The definitions below are the law’s own, shortened; each links to its source and to the reference page that explains how the term operates. They are not legal or tax advice, and how a particular term applies to a particular contract or parcel is a question for the parties’ own attorney, accountant and the municipality.
The money: fees, taxes and loans
Appraisal gap
The difference between a contract price and a lower appraised value. For a financed purchase the main loan programs size the loan on the lower of the sales price and the appraised value (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.2-01), so the gap is cash the buyer must bring or a term the contract must address. See the appraisal gap.
Estimated Gross Income Tax payment (non-resident seller)
A non-resident seller of New Jersey real property makes an estimated Gross Income Tax payment before the deed is recorded, computed under the Division of Taxation’s bulletin and credited against the seller’s return for the year (Technical Bulletin TB-57(R)); a resident seller certifies residency instead, on Form GIT/REP-3, and makes no such payment. See seller closing costs.
General tax rate and effective tax rate
The Division of Taxation defines the general tax rate as a multiplier, expressed per $100 of assessed value, used to compute the tax bill, and the effective tax rate as a statistical comparison of one district with another on the assumption that all are at 100 percent of value, which it says is not to be used to compute a bill (Division of Taxation, Statistical Information). See property taxes by town.
Graduated Percent Fee (the “mansion tax”)
The State fee on deeds for consideration over $1,000,000, imposed on the seller for deeds recorded on or after July 10, 2025 and graduated by the whole price: 1 percent over $1,000,000, 2 percent over $2,000,000, 2.5 percent over $2,500,000, 3 percent over $3,000,000 and 3.5 percent over $3,500,000, each applied to the entire consideration (P.L. 2025, c. 69; Division of Taxation memorandum of July 2, 2025). See seller closing costs.
Jumbo loan and the conforming loan limit
A mortgage above the conforming loan limit the Federal Housing Finance Agency sets each year, which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cannot buy. For 2026 the one-unit baseline is $832,750 and the high-cost ceiling $1,249,125 (FHFA, November 25, 2025). See how a home is bought.
Realty Transfer Fee
The State fee on recording a deed, computed on the consideration under the schedule in N.J.S.A. 46:15-7 and paid by the seller (Division of Taxation, Realty Transfer Fee schedule and questions; Realty Transfer Fee page). See seller closing costs.
Reconsideration of value
A borrower-initiated request, through the lender, that an appraiser reconsider the appraised value on the basis of information the appraisal overlooked or misstated, under the lender’s written procedure (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-12). See the appraisal gap.
Title insurance rates
In New Jersey the rates and charges for title insurance are filed and published in the Rating Bureau’s manual, so the premium on a given price follows the published schedule (New Jersey Land Title Insurance Rating Bureau, Manual of Rates and Charges). See buyer closing costs.
Value acceptance (appraisal waiver)
A lender’s acceptance of the contract value without an appraisal, offered by the automated underwriting system on eligible loans and excluded for others (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.4-10). See the appraisal gap.
The contract and the parties
Attorney review
The clause every contract prepared by a licensee must carry, giving each party three business days from delivery of the signed contract to have an attorney review it and disapprove it (N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.2(g)); since 2017 the notice of disapproval may be sent by e-mail or fax as well as personal delivery or overnight mail (Conley v. Guerrero, 228 N.J. 339). See how attorney review works.
Brokerage services agreement
The written agreement between a brokerage and a buyer or seller that the 2024 statute requires before the brokerage is paid, stating the compensation, which is negotiable and not set by law, and whether the property will be circulated in a multiple listing service (P.L. 2024, c. 32). See how a home is bought.
Consumer Information Statement
The Real Estate Commission’s statement of the four business relationships a licensee may have with a buyer or seller, which must be explained and delivered before any discussion of the client’s motivation or ability to buy or sell (N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.9). See how a home is bought.
Cooperation waiver (the off-market election)
The Commission’s rule that a licensee cooperates with other licensees on every listing unless the owner directs otherwise in writing, on the prescribed waiver form; that written direction is what keeps a property off the multiple listing service (N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.4(f)). See how an off-market sale works.
Disclosure statement
The Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement, which every seller of residential real property has had to complete and deliver to the buyer since August 1, 2024, on the form the Division of Consumer Affairs publishes (the State form; its instructions). See the seller disclosure.
Flood-risk disclosure
The seller’s and landlord’s statutory duty to disclose a property’s flood-zone status and flood history, enacted in 2023 (P.L. 2023, c. 93) and applying to sales on or after March 20, 2024. See the seller disclosure.
Lead-based paint disclosure
For target housing, which the federal rule defines as housing built before 1978 with limited exceptions (40 C.F.R. § 745.103), the seller discloses known lead-based paint and hazards and delivers the pamphlet (§ 745.107), and the buyer has a ten-day opportunity to inspect unless waived (§ 745.110). See the seller disclosure.
