The four numbers across the top read left to right as one equation. What the house supports today, less what is still owed, gives the equity position. Take the cost to sell out of that and you have the number at the top of this page. I use equity position rather than a bare appreciation figure because it counts the part of the purchase price you no longer owe as well as the part the market gave you. Bought years ago, most of it is market. Bought recently or at a strong price, most of it is what you have paid down, and that is still equity.
The strongest evidence in this sample set is a builder model match: the same layout by the same builder, in the same subdivision, closed within the last six months at a recorded price. It takes no bedroom or bath adjustment because it is the same house as built, which is why it carries the most weight in the reconciliation. In your report the payoff line is either the balance you give me or an illustration clearly labeled as one.
I create these Home Equity Reports to empower the people I care about with accurate knowledge of what their equity really is, so they can make the best decisions and plan their next steps. That is the whole purpose here. There is no listing conversation attached to this and nothing in it needs an answer today.
What one percent is worth. At this value, a one percent move in the market is $11,500, which is the reason to look once a year rather than once a decade. The illustrated house compounded at 3.587 percent a year over twenty two years and three months. That is the rate this property averaged over its own holding period, and it is not a market forecast.
Closed sales from the local multiple listing service are the pricing tool. Automated values from Zillow, Realist, RPR or CoreLogic sit in a labeled reference block and never drive a pricing conclusion. Recorded prices outrank estimated ones, and every estimate is labeled as one at each point of use. Room count, mortgage status and what is below grade come from you, because no public record carries them reliably in Bergen County.
| Line | Low $1,110,000 | Midpoint $1,150,000 | High $1,190,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $1,110,000 | $1,150,000 | $1,190,000 |
| Commission, 4 percent, the rate I am using for this report | ($44,400) | ($46,000) | ($47,600) |
| New Jersey Realty Transfer Fee, standard schedule | ($10,906) | ($11,390) | ($11,874) |
| Graduated Percent Fee, 1 percent, seller paid since July 10, 2025 | ($11,100) | ($11,500) | ($11,900) |
| Attorney fee | ($1,500) | ($1,500) | ($1,500) |
| Net before mortgage payoff | $1,042,094 | $1,079,610 | $1,117,126 |
| Mortgage payoff, illustrated | ($352,694) | ($352,694) | ($352,694) |
| Estimated equity | $689,400 | $726,916 | $764,432 |
The payoff line is an illustration, not your balance. It assumes an original loan of $420,000 at 3.75 percent on a thirty year term with 92 payments made, giving a principal and interest payment of $1,945. Your real number comes off your lender statement. A house owned free and clear has no payoff line at all, and then net proceeds and equity are the same number.
Not included, and worth knowing now rather than at closing: municipal certificate and smoke certification fees, tax and utility adjustments, any repair credits negotiated after inspection, and moving costs. No buyer concession is modeled. New Jersey resident sellers file a GIT/REP-3 and no income tax is withheld.
Basis $525,000. Amount realized at the midpoint, the price less selling costs, $1,079,610. That puts the gain at approximately $554,610.
Against the Section 121 exclusion of $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, the gain sits roughly $54,610 above it before any documented improvements. For a single filer the exclusion is $250,000 and the gap is $304,610. This sample assumes joint filing.
The exclusion is conditional: you owned and used the house as your principal residence for two of the five years before the sale, and have not used the exclusion on another home in the two years before this one. Your CPA decides whether you qualify, not me.
$54,610 of documented capital improvements brings the gain under the exclusion entirely. Selling costs are already inside that number. Improvements count as zero because I do not have the receipts.
I am a licensed real estate agent, not a tax advisor or attorney. Confirm residency dates and tax treatment with your CPA before acting on them.
Two figures in this report are the ones I cannot get anywhere except from you: your actual mortgage balance, and what you have put into the house since you bought it.
The worksheet in Section 6 collects both. It takes about four minutes and it is the single highest value thing you can do with this report, because improvements are counted at zero here and every documented dollar comes off the gain.
Repairs and routine maintenance do not count. A new roof does, a roof patch does not. Your CPA decides what qualifies.
If your gain is small because you bought recently or bought high, the receipts still matter, for a different reason. They do not reduce a tax you do not owe. They defend the top of your range, which a data-only report has no way to see.
