Sell your Bergen County house for cash
Bergen County is just over the state line from Rockland, and we buy houses throughout it. If you would rather skip repairs, showings and a long wait for a mortgage buyer, we can give you a written cash offer and close with New Jersey attorneys on a date you pick.
A New York company that buys in New Jersey
Our office sits in Montgomery, New York, and North Jersey has been part of our buying area all along. Greg Helbeck and Brett Gennarelli take each Bergen purchase from the opening call through the signing. We buy with our own funds and never list your house for someone else.
New Jersey sales come with their own checklist, and we work within it: the state’s seller disclosure rules, the smoke and carbon monoxide certificate, the realty transfer fee, and a closing run by attorneys and a title company. You will have your own lawyer, and we encourage you to have them read our agreement before you sign.
Fill in the short form here. Or pick up the phone: (845) 367-4898.
Seventy municipalities in one county
Bergen is New Jersey’s most populous county, with 955,732 residents at the 2020 census, and it is split into seventy separate municipalities, more than any other county in the state. Hackensack is the county seat. Each borough, township and city has its own tax collector, its own building department and often its own rules for what has to happen before a house changes hands. That local patchwork is one reason a sale here can feel more complicated than it should.
The housing varies just as much:
- Older, denser towns close to the Hudson and the George Washington Bridge, such as Fort Lee, Cliffside Park and Englewood, plus Hackensack, Garfield and Lodi, with many two-family houses, older single-families on narrow lots, and apartment-style buildings.
- Mid-century suburbs like Paramus, Teaneck, Bergenfield, Fair Lawn and Dumont, full of capes, colonials, split-levels and ranches, many with their original layouts and mechanicals.
- Northern and western towns such as Mahwah, Ramsey, Oakland and the Pascack Valley boroughs, with larger lots and houses that are newer on average but still carry dated interiors.
We buy across that whole range, including homes that are vacant, occupied by tenants, or still full of a late relative’s belongings.
The New Jersey steps, without the jargon
The certificate for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
New Jersey’s fire code makes the owner of a single-family or two-family home get a compliance certificate ahead of any sale. It confirms working smoke alarms, a carbon monoxide alarm if the house has fuel-burning appliances or an attached garage, and a portable extinguisher. Depending on the town, it comes from the local fire official or from the municipality as part of its own resale inspection. Some Bergen towns run broader resale or certificate of occupancy inspections, which can turn up other items too. Your attorney or the town clerk can confirm what applies to your address, and the contract can say who arranges it.
Disclosing flood risk
Since March 20, 2024, New Jersey sellers must tell a buyer, on the property condition disclosure statement, about the home’s flood risk, including whether it sits in a FEMA flood zone, before the buyer is bound by a contract. Parts of Bergen near the Hackensack, Saddle and Passaic rivers and the Meadowlands are low-lying. If your house has flooded before, say so. We buy houses with water history and price accordingly.
Attorney review
A home sale contract drawn up by a New Jersey agent is not final right away. For three business days the lawyers for each party may cancel it outright or ask for revisions. Our direct purchase agreement is not an agent’s form, but nothing stops you from having a New Jersey attorney go through it, and we would rather you did.
The realty transfer fee
By custom, the seller covers New Jersey’s realty transfer fee, collected as part of recording. Your written offer will show who pays each closing cost, so you know your net figure in advance.
Where the deed is recorded
Deeds and mortgages for Bergen County are recorded by the Bergen County Clerk in Hackensack, whose land records can be searched online. The title company handles recording after closing.
Why Bergen owners choose a direct sale
Property taxes keep coming. Every New Jersey municipality collects property tax in four installments a year, on the first day of February, May, August and November, and interest starts once the ten-day grace window passes. For an owner carrying an empty house during an estate or a move, those quarters add up. A quick sale stops the meter, and anything overdue is paid out of the proceeds.
Estates. Many Bergen houses belong to owners who bought decades ago. When they pass, the executor typically needs letters from the county Surrogate before selling. A contract can be signed in the meantime; the closing just waits for the executor’s letters.
Landlords. Owners of two-family houses in places like Garfield, Lodi and Hackensack call us when the building needs more than the rent can support, or when a tenant has stopped paying. We buy occupied.
Relocation. Bergen commuters rely on NJ Transit rail, including the Pascack Valley, Bergen County and Main lines, plus buses to Manhattan and the George Washington Bridge. When work moves elsewhere, a fixed closing date makes the move easier to plan.
Foreclosure. New Jersey foreclosure goes through the courts. The Fair Foreclosure Act makes the lender mail a written notice of its intent, with the homeowner’s right to cure spelled out, no fewer than 30 days before it files. If curing it is not realistic, selling before a sheriff’s sale may preserve your equity.
What to expect, step by step
- We talk by phone about the house, your timeline and anything owed on it.
- Greg or Brett visits to look at the structure and systems. You do not need to clean or repair anything.
- A price arrives in writing, usually the day after the visit, along with a proposed closing date and a breakdown of costs.
- If you accept, the attorneys and a title company handle the contract, the certificate, the title search and the payoffs.
- Closing day: roughly a week after signing when title is clear, or later, on the day your move calls for.
Straight talk: a renovated Bergen house in a sought-after town, with no deadline, may sell for more on the open market. A direct sale earns its keep when repairs, tenants, an estate or the calendar are the real problem.
Bergen County seller questions
Do I need a smoke and carbon monoxide certificate to sell my Bergen County house?
Yes, if it is a one- or two-family home. State fire rules call for an alarm and extinguisher compliance certificate, obtained by the owner, ahead of the sale. Depending on the town, it is issued by the local fire official or as part of a municipal resale inspection.
Is there an attorney review period when I sell to you?
The statutory three-day review is built into contracts that agents prepare. Ours is a direct purchase agreement, so it is not automatic, but you can and should hand it to a New Jersey lawyer before signing.
What if my Bergen house is in a flood zone or has flooded?
We still buy it. Since March 20, 2024, New Jersey sellers must disclose flood risk, including FEMA flood zone status, on the property condition disclosure statement, so be candid about past water. We factor it into the price.
I have missed a quarterly tax payment. Does that block a sale?
No. Quarterly installments come due at the start of February, May, August and November, and each one has ten days of grace. Anything overdue, interest included, is settled out of the closing proceeds.
Which Bergen County towns do you buy in?
All of them, from Fort Lee and Hackensack to Paramus, Teaneck, Englewood, Garfield, Fair Lawn and Mahwah, and the smaller boroughs in between.
Nearby, and more about us
We also buy next door in Passaic County, and on the New York side in Rockland County and Westchester County.
Read how it works for the full process, or check our Google reviews and about page to see who we are.