🏡 New Jersey’s “Mansion Tax” Just Got a Major Makeover — and Sellers, this one’s for you.

 🏡 New Jersey’s “Mansion Tax” Just Got a Major Makeover — and Sellers, this one’s for you.

As of June 30, 2025, NJ lawmakers passed a new state budget that reshapes the real estate landscape for 2026. Here's what you need to know:

📌 What Changed?
The Mansion Tax—originally a 1% fee on homes over $1M, typically paid by the buyer—will now be paid by the seller. And it’s no longer a flat fee. It's tiered, meaning the higher the sale price, the higher the tax.

📊 Why Now?
Back in 2004 when the tax was introduced, $1M was luxury. Today? It’s common, especially in coastal and suburban areas. With NJ’s median home price around $550K, the $1M threshold no longer signals ultra-wealth.

💸 What to Expect:
If you're selling a property over $1M, you’ll now see this tax added to your closing costs. It starts at $10,000 and increases with the sales price. Applies to single-family homes, condos, co-ops, multi-family (1–4 units), and some commercial properties.

🤔 How This Affects You:
If you're planning to list—or even thinking about it—this could impact your net proceeds. Timing, pricing, and prep strategies matter now more than ever.

Looking Through the Buyer's Eyes

Below are questions to ask yourself when preparing your home for sale, to ensure it looks the best it possibly can to the buyer's eyes.
Exterior
•Does your yard look well maintained?
•Are the trees and bushes trimmed?
•Is your lawn mowed and edged?
•Is your lawn free of weeds?
•Are the decks and patios clean?
•Does your house need painting?
•Are there any exterior holes or cracks?
•Are your walks and porches clean and in good repair?
•Does your roof leak or sag?
•Are any shingles or tiles missing?
•Is your chimney in good shape?


Looking Through the Buyer's Eyes full story

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TLC Casting Buyers and Sellers for Moving Up

TLC Casting Buyers and Sellers for Moving Up
Cable network, The Learning Channel (TLC), is currently casting for its hit series Moving Up, hosted by Doug Wilson. Producers are looking for buyers and sellers who are under contract and planning to move in June. Interested candidates must still occupy their current home. Buyers moving into a home that is already vacant are not eligible. Both residences must be within 45 minutes of Manhattan.

The series follows a chain of homeowners as they go through the renovation and/or redesign process in their new home. Moving Up offers the former homeowners the rare chance to visit their once beloved homes and see all of the new changes. Opinionated consumers who demonstrate compelling ideas to alter the house are preferred.

Contact Jodi Friedman at (212) 974-9050, ext. 125 or JFriedman@bbcnyproduction.com if you or someone you know would be a good fit for the show.

Thoughts on Home Staging

It is a quick, intensive house make over that creates a theater for the home buyer. Staiging is a hybrid of advertising and marketing, which carefully designs the house to appeal to the statistically probable buyer.
Stagers create a property to appeal to the buyers not how they live NOW but how they aspire to live.
Homes that have been staged get faster market attention, sell rapidly for a higher price, are more organized and make the moving process lerss stressful for the seller