You signed the contract on Thursday night. Your agent congratulated you. Your spouse started measuring for the sectional. And then someone mentioned that, technically, you do not have a deal yet. Welcome to New Jersey.
For buyers and sellers arriving from New York, this is the moment the two states stop looking alike. In New York, clients walk into a signing knowing their attorney has already negotiated every clause. In New Jersey, they sign a realtor-prepared form contract and rely on attorney review to reshape it into something that actually protects their interests. The order is reversed, and the entire economics of the transaction now sit inside a three-business-day window that most people misread.
The clock is a starting gun, not a finish line
The most expensive assumption a New Jersey buyer or seller can make is that the review must be finished in three days. It does not.
The three-business-day period is counted from delivery of the signed contract to the buyer and the seller, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. During this period, either party's attorney can disapprove the contract for any reason, propose modifications, or let the deadline pass without objection. If an attorney disapproves, the attorney must send written notice within the three-business-day period to the broker(s) and the other party named in the contract. After that written disapproval or modification letter goes out, the negotiation itself has no fixed end. As long as the first disapproval letter went out within three business days of both parties receiving the fully executed contract, the review period stays open until both attorneys reach agreement, or until one side walks away. The three days is not a deadline for finishing the job. It is a deadline for starting it.
That distinction matters because of what stays true during the whole open review window. Neither side is bound. During this entire period, neither party is bound. That means the seller could accept another offer, and the buyer could walk away. This is why experienced agents and attorneys push to complete attorney review as quickly as possible — lingering in this phase leaves both sides vulnerable.
The practical translation: a slow attorney, or an unresponsive one, is not just an annoyance. Time spent in review is time your deal can be lost to a backup offer.
Why the timeout exists
The review clause is not a courtesy. It is a compromise the New Jersey Supreme Court forced onto a system where non-lawyers were drafting binding legal documents. In New Jersey, real estate agents prepare the initial purchase contract using a standardized form. Since agents are not lawyers, the state Supreme Court carved out this "timeout period" so buyers and sellers can get legal advice before the contract becomes binding. The rule is codified: contracts prepared by licensed real estate professionals for the sale of one- to four-family residential property and vacant one-family lots must include the required attorney review language. Under N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.2, the contract must state at the top of the first page that it will become legally binding within three business days and that either party may consult an attorney who can review and cancel the agreement.
That framing has one clean consequence for the reader. The default residential contract is a form. The version that binds you is the version your attorney rewrites during review.
What actually happens in those three days
Attorneys are not proofreading. They are inserting the terms the form does not contain, or contains too weakly to protect their client. Typical additions include:
- A defined inspection contingency window with named specialty inspections (radon, oil tank sweep, sewer scope) rather than a bare "reasonable time"
- Mortgage commitment language that specifies rate ceilings and how a denial is documented
- Repair credit and dollar-cap mechanics for what happens after inspection findings
- Deposit escrow instructions and timing
- Attorney-drafted riders addressing the mansion tax obligation on higher-priced homes
- Clarified closing date treatment: "on or about" versus "time of the essence"
If any part of the contract is changed during the attorney review process, then the attorney review period is extended until all parties agree on the requested changes. That is why most transactions that look "in attorney review" for a week are actually functioning normally. The clock opened, the letters went out, and the lawyers are trading redlines.
Cost of that work in Northern New Jersey is generally predictable. In New Jersey, real estate attorneys typically charge a flat fee that covers the entire transaction — not just the attorney review period, but everything from contract review through closing. You are hiring your attorney for the whole ride. North and Central NJ (Union, Essex, Bergen, Morris counties): $1,300 to $2,500 flat fee. Statewide average: $1,000 to $3,000 depending on property type and complexity.
The 2025 mansion tax quietly moved into review
Attorney review used to be a fight about inspection windows and mortgage contingencies. In the second half of 2025, it became a fight about who writes a very large check.
On June 30, 2025, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law Bill S4666/A5804, which amends New Jersey's "Mansion Tax" and Controlling Interest Transfer Tax by imposing additional fees on certain transfers of real property exceeding $2 million. Sellers, rather than the buyers, are now responsible for the payment of both the Mansion Tax and CITT for certain transfers of real property valued at over $1 million. Under New Jersey's current guidance, for deeds submitted for recording on or after July 10, 2025, legal responsibility for the mansion tax shifted from the buyer to the seller, subject to a limited grace-period refund rule for certain contracts fully executed before July 10, 2025 and recorded on or before November 15, 2025.
