We Buy Houses in Mercer County, NJ

Selling in the Capital County

Mercer is small by New Jersey standards, with twelve municipalities, yet it holds a wide spread of housing. Trenton, the state capital, packs tens of thousands of residents into a few square miles of attached and semi-attached houses. Hamilton and Ewing wrap around it with post-war neighborhoods of capes, ranches and split-levels. Lawrence, West Windsor, Robbinsville and East Windsor carry newer subdivisions and townhouse developments, while Hopewell Township and Pennington still have open country and older farmhouses. Princeton sits at the northern corner with a market all its own.

Those differences show up in who calls us. In and around Trenton it is often a landlord with an aging two-family, an heir to a house that has sat empty, or an owner behind on taxes or a mortgage. Out in the townships it is more often someone who has to move on a schedule and would rather not spend a season keeping a house ready for showings. Our offer works the same way for all of them: we look at the property once, give you a single number in writing, and close through a title company or attorney when you say so.

• 387,340residents counted in 2020; an estimated 399,289 by July 2025
• 62.2%of homes are occupied by the people who own them (ACS 2020–2024)
• $377,700median value of an owner-occupied home (ACS 2020–2024)
• 224square miles of land, shared by 12 municipalities

Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Mercer County, New Jersey. The median value is what owners report in a survey, not a sale price.

The Twelve Mercer County Municipalities

The County Clerk keeps maps of all twelve. We buy houses, multi-family buildings, condos and townhouses in each of them, whether they are lived in, rented out or vacant:

• Trenton
• Hamilton Township
• Ewing Township
• Lawrence Township
• Princeton
• West Windsor
• East Windsor
• Hightstown
• Robbinsville
• Hopewell Township
• Hopewell Borough
• Pennington

One practical detail splits the county in two. Trenton Water Works, which the City of Trenton owns, supplies water to the city and to sections of Hamilton, Ewing, Lawrence and Hopewell Townships. Inside Trenton, water and sewer charges attach to the property itself, so an unpaid balance can turn into a lien that a buyer's title search will find. In the suburban townships served by the same utility, the charges follow the account holder instead. Either way, the title company settles the final bill out of the sale price, but in Trenton a clean title depends on it.

Mercer County Offices a Seller Deals With

Most of the county's property business happens on South Broad Street in downtown Trenton. You do not need to visit any of these offices to sell to us, though it helps to know which one does what when papers start arriving.

2025 Property Tax Rates in Mercer County

New Jersey publishes a general rate, which is applied to the assessed value on your bill, and an effective rate, which corrects for how close each town's assessments are to market value. The effective rate is the one to use when comparing towns. Rates are per $100 of value:

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

Trenton's effective rate is the highest in the county and Princeton's the lowest, which matters when a house in the city has fallen behind. Once a town sells a tax sale certificate, the holder can collect interest at rates as high as 18% annually until redemption, so the debt grows quickly. Back taxes and certificates never block a sale to us: the collector issues a payoff figure, settlement covers it out of your proceeds, and the certificate is cancelled of record. The guide to selling with a tax lien in New Jersey covers the full process, including the 2024 change that lets owners demand a public sale to protect their equity.

Foreclosure and Sheriff Sales in Mercer County

New Jersey forecloses through the courts, and the early stages are the same in every county. What differs is how the sheriff runs the end of the case. Here is the sequence as it plays out in Mercer:

1. 30 to 180 days before filing

   The notice of intention

   Your lender must send it by certified or registered mail, with the amount needed to bring the loan current and the deadline for doing so.

2. After the complaint

   A 35-day window to answer

   Without an answer, the case runs as uncontested through the Office of Foreclosure. With one, it goes before a General Equity judge in Trenton.

3. Within 60 days

   Mediation for owner-occupants

   If you live in the one- to four-family home, you can request free court mediation and work with a housing counselor before meeting the lender.

4. Four weeks before the auction

   Advertising

   Once the lender holds a writ, the sheriff's sale is advertised every Tuesday for four weeks in the Trenton Times and the Trentonian, and a notice is posted on the property.

5. Every other Wednesday, 2 PM

   The auction at 175 South Broad

   Mercer moved to sales every two weeks in January 2024. A named defendant can ask the sheriff for each of two adjournments of up to 28 days, by letter with ID and a $28 fee per request; the lender's attorney can adjourn as well.

