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North Jersey · New JerseyFrom Hackensack to Englewood: what changes locally, what does not, and how to find out in fifteen minutes what you actually qualify for.
Bergen County, with its county seat in Hackensack, takes in Hackensack, Paramus, Fort Lee, Ridgewood, Teaneck, Mahwah and Englewood. Stellar lends across all of New Jersey, and Bergen County files are handled from our Hamilton, NJ office by a licensed officer you can reach directly.
Bergen County sits inside the New York metropolitan high-cost area, so its conforming limit is the FHFA ceiling of $1,249,125 rather than the national baseline of $832,750. That matters: a loan that would be jumbo elsewhere in New Jersey can still be a conforming loan here, with conforming pricing and guidelines.
Part of the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro. Verify whether the high-cost ceiling applies.
Bergen County is the top of the New Jersey market and the county where the New York high-cost conforming ceiling matters most. Fort Lee, Edgewater, Cliffside Park and Englewood along the Hudson are dense, with high-rise condominiums and, unusually for New Jersey, a large number of co-operative apartments. Hackensack, Teaneck, Bergenfield and Paramus are the county's core suburbs; Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Wyckoff and Franklin Lakes are the premium school-district towns to the northwest; and Mahwah, Ramsey and Allendale serve the Route 17 and Route 287 commutes toward New York and Rockland County.
Co-ops are the Bergen-specific item. A co-op purchase is a share loan secured by stock and a proprietary lease rather than a mortgage on real estate, the building's board approves the buyer, and not every lender or program finances them. Tell us on the first call if the property is a co-op so we route it correctly. Condominiums, which are far more common, bring association budgets and owner-occupancy ratios into the approval, and buildings along the river may have FHA project approval status that affects which programs are available.
Attorney review follows the signed contract, property taxes are high and vary by municipality, and jumbo loans are routine in the northwestern towns. NJHMFA assistance applies for buyers within the agency's limits. Bergen files are handled from our Hamilton branch by a licensed New Jersey officer, and a Russian-language version of this page is available.
In New Jersey, closings are typically handled by an attorney, and buyers usually have attorney review after the contract is signed. Property taxes are escrowed quarterly, and the appraisal and title work run in parallel with underwriting.
FHA limits are set by HUD county by county, and NJHMFA income and purchase price caps change periodically. We check the current figures for Bergen County on every file rather than quoting from memory. Official source: NJHMFA. VA and USDA $0-down loans are available where the borrower and property qualify; USDA eligibility is address-specific, so we check the property on the USDA map before assuming either way.
Yes. Stellar Mortgage Corporation is licensed in New Jersey and lends in all 21 counties, including Bergen County. Our New Jersey office is in Hamilton, Mercer County, and every file is handled by a licensed loan officer with a direct line.
Bergen County is part of the New York metropolitan high-cost area, so the 2026 one-unit conforming limit is $1,249,125, the FHFA ceiling. Loans above that are jumbo. FHA limits are set separately by HUD and can differ; we check both for the property address before quoting.
NJHMFA, the state housing agency, offers first mortgages paired with down payment and closing cost assistance for eligible New Jersey buyers, and Stellar is an approved NJHMFA lender. Income and purchase price limits are set by county and change periodically, so we confirm the current Bergen County figures on your file rather than quoting them here. Some counties and municipalities run their own programs as well; ask your officer what is funded right now.
Once we have your application, credit, and the documents on our checklist, most buyers have a letter within one to two business days. If you have already found a home in Hackensack or anywhere else in Bergen County and are writing an offer, tell us on the form and we prioritize the file.
Conforming limit shown is the 2026 FHFA figure for Bergen County. FHA limits and state agency caps are set by HUD and NJHMFA and change periodically. Verify on the official source. Not a commitment to lend.
Three quick steps, about a minute. No Social Security number, no pay stubs. A licensed officer from our Hamilton office calls you back, usually the same business day.
Ready to see what you qualify for?