Transaction Coordinator in Essex County, NJ.

What we handle on an Essex County file

Essex is one of only two New Jersey counties, with Hudson, where recording sits with a Register of Deeds and Mortgages rather than the County Clerk, and it records for all 22 municipalities from Room 130 of the Hall of Records in Newark. The counter runs 8:30 am to 4:30 pm with the last transaction taken at 4:15 pm. Essex was one of the counties that charged the e-recording convenience fee struck down in 2019: the charge stopped on March 8, 2019 by court order, and portal counties statewide suspended theirs on April 1, 2019. Once your deal is ratified, PLS builds and manages the file in your brokerage's transaction platform, tracks every deadline and contingency, routes documents for signature, and coordinates with lender, title, attorneys, and the co-op agent. See the full transaction coordination service for the complete scope, and the New Jersey overview for statewide notes.

• Brokerage fileBuilds and manages the file in your brokerage's platform.
• Every deadlineTracks every deadline and contingency.
• SignaturesRoutes documents for signature.
• Every partyCoordinates with lender, title, attorneys, and the co-op agent.

Transfer tax in Essex County

New Jersey's Realty Transfer Fee is imposed on the seller and runs on two mutually exclusive schedules, which must never be blended. At total consideration of $350,000 or less it is $2.00 per $500 up to $150,000, $3.35 per $500 from $150,000 to $200,000, and $3.90 per $500 from $200,000 to $350,000. Above $350,000 a different schedule applies to the whole amount: $2.90 per $500 up to $150,000, $4.25 per $500 to $200,000, $4.80 per $500 to $550,000, $5.30 per $500 to $850,000, $5.80 per $500 to $1,000,000, and $6.05 per $500 above that. Reduced schedules exist for senior, blind, disabled, and low and moderate income sellers, and a notarized Form RTF-1 must be annexed to the deed to claim one. Consideration over $1,000,000 also triggers the Graduated Percent Fee that replaced the old 1 percent mansion tax on July 10, 2025 under P.L. 2025 c. 69: 1 percent above $1,000,000, 2 percent above $2,000,000, 2.5 percent above $2,500,000, 3 percent above $3,000,000, and 3.5 percent above $3,500,000, charged as a straight percentage of the entire consideration rather than as brackets. Liability for it shifted from the buyer to the seller, and the Division of Taxation is explicit that the operative date is when the deed is submitted for recording, not the closing date. Form RTF-1EE must be annexed to every deed over $1,000,000 and to every commercial transfer. There is no separate Essex County transfer tax.

Recording a deed in Essex County

The Essex County Register of Deeds and Mortgages sits at Hall of Records, Room 130, 465 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Newark, New Jersey 07102, 973-621-4960. The current recording fee is $45 for the first page of a deed, tax abstract included. Additional recorded pages are $10 each and names after the fifth are $6 each. The $5 homelessness trust fund charge has been included in the published figures since July 1, 2015. The office has accepted electronic recording since December 2006 through the njcountyrecording.com consortium, and the e-recording convenience fee ended March 8, 2019 by order of the Hudson County Superior Court in NJ Land Title Association v. Rivera.

The deed must carry Realty Transfer Fee payment with RTF-1 or RTF-1EE where applicable, the GIT/REP seller residency declaration, the grantee's mailing address, municipal block and lot, acknowledgment with printed names and the preparer's printed name. A cover sheet has been required on all land documents since May 1, 2017. Counter hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm with the last transaction accepted at 4:15 pm, so a walk in after 4:15 records the following day.

Recording fees and transfer tax rates for every county we coordinate in are collected side by side on our recording fee and transfer tax reference.

What actually holds up a closing here

• More than 10 business days out$45
• Four to 10 business days$90
• Fewer than four business days$161

Source: N.J.A.C. 5:70-2.9(d), as stated above. A municipality may adopt a different schedule.

Pricing

Transaction coordination in New Jersey is billed per file, not as a monthly retainer. Contract to close is $450 per transaction, and the full rate card including dual agency, unrepresented party (FSBO or URB), and listing management is published on our pricing page. No fixed overhead, no minimum volume.

Where these figures come from

The county-level figures on this page come from the official sources listed below. Municipal fees and deadlines come from each municipality's own published schedules and ordinances, which are revised more often than they are archived. We publish what we could verify and leave out what we could not. Fees and ordinances change; if you are relying on a figure here for a live file, confirm it with the issuing office, and tell us if you find a discrepancy so we can correct the page.