The standard seller fee at the midpoint is $11,390. New Jersey also publishes a reduced schedule under N.J.S.A. 46:15-10 that would put it at $5,695, roughly half the standard fee. Every condition has to hold: grantors 62 or over, blind or disabled, or within the low and moderate income limits; New Jersey residents; owning and occupying the one or two family residence at sale. As tenants by the entirety, only one grantor needs to qualify.
The planning number here is the standard fee, because it is the conservative one. The closing attorney who signs the RTF-1 and the county clerk decide whether the reduced schedule applies, not me.
The Graduated Percent Fee above it is the line most sellers above one million dollars are surprised by. It applies to the entire consideration, carries no reduced schedule, and since July 10, 2025 the seller pays it. Before that date it was the buyer's cost.
| Comparable | Relationship to the subject | Price | Days on market |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model match, same subdivision | The same builder layout as built. No bedroom or bath adjustment. Recorded price | $1,120,000 | 13 |
| Same street, recorded | Larger by 310 square feet, one additional full bath. Recorded price, sold 14 months ago | $1,165,000 | 21 |
| Municipal revaluation | Equalized market value behind the current assessment, carried forward from its valuation date | $1,092,000 | not applicable |
| Closest size peer, original condition | Comparable size, unrenovated. A floor indication rather than a peer. Price estimated at list, not recorded | $965,000 | 10 |
Two of the four indications above are recorded prices and one is an estimate, labeled as such here and everywhere it is used. A set with two recorded indications supports a tighter range than a set with none, and that is the single largest reason this range runs 7 percent wide rather than 12.
| Weight | Method | What it rests on | Indicated |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45% | Model match, recorded | Same layout, same subdivision, closed at a recorded price. Adjusted upward $40,000 for position, 3.6 percent and the conservative end of the 3 to 8 percent band: an interior lot with frontage on one street, against a corner lot with frontage and traffic exposure on two. Professional judgment, not a paired sale, and disclosed as such | $1,160,000 |
| 25% | Municipal revaluation | Equalized market value carried forward eleven months at 4.8 percent a year, the rate extracted for this ZIP code and disclosed here because it is applied twice in this table | $1,140,000 |
| 20% | Same street, recorded | Time adjusted at the same 4.8 percent a year, less 310 square feet at a disclosed $150 per square foot of marginal area, less one full bath at $20,000 | $1,164,000 |
| 10% | Floor indication, estimated price | Original condition, adjusted 11 percent for condition, which is $106,000 on this comparable and is the largest property adjustment in the file. Professional judgment, disclosed | $1,071,000 |
Weighted, those four indications reconcile to $1,146,900. I round that up to $1,150,000 as the working midpoint, a difference of $3,100, because a midpoint carried to the hundred dollar implies a precision a range of this width does not have. Every figure in this report is built off $1,150,000.
The bottom is held by the original condition sale, which is what this house is worth if a buyer has to redo it. The top is held by the plain arithmetic that the model match closed at $1,120,000, so asking $1,150,000 asks a buyer for $30,000 more than the model has proven. That is defensible on condition and position. It is not automatic, and you should hear it from me rather than from an offer.
The public automated value for this sample, a Zillow Zestimate as of September 2026, sits at $1,238,000 with a published range of $1,110,000 to $1,360,000. It is above every recorded sale in this subdivision. It is here because you will look at one the same day you read this, and it belongs in the conversation labeled for what it is: a model that has never been inside the house.
This is the section that makes the report worth keeping. Every figure below traces to something stated elsewhere in this document. The right column is the point: most of what sets your value is fixed, and the few things you control are worth knowing by name.
