial exemption from the realty transfer fee for a seller who is 62 or older, legally blind, or permanently and totally disabled, when the home is a one- or two-family residence the seller owns…
Oceanfront, Bayfront, Riverfront or Lagoon: How Waterfront Homes Differ in Monmouth and Ocean County
All four put you on the water, but they differ in what sits at the water's edge, what you can build there and the paperwork that comes with it. On the ocean, the edge of the lot is about the beach and the dune; on a…
What If One Heir Is Living in the Inherited House and Won't Sell?
If the house is still in the estate, New Jersey law generally gives the executor or administrator, not the heir living there, the power to manage and sell it, unless the will or a court order says otherwise. If the…
PCS Orders: Should You Sell or Rent Your New Jersey Home?
Whether to sell or rent your New Jersey home on PCS orders comes down to three numbers: what you'd net from a sale now, whether the rent covers the full cost of owning from a distance, and what keeping the home does to…
Pricing a Divorce Home Sale in New Jersey: Why the First Two Weeks Matter
In a divorce sale, the list price has to come from the market, not from either spouse, because the first two weeks on the market decide what the home sells for. That's when every active buyer in your price range sees…
How Do You Protect a Vacant Inherited House While It's for Sale?
To protect a vacant inherited house in New Jersey, call the homeowners insurance company right away, keep the heat or a proper winterization in place, and have someone inside the house at least once a week until it…
Questions to Ask Before You Buy in a 55+ Community
Before you buy in a 55+ community, ask about five things: the age and occupancy rules in writing, what you're actually buying (condo, co-op or fee simple home), what the monthly fee covers and how well the reserves are…
Renovating a Home in a Flood Zone: FEMA's Substantial Improvement Rule
Under FEMA's rules, a renovation whose cost equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the building before the work starts is a "substantial improvement," and in a Special Flood Hazard Area, the A and V zones…
Rent First or Buy Right Away When You Relocate to the Jersey Shore?
If you already know which towns fit you and your financing is lined up, buying right away saves you a second move and a second set of moving bills. If you've never lived at the Jersey Shore and you can't spend time…
Can You Stay in Your Home After Closing? How a Seller Rent-Back Works in NJ
Yes, you can stay in your home after closing if the buyer agrees to it in writing. It's called a seller rent-back, or post-closing occupancy, and when the buyer has a standard Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage on a…
Selling a Home in Another State While Buying in New Jersey: How to Time Two Moves
There are three ways to do it: sell first and rent in between, buy first and carry both homes for a while, or line the two closings up as close together as possible. The right one depends on how much of your next down…
How Do You Sell a House Held in a Living Trust After Death in New Jersey?
When a house was deeded into a living trust, the trustee named in the trust sells it under the trust's terms, without Letters from the Surrogate. The trustee proves their authority with a certification of trust under…
Selling a Waterfront Home in New Jersey: The Documents to Gather Before You List
Before you list a waterfront home in New Jersey, gather the paperwork a buyer's attorney and insurance agent will ask for: your answers to the State's flood disclosure questions, any FEMA elevation certificate, your…
Selling an Estate Home in a 55+ Community in Ocean or Monmouth County
Selling an estate home in a 55+ community works like any estate sale on the legal side, with one more layer: the community's own rules, which decide who can buy and live there and what the association needs before…
Selling an Inherited House With Tenants in New Jersey
You can sell an inherited house with tenants in New Jersey, but the sale doesn't end their tenancy: the state's Anti-Eviction Act requires good cause to remove a residential tenant, and selling isn't one of the general…
How Do You Sell Your Home on a Deadline in New Jersey?
Work backward from the date you can't move. Put the closing a safe distance ahead of it, then count back through the contract and attorney review, the weeks on the market, the prep, and the plan, and start the plan…
Selling Your Home to a Family Member in New Jersey
You can sell your home to a family member in New Jersey the same way you'd sell to anyone else, with a contract, a closing and a deed, but the price matters more than usual. If you sell for less than the home is worth,…
Selling Your Home to a VA Buyer in New Jersey: What Sellers Should Know
Selling to a VA buyer works like most sales, with three differences: the home has to meet VA's minimum property requirements at the appraisal, the contract carries a VA escape clause tied to the appraised value, and VA…
Underground Heating Oil Tanks When You Sell an Older Home in New Jersey
New Jersey doesn't require you to remove an underground heating oil tank that isn't leaking, but buyers, inspectors and the seller's disclosure form will all ask about it. If a tank is tested or removed, only a…
The VA Appraisal Came In Low. What Now?
When a VA appraisal comes in under your contract price, you have four options: ask for a Reconsideration of Value, renegotiate the price, pay the difference in cash at closing, or use the VA escape clause to walk away…
What Is the 4% Rule on a VA Loan? Seller-Paid Closing Costs Explained
The 4% rule on a VA loan limits seller concessions to 4% of the home's reasonable value, the value VA sets from the appraisal. Ordinary closing costs the seller agrees to pay are a separate bucket, and VA doesn't cap…