6. 10 calendar days after

   Redemption and surplus

   The sheriff's office notes that the owner can usually still redeem within ten days of the sale. If the winning bid exceeds what is owed, the surplus goes to the Superior Court Trust Fund Unit, which can take up to two months to receive it.

Two recent changes are worth knowing. Since January 2024, the Community Wealth Preservation Program has given owners, their relatives, tenants and certain nonprofits new ways to buy a foreclosed home at the sheriff sale; it does not cover investors. Then, on August 28, 2025, the presiding Chancery judge in Mercer ruled that one subsection of that law, N.J.S.A. 2A:50-64(g), is unconstitutional, while leaving the rest in place and declining to apply the ruling backward. If you are counting on the program, talk to a lawyer about where it stands for your case.

Up to the moment of the auction, you keep the right to sell. The price pays off the judgment, interest and costs, and the case ends. Waiting until the last few weeks narrows your options, because every adjournment adds charges that come out of your equity.

More on the statewide steps, short sales and mediation is on our New Jersey foreclosure page.

Estates and the Mercer County Surrogate

Probate for a Mercer County resident starts at the Surrogate's office in the Civil Court House on South Broad Street. Whoever is named executor in the will, or appointed administrator if there is no will, receives letters there, and only that person can sign a contract and deed for the estate. Once letters are issued, we can buy the house with the furniture, the boxes in the basement and the repairs it needs still in place.

New Jersey's estate tax no longer applies to anyone who died after the end of 2017, but the inheritance tax remains, depending on who inherits. Spouses, civil union and domestic partners, children, stepchildren, grandchildren and parents (Class A) owe nothing. Siblings and children-in-law (Class C) owe nothing on the first $25,000. Other heirs, such as nieces, nephews and friends (Class D), are taxed at 15% or 16%. Because the tax is a lien on New Jersey real estate, the title company will want a waiver recorded with the County Clerk before settlement; for an all-Class A estate the L-9 form usually does it, and the Mercer clerk lists an $18 fee to record a waiver. See the inherited house guide for the rest of the steps.

Selling a Rental With Tenants in Place

The city of Trenton reports that more than half of its residents rent, and it has its own rent control ordinance on top of state law. Across the county, the rule that matters most to a selling landlord is New Jersey's Anti-Eviction Act: its list of lawful reasons to remove a tenant does not include selling the building, and an existing lease binds the new owner.

That is why we buy rentals occupied. The tenants keep their leases and their rents. At settlement the security deposits, plus the interest owed on them, transfer to us, and the tenants are notified in writing by certified or registered mail. There is no need to clear out the building, renovate a turnover unit or argue with anyone about moving. Our rental property page covers the details landlords ask about.

Resale Certificates in Mercer Towns

Under state law, no one- or two-family home may change hands until the local enforcing agency certifies its smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. A town that runs its own resale inspection can fold that check into it, and Trenton does: its Certificate of Housing Code Compliance is required before any residential property changes hands, and it covers zoning, fire safety, alarms and basic habitability. The fee is $200, and the certificate is good for six months. Read about the inspection, the repair list and the alternatives on the Trenton page.

The other eleven municipalities each set their own rules, from the alarm certificate alone to a fuller resale inspection. We call the town once you accept our offer, book whatever it requires, and deal with the results ourselves.

Costs When You Sell in Mercer County

State law makes the seller responsible for the realty transfer fee, which the County Clerk collects at recording. It is worked out in brackets per $500 of the price, with a lower rate available to owner-occupants of a one- or two-family home aged 62 and up, or who are blind or have a disability. Since July 10, 2025, the seller also owes the graduated fee on any sale of $1 million or more, starting at 1% of the entire price and rising to 3.5% above $3.5 million. The Mercer clerk takes the transfer fee by cash, cashier's check, money order or an attorney trust or business escrow account, which your settlement agent handles.

Our written offer shows each cost and who pays it, so you can compare the money you would actually keep. Every New Jersey seller also completes the state's flood risk disclosure, including on a sale to us; it does not change our offer, since our price already assumes the house's present condition.

How a Sale to Us Works in Mercer County

• Call or enter the address above, and tell us who lives there, what condition it is in and when you need to be done.
• After one walk-through, our offer arrives in writing, generally by the following day.
• The title company orders payoffs for the mortgage, back taxes, any tax sale certificate and, in Trenton, the water and sewer account.
• We apply for the town's resale certificate and take care of anything the inspection lists.
• You sign at the title company or an attorney's office, or remotely with a notary, on the date you picked.