We Buy Houses in Bergen County, NJ

Why Bergen Sellers Call Us

Close to a million people live in Bergen, and about two homes in three here belong to the people living in them. Almost 20% of residents have passed their 65th birthday. Houses held for decades tend to be paid off and solid but dated inside: the original kitchen, an old oil tank, a damp cellar after every storm.

Plenty of these homes do fine when listed, and we will point that out when a listing looks like the stronger route for you. Selling to us is worth considering when the repairs would scare off a buyer who needs a loan, when an estate needs to be settled without months of showings, when you are moving to a smaller place or to family out of state, or when a foreclosure or tax problem has set a deadline. In each case we make one offer in writing and the closing runs through a New Jersey title company.

• 955,732residents at the 2020 census; 977,026 estimated for July 2025
• 65.3%owner-occupancy rate (ACS 2020–2024)
• $623,000median value of an owner-occupied house (ACS 2020–2024)
• 19.8%of residents are 65 or older (Census estimate, July 2025)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Bergen County, New Jersey.

Seventy Towns, Seventy Tax Rates

No other New Jersey county is cut into as many municipalities, and each of the 70 sets its own budget. That is why two houses a mile apart can carry very different tax bills. The state's 2025 rates for every Bergen town are below, per $100 of value. Use the effective rate to compare towns; it adjusts the general rate for how far that town's assessments sit from market value.

Source: New Jersey Division of Taxation, 2025 General Tax Rates, Bergen County.

At the top of the effective-rate list sit Ridgefield Park, Hackensack and River Edge, all above 2.45. At the bottom are Alpine, Rockleigh and Teterboro, under 0.9. For an owner on a fixed income, the bill in a high-rate town is often what turns "we should sell someday" into "we should sell this year." For an owner who believes the assessment overshoots the market, the county board of taxation must receive an appeal by April 1 of the tax year, or within 45 days of the mailing of assessment notices if that date is later.

Who Handles What in a Bergen County Sale

Nearly everything a Bergen seller deals with at the county level sits in a cluster of buildings around the courthouse in Hackensack. The rest happens in your own town hall.

The Bergen Sheriff Sale: Fridays, Deposits and a Ten-Day Window

The Bergen County Sheriff publishes its foreclosure list on CivilView. On October 7, 2026 it held 82 properties, and every scheduled sale date from mid-October 2026 into January 2027 fell on a Friday. Sales are open auctions: the lender opens at $100, and the winning bidder must put down 20% on the spot and pay the balance within 30 days. The sheriff's own conditions say the property is sold subject to any unpaid taxes and liens, and that the former owner may redeem within ten calendar days of the sale.

Before a case gets that far, New Jersey's process runs like this:

1. Before the lawsuit

   Notice of intention

   Mailed at least 30 and no more than 180 days ahead of filing, with the amount and the deadline to cure the default.

2. Once you are served

   35 days to file an answer

   Without one, the case is handled as uncontested by the state Office of Foreclosure.

3. 60-day window

   Mediation at no charge

   For owners who live in the one- to four-family home being foreclosed.

4. After judgment

   Sale date set

   Each side can ask for adjournments, so a first sale date often moves.

5. After the sale

   Redemption and surplus

   Ten days to redeem, and any money left over after the debt is paid belongs to the former owner.

New Jersey's Community Wealth Preservation Program adds a step at the sale itself. When the owner is an individual, the owner, a next of kin, or a tenant living in the home can buy at the lender's upset price before bidding starts, by paying 3.5% down and the balance within 90 business days. In a case filed as Docket No. C-94-24, the court held the companion right for nonprofit groups unconstitutional as applied, and the Bergen sheriff now notes that those groups must bid like anyone else. The family's first right is untouched.

For every stage in detail, read our selling a house in foreclosure in New Jersey.

Estates and the Bergen County Surrogate

Bergen's Surrogate works paperwork first. The executor mails or drops off the documents, and a clerk then calls to schedule the appointment. The court asks for the original will, sent by a tracked service such as FedEx, UPS or certified mail; a certified copy of the death certificate bearing the raised seal; the full names, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers of the fiduciaries; the names and addresses of the immediate next of kin, even those left out of the will; and copies of two IDs and a proof of address for each fiduciary. Leaving off a daytime phone number or email, the court warns, can slow the case considerably.

When the Surrogate issues your certificates, you can sign a contract to sell. If everyone inheriting is a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, stepchild or parent, New Jersey charges no inheritance tax, and Form L-9 normally clears the lien on the house. Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and friends are taxed, and the waiver process takes longer. Our guide to inherited houses walks through it, and we buy with the furniture still in place.

Downsizing and Selling From a Distance

If you are moving somewhere smaller, or leaving New Jersey altogether, two rules matter. First, the realty transfer fee is charged at a lower rate when the seller lives in a one- or two-family home and is at least 62, blind, or disabled. Second, a seller who has already become a resident of another state makes an estimated income tax payment at closing, figured at 10.75% of the gain with a floor of 2% of the price, unless an exemption fits; without the proper form, the county will not record the deed. We can close by mail with a notary wherever you have moved, and we can set the date months ahead so you are not rushed out. More on that in downsizing in New Jersey.

Higher-End Homes and the Seller's Mansion Fee

With so many Bergen homes worth over $1 million, this one deserves its own section. From July 10, 2025, the graduated percent fee on residential sales of $1 million and up became the seller's to pay, separate from and in addition to the base transfer fee. It is a percentage of the whole price, not only the part above the threshold:

Source: New Jersey Division of Taxation, Graduated Percent Fee notice.

Our written offer spells out every closing cost and who pays it, so you know your number before you sign. Every New Jersey seller also answers the state's flood risk questions, and in the low-lying towns along the Hackensack and Passaic rivers those answers can matter to a financed buyer. They do not change whether we buy.

Tenants, Two-Families and Certificates

If you own a two-family, perhaps living in one half and renting the other, know that selling does not end the tenant's lease. The Anti-Eviction Act gives a short list of grounds for removing a tenant, and a sale is not on it; the owner-move-in exception applies only when the buyer will live there, which we will not. At settlement the leases become ours, along with the deposits and their accrued interest. Read more in selling a rental property in New Jersey.

Before any one- or two-family home is sold, the local fire official must certify its smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, unless the town's own resale inspection covers them. With 70 municipalities, the details vary a great deal. We call your town as soon as you accept, schedule what it requires, and take care of the repairs it asks for.

How It Works in Bergen County

• Call, or use the form, and describe the house and your timing.
• One walk-through, then a price on paper, most often by the following day.
• The title company handles the search and pays off the mortgage, liens and any back taxes from the price.
• We book the alarm certificate and any town inspection.
• You sign on your date, in Hackensack, at your attorney's office, or by mail from wherever you now live.