Estimate your seller-side closing costs and net proceeds for a residential sale in New Jersey — broker commission, NJ realty transfer fee, and attorney fees.
Estimate seller-side closing costs and net proceeds for a residential sale in New Jersey. Includes broker commission, NJ realty transfer fee, and attorney fees.
This is an estimate, not a guarantee. Net proceeds shown are after closing costs and your outstanding mortgage balance. Capital gains tax is not included. Get a precise quote with a free 20-minute consultation.
Updated September 2026
With a 5% broker commission, a New Jersey seller's closing costs come to about 6% of the sale price, and the commission is most of it. On a $950,000 Bergen County home, that's roughly $58,000, including $8,995 in state realty transfer fee. Above $1,000,000, the seller also owes the state mansion tax, which pushes total costs past 7%.
| Cost | $640,000Hudson County condo | $875,000Essex County home | $950,000Bergen County home | $1,200,000Home over $1 million |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broker commission Example: 5% | $32,000 | $43,750 | $47,500 | $60,000 |
| NJ realty transfer fee | $5,609 | $8,125 | $8,995 | $11,995 |
| NJ mansion tax (graduated percent fee) | Not owed | Not owed | Not owed | $12,000 |
| Attorney fee Example fee | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Recording and miscellaneous Estimate | $200 | $200 | $200 | $200 |
| Total estimated closing costs | $39,309 | $53,575 | $58,195 | $85,695 |
| As a share of the sale price | 6.1% | 6.1% | 6.1% | 7.1% |
These are illustrations, not quotes. The 5% commission and the $1,500 attorney fee are example figures used to show how the costs add up. Commissions are negotiable, and attorney fees vary by firm and by transaction. Your mortgage payoff, capital gains tax and any repair credits are not included.
Where the prices come from. The Essex ($875,000) and Bergen ($949,500, rounded to $950,000) figures are July 2026 single-family median sale prices from NJ REALTORS county data. The Hudson figure is based on the March 2026 townhouse-condo median ($643,000), since condos make up most Hudson County sales.
How the state fees are calculated. Transfer fee amounts use the standard rates published by the NJ Division of Taxation, with no exemption. The mansion tax applies to sales over $1,000,000 and has been paid by the seller since July 10, 2025.
New Jersey charges the realty transfer fee per $500 of the price, at a rate that rises by bracket, and each rate applies only to the part of the price inside its bracket. On a sale over $350,000, the first $150,000 is charged $2.90 per $500 and the portion above $1,000,000 is charged $6.05 per $500. That's why the fee on a $950,000 home works out to under 1% of the price. Sellers who are 62 or older, blind or disabled may qualify for lower rates on their principal residence.
Once the price passes $1,000,000, the seller owes the graduated percent fee on top of the transfer fee. The rate is 1% up to $2,000,000 and climbs to 3.5% above $3,500,000, and it applies to the entire price, not just the amount over the threshold. On a $1,200,000 sale, that adds $12,000. Our guide to the NJ mansion tax covers the rate bands and the pricing cliffs in detail.
Six line items cover almost every residential sale in New Jersey. Three are fixed by law, one is negotiable and usually the largest, and two are small.
Typically 4% to 6% of the sale price, split between the listing and buyer's agents, and by far the biggest line on the settlement statement. It is also the only major cost that is genuinely negotiable before you sign a listing agreement. On a $950,000 sale, the difference between 5% and 4.5% is $4,750.
A state fee the seller pays at closing, charged per $500 of the price at rates that step up by bracket. Because each rate applies only to its own slice, the total lands under 1% on most sales rather than the flat percentage many calculators show — the bracket figures are above, under why the transfer fee isn't a flat percentage.
Since July 10, 2025 the seller pays this as well, on top of the realty transfer fee. Because the rate applies to the whole price rather than the amount above the threshold, the band boundaries behave as cliffs. Rates and the arithmetic are above; our guide to the NJ mansion tax covers the bands in detail.
Your attorney handles attorney review, the deed and affidavit of title, the transfer fee filing, payoff coordination with your lender, and the closing itself. We quote this as a flat fee in writing before any work starts, so it is a known number rather than an estimate that moves.
Your remaining mortgage balance is paid from the proceeds at closing, along with recording the discharge of the mortgage, any municipal certificates your town requires such as a smoke detector and carbon monoxide certificate, and prorated property taxes. Individually these run from tens to a few hundred dollars.
Three costs commonly assumed to be the seller's aren't:
Title insurance. In New Jersey the buyer pays for the owner's policy, unlike some states where the seller covers it.
Mortgage recording tax. New Jersey has none. A mortgage pays only the county recording fee, which is the buyer's cost on a new loan.
The buyer's mansion tax. New Jersey's mansion tax is now a seller cost, so there is no second, buyer-side version of it. Guidance written before July 2025 has this backwards.
Net proceeds are the sale price minus your closing costs and minus your mortgage payoff. The payoff figure to use is the one from your lender's written payoff statement, not your current balance: it includes interest through the closing date and any recording or processing charges.
Two things regularly surprise sellers here. Prorated property taxes can move the number in either direction depending on where the closing falls in the quarter. And capital gains, if the property was not your primary residence or the gain exceeds the federal exclusion, are a tax question rather than a closing cost, which means they don't appear on the settlement statement at all. That one is worth raising with your accountant before you list.
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