The rate structure changed at the same time. Going forward, the Tax will be a tiered rate structure starting at 1% for properties over 1 million dollars and rising up to, and capped at, 3.5% for properties over 3.5 million dollars. Two features of that tier structure matter more than the rates themselves. These are not true "graduated" rates. These rates apply to the entire amount of consideration. For example, if total consideration is $2,200,000, the Mansion Tax would be $44,000. Because the consideration paid for the property in excess of $2,000,000 but not in excess of $2,500,000 the 2% rate applies to the entire consideration of $2,200,000.
Read that example twice. A $2,000,000 sale costs the seller $20,000 in Graduated Percent Fee. A $2,020,000 sale costs the seller $40,400. For pricing, the imposition of the new rate tiers as a flat tax instead of a graduated tax results in substantially different burdens for minor price differences. For example, a property sold for $2,000,000 will incur mansion tax of $20,000, whereas a property sold for $2,020,000 will incur mansion tax of $40,400.
For a Hudson waterfront townhome or a Bergen County move-up house sitting near a bracket line, that cliff is where attorney review does its real work in 2026. The negotiation is not only about repairs and closing dates. It is about which side absorbs the tax and whether the price should be re-cut to sit under a threshold. While the seller is legally responsible, parties can negotiate for the buyer to cover some or all of the cost. This must be addressed in the purchase agreement. That negotiation happens in the review window or not at all.
Where the review clause does not apply
Buyers and sellers assume every New Jersey deal comes with the safety net. It does not. The attorney review applies to broker-prepared residential real-estate contracts. It does not apply to FSBO transactions without broker involvement, attorney-prepared contracts, commercial transactions, new construction by builders, foreclosure or sheriff sale purchases, or auction sales. Where attorney review doesn't apply by default, the parties should engage counsel before contract signing; the post-signing window for revisions is much narrower.
Two categories catch clients off guard. First, new construction. A builder's contract is an attorney-drafted document, and signing it is signing it. Second, small multifamily investment deals sometimes marketed off-market. If there is no broker on the paper, the clause is not on the paper either.
The e-signature timing trap
The clause was written for a paper era. Electronic signature has broken the assumption that "received" means "read." Now that we are using electronic signatures, there are some timing problems. For example, if you signed late Thursday evening, and a fully signed copy was e-mailed right back to you, but you didn't open your e-mail until Monday, your attorney review period still ends on Tuesday. That's probably not enough time to have an attorney review it for you. So, watch your time.
The clean workaround is to have counsel identified and briefed before you sign, not after. Buyers in New Jersey should have their attorney identified and available before they make an offer. The moment a contract is signed, the three-day clock is running.
What review leads to
Once both attorneys sign off, the deal snaps into a familiar sequence: earnest money deposit, inspection window, title work, mortgage commitment, municipal certificates, and closing. Inspections 10 to 14 days. Title work begins immediately, with commitment by closing. Mortgage commitment 30 to 45 days. Municipal compliance (certificates, inspections, lead paint). Closing typically 45 to 60 days post-contract.
The version of the contract that governs each of those steps is the version review produced. That is the whole point.
FAQ
Can the seller take a higher offer while my deal is in attorney review? During the three-day window, and continuing through the entire attorney review period, neither party is bound. Either party's attorney can disapprove the contract for any reason, or for no reason at all, at any point before attorney review concludes. That means the seller can entertain and accept a higher backup offer while attorney review is pending.
Does the mansion tax apply only to residential luxury homes? No. The Graduated Percent Fee applies to residential, certain farm property with a residence, cooperative units, and Class 4A commercial property, and the tiered structure applies to the full consideration once you cross $1,000,000.
Do I have to hire an attorney? The attorney review clause is required. Although the buyer or the seller can choose not to consult an attorney, they cannot waive the provision clause. You are entitled to the three days whether you use them or not. Skipping them means the form contract, unmodified, becomes your binding agreement.
Working with a cross-border agent
New Jersey rewards buyers and sellers who treat review as a design step, not a formality. If you are selling a townhome on the Hudson Gold Coast, moving up in Bergen County, or coming across the river from Manhattan, the contract that closes is the one written during those three business days. Monica Capellan is licensed in both New York and New Jersey, works in English and Spanish, and coordinates directly with your attorney so the review window produces terms you can actually live with. Request a free consultation or home valuation to start the conversation before the clock does.