The house and the land
Certificate of continued occupancy
The certificate a construction official issues for an existing building at the owner’s request, where the use has lawfully existed and no violations or orders are pending; by the rule’s own words it evidences only a general inspection of the visible parts of the building (N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.23). Whether a municipality requires one at sale is a local question. See how a home is sold.
Floor-area ratio
A building’s floor area as a share of its lot area, as each municipal code defines the two terms. Several Bergen County codes step the ratio down as the lot grows or widens: Old Tappan’s Table B steps the RA-40 ratio down from 0.16 to 0.105 as the lot grows and caps floor area at 8,400 square feet above 80,000 (Borough of Old Tappan, Table B), and Cresskill’s R-10 ratio falls from 39 to 30 percent as the lot widens (Borough of Cresskill, § 275-35). See minimum lot sizes by town.
Home inspection, licensed
A home inspection for compensation may be performed in New Jersey only by a person licensed under the Home Inspection Professional Licensing Act (N.J.S.A. 45:8-61 et seq.), to the standards of practice the licensing board sets (N.J.A.C. 13:40-15.16). See the home inspection.
Improved and impervious lot coverage
Two coverage limits that run alongside building coverage in several codes: improved lot coverage counts buildings together with paving, decks, pools, courts and similar improvements, as Demarest’s schedule defines it (Borough of Demarest, Chapter 175, Attachment 1); impervious coverage counts the surfaces that prevent stormwater from soaking into the ground, capped by district in Englewood from 25 to 67 percent (City of Englewood, § 250-59). See minimum lot sizes by town.
Minimum lot area
The floor a zoning code sets for a conforming lot in a district, from which the setbacks, coverage and height limits run. In the county’s largest-lot districts it is two acres, 87,120 square feet, as in Alpine’s R-A and R-R districts (Borough of Alpine, § 220-3D(1)) and Saddle River’s R-1 and R-3 (Borough of Saddle River, Schedule B). See minimum lot sizes by town.
Private Well Testing Act
Every contract of sale for a property served by a private well must require, as a condition of the sale, a test of the water for the parameters the Act and the Department of Environmental Protection prescribe, among them total coliform, nitrates, iron, manganese and pH; closing cannot occur until buyer and seller have received and reviewed the results and certify so in writing (P.L. 2001, c. 40). See the home inspection.
Radon testing, certified
Radon testing and mitigation offered for compensation must be performed by persons certified by the Department of Environmental Protection, and a seller who has had the home tested must disclose the results (N.J.A.C. 7:28-27.3). See the home inspection.
Septic inspection at transfer
For a septic inspection to be a Department-recognized method at a transfer of real property, the inspector follows the protocol the rule incorporates, describes the system’s condition without the words malfunctioning, failure or non-compliant, which only the health authority or the Department may apply, and reports certain observations to the local authority within 24 hours (N.J.A.C. 7:9A-12.6). See the home inspection.
The assessment
Average ratio and common level range (Chapter 123)
The average ratio is the Director of the Division of Taxation’s ratio of assessed to true value for a district as of October 1 of the pretax year, and the common level range is plus or minus 15 percent of it (N.J.S.A. 54:1-35a); when a property’s own ratio falls outside the range, the Tax Court revises the assessment by applying the average ratio to true value (N.J.S.A. 54:51A-6). See the tax appeal.
Freeze Act
A final Tax Court judgment on a property’s assessment binds the assessor and the taxing district for the assessment year and the two following years, except for changes in the property’s value after the assessment date, and the binding effect ends with the year before a complete revaluation or reassessment takes effect (N.J.S.A. 54:51A-8). See the tax appeal.
Revaluation and reassessment
A municipality-wide program that brings every assessment to the same standard of value; the Division’s pamphlet describes its purpose as spreading the tax burden equitably, so that two properties of essentially the same market value pay essentially the same tax (Division of Taxation, Revaluations), and its rule notes that a revaluation or district-wide reassessment ordinarily adjusts 100 percent of the line items (N.J.A.C. 18:12A-1.14). See property taxes by town.
Tax appeal deadlines and the $1,000,000 line
A taxpayer aggrieved by an assessment may appeal to the county board of taxation on or before April 1, or 45 days from the completion of the bulk mailing of assessment notices, whichever is later, and may instead file directly with the Tax Court where the assessed valuation exceeds $1,000,000 (N.J.S.A. 54:3-21). See the tax appeal.
Each definition shortens its source and is not legal or tax advice; the source governs, and how a term applies to a particular contract, loan or parcel is a question for the parties’ own attorney, accountant, lender and municipality. Sources opened October 25, 2026.