| What it is | What it is worth | Yours to move |
|---|---|---|
| Documented improvement receipts | Up to $54,610 of taxable gain, which is the entire amount above the exclusion. Your CPA puts a rate on it | Yes, entirely |
| Interior condition and presentation | 11 percent against the original condition comparable, which is $106,000 on that sale | Yes, at a cost |
| Lot position | 3 to 8 percent in this band. Interior frontage on one street against corner frontage and traffic exposure on two | No, it is fixed |
| Finished space below grade | No gross living area, so no dollar adjustment. It widens the buyer pool and shortens time on market | Maintain it |
| Full bath count against the comparable set | About $20,000 per full bath in this band | Yes, at a cost |
| Mortgage payoff | The balance falls every month on its own. It changes your equity, not your value | Yes, it moves without you |
| Commission rate | Each half point is about $5,750 at the midpoint | Yes, it is negotiable |
| Property tax bill relative to the comparable set | Not a dollar adjustment. It is a buyer objection, and it is answerable with the assessment record | No, but it is answerable |
| Deck, patio and yard | No clean comparable data exists, so I do not assign a number. They are upside, not padding | Maintain it |
| The plain arithmetic above the model match | $30,000. Real, and it argues against the midpoint in this report | No |
One caution about the top of the range. Finished space below grade carries no gross living area no matter how well it is finished. It is real, and it sells houses. It will not lift a lender's value conclusion. A price pushed toward the top of the range mostly on the strength of that space may not support the loan for a financed buyer, and the difference falls on the buyer to cover. Worth knowing before a number goes on a sign.
Two of the levers above cost money to move. I am not the person to price them. Anything that involves a contractor gets priced by a contractor, the way anything involving basis gets decided by your CPA and anything involving title gets decided by your attorney. What I can tell you is what the market pays for the finished result, which is the half of that decision most people never get a straight answer on.
Your equity position if nothing is sold: the supported value less what is still owed, with no selling costs taken out, because none are incurred. It is not free: carrying this house costs the tax bill, the insurance and the maintenance every year you hold it.
Five years at the 3.587 percent rate this sample property averaged over its own holding period would put the value at $1,371,587, a change of $221,587. That is arithmetic, not a forecast. It compounds value only, and holds the tax bill, the market and your mortgage balance constant, none of which stay constant.
Worth noting: the gain above the exclusion grows as the value grows, so the receipts matter more later than they do now.
Net proceeds at the midpoint after $70,390 of selling costs and the illustrated payoff. The comparable set in this sample closed in 10 to 21 days, which is a fast market for a correctly priced house and a slow one for an ambitious price.
The $54,610 of gain above the exclusion is a question to handle before listing, not after. It is the item with the longest lead time in the whole file, because finding receipts going back to your purchase takes longer than anything else on this page.
No dollar figure sits on this door on purpose. Hold and Sell are arithmetic. This one depends on a contractor's price for your house, which is not a number I can supply.
On the sample numbers, condition is the largest single adjustment in the file at 11 percent. That sounds like an argument for renovating before a sale, and usually it is not. A full bath returns about $20,000 of value in this band. What it costs to build is a contractor's number, not mine, and the two are usually close enough that the bath is rarely an investment and usually a clear gain in daily use. Paint, floors, landscaping and decluttering are the items I see move a sale most relative to what they cost, and they are the ones most people skip.
Get the scope and the cost from a contractor. Confirm what adds to basis with your CPA. I will tell you what the market pays for the finished result, which is my half of it.
The only thing I would ever ask of a report like this. If anyone close to you is weighing a first purchase, or wondering what their own house is worth, I am glad to talk them through it the same way. That is it, and nothing in this report needs an answer today.
It is not a listing conversation, and no transaction is contemplated by it, which is why no Seller Property Condition Disclosure, New Jersey Form 140, is required. If it ever becomes a listing conversation, that protocol applies in full from the first day. I am a licensed real estate agent, not a tax advisor or attorney. Confirm residency dates and tax treatment with your CPA before acting on them.
Most of the work on a report like this is mine. The handful of facts that move the answer the most are in no public record in Bergen County, so I have to ask you. Fill in what you know, leave the rest blank, and send it back however is easiest. None of it has to be exact.
The county does not carry a room count in most of Bergen, and on a real file of mine a wrong bathroom count moved the range twice.
This is the question that pays, and the one most reports skip. Finished space below ground level carries no gross living area, so an appraiser will not count the square footage however well it is finished. It still widens the buyer pool, but a price pushed to the top of a range on the strength of it may not support the loan for a financed buyer.
Largest first, and stop wherever you run out. A year and a rough cost is enough. This section works two ways depending on your situation. With a large gain, every documented dollar reduces what is taxable. If you bought recently or at a strong price, the receipts will not touch a tax you do not owe, but they are the argument for the top of your range, and no data source knows you made them.
| Improvement | Year | Approximate cost | Receipt? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. | |||
| 6. | |||
| 7. | |||
| 8. | |||
| 9. | |||
| 10. |
What counts. Kitchen, bathrooms, roof, siding, windows, heating, cooling, electrical, plumbing, additions, finished basement or attic, driveway, decks, fencing, and landscaping that changed the property rather than maintained it. What does not. A roof patch, a service call, painting, an appliance you took with you. A missing receipt is not a reason to skip a line: card and bank records reconstruct more than people expect, and your CPA makes the final call.
The county shows liens that were recorded and cannot tell me one has been paid off. On a real file of mine that single fact moved the equity number by about two hundred thousand dollars. If the house is owned free and clear, write that and skip this block.
New Jersey publishes a reduced Realty Transfer Fee schedule under N.J.S.A. 46:15-10. On the sample house it is worth about $5,695. It turns on three conditions, and the first one can be met more than one way, which is why there are four questions below. The first condition is met if any owner on title will be 62 or older at the time of sale, or is blind or disabled, or the owners are within the low and moderate income limits. Then the owners have to be New Jersey residents, and you have to own and occupy the property as your one or two family residence at the time of sale. The closing attorney who signs the RTF-1 and the county clerk decide this, not me, and my reports always plan on the standard fee until they do.
Held as tenants by the entirety, only one owner needs to qualify. A yes on either of the first two lines is worth real money and nobody will volunteer it to you, which is the only reason it is on this page.
And one offer rather than a request. Twenty minutes inside the house tells me more than every line above put together, because condition is usually the largest single adjustment in the file, and it is the one thing on this list I cannot get from a form. If it is convenient, I am glad to come by. If it is not, a few photos do most of the job and no explanation is needed.
I build the report from your answers plus closed sales near you. Because I will be running these in one batch each fall, I will tell you your date when your worksheet comes back. Your mortgage balance turns the illustrated payoff into your actual payoff, so the net sheet stops being a model and becomes your number. Your improvements come off the taxable gain, or defend the top of your range, depending on which case you are in. Your answers on this page are used for your report and nothing else.
You get a physical once a year. Not because something is wrong, but because the point of checking is to know. Your house is the largest asset most people own, and most owners find out what it is worth in the same week they need to know, which is the worst week to find out.
So I am starting to run these every fall, for everyone at once. One email in the fall, no listing conversation, and the same report the following fall so the two can be read side by side. The second year is the one that gets interesting, because it opens with the change: last fall I had your house here, and here is where it moved and why.
Fall is deliberate. It is after the summer selling season has closed and the year's sales are on the record, so the comparable set is as complete as it gets. It is also before year end, which is when the improvement receipts and the conversation with your accountant are still worth having rather than a missed opportunity you read about in April.
About four minutes, once a year. The worksheet in Section 6 is the whole ask: your room count, what is finished and whether it sits below grade, your ten largest improvements since you bought, and your mortgage balance. None of those live in a public record, which is why a report built only from public data cannot produce it, and why four minutes of your time is worth more to its accuracy than anything I do.
To say yes, reply with your address. That is enough to start. I will send you the worksheet from Section 6, and your report in this year's fall run. If you would rather talk it through first, my cell and a booking link are below.
The worksheet in Section 6 is built to be printed and written on. Ask me for the PDF and I will send it, or answer the questions in a reply and I will do the rest.
This report is a Competitive Market Analysis prepared by Scott Selleck, The Selleck Group, Keller Williams City Views Realty, for the purpose of understanding your local market and making an informed decision using current local sales comparable data. This is not an appraisal of value and has not been prepared by a licensed residential appraiser.
This is a sample document. The property, the comparable sales, the mortgage, the tax figures and every dollar amount in it are illustrative, describe no real property or person, and are not a prediction of value for any other property. The five year illustration in Section 5 is arithmetic, not a forecast. I am a licensed real estate agent, not a tax advisor or attorney. Confirm residency dates and tax treatment with your CPA before acting on them.
NJ Real Estate Broker / Sales Associate License #9236275. Keller Williams City Views Realty. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity: https://sellecksellsnj.com/blog/equal-housing-opportunity-scott-selleck-and-the-selleck-group-at-kw-city-views-realty