We Buy Houses in Maryland
— As-Is for Cash

Where We Buy Houses in Maryland

Maryland has 23 counties plus Baltimore City, and each has its own land records, tax office, permit rules and code enforcement. We review properties throughout Maryland, with our strongest local presence in Prince George’s County and the Washington-Baltimore region. Whether we can make an offer depends on the individual property, its location and condition, and the seller’s situation.

Prince George’s County and the DC suburbs. This is where we know the local rules best, and many communities have their own page: Upper Marlboro, Clinton, Bowie, Fort Washington, Capitol Heights, Temple Hills, Oxon Hill, District Heights, Suitland, Hyattsville, Laurel, Greenbelt, Lanham, Brandywine and Accokeek. The Prince George’s County guide covers the county as a whole. We also serve Montgomery County.

Baltimore City and the Baltimore region. Baltimore City is its own jurisdiction, separate from Baltimore County, with its own rental licensing, water billing and tax sale. Our Baltimore page covers selling there. We also review properties in Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard, Harford and Carroll counties.

Southern Maryland. Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s counties. Many homes here are on private wells and septic systems, which adds a step to the sale (see below).

Western Maryland. Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties. Houses here are often older or more rural, so condition and access matter more to an offer.

The Eastern Shore. Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset and Worcester counties. Waterfront and low-lying properties can fall under Critical Area rules or flood zones.

Why Selling As-Is Isn’t the Same in Every Maryland County

A house that needs work can be sold as-is anywhere in Maryland, but local rules change what has to be cleared up, disclosed or checked before closing. These are the differences that come up most.

Who enforces the code and licenses rentals

Some cities and towns run their own code enforcement and rental licensing, and the county handles everywhere else. In Prince George’s County, for example, Bowie, Hyattsville, Greenbelt, District Heights, Capitol Heights and several other municipalities license rentals themselves instead of the county. Open notices are handled with the office that issued them, and the code violations guide above explains how that usually works at closing.

Baltimore City requires every residential rental unit, including one- and two-family homes, to be registered, inspected by a state-licensed home inspector registered with the city, and licensed. If the house you’re selling is rented, what matters is which office licensed it and whether the license is current.

Lead paint in older rentals

Much of Baltimore City and the older close-in suburbs were built before 1978. Maryland’s lead law covers rental homes built before 1978: owners must enroll each one with the Maryland Department of the Environment, renew the enrollment every year, and provide a valid lead inspection certificate at each tenant turnover, unless the home is certified lead-free. If you’re selling an older house that has been rented, gather its enrollment and inspection records early.

Private wells

Where a home is served by a private well, Maryland law makes a water quality test by a state-certified laboratory part of the sale contract. Settlement can’t take place until the seller and the buyer have each received and reviewed the results and certified that in writing, unless the buyer has waived the test in writing. Results stay valid for three years. Our Brandywine page walks through what that means in a well-and-septic area.

Waterfront property and the Critical Area

Land within 1,000 feet of Maryland’s tidal waters and tidal wetlands is in the Critical Area, where site work usually needs extra review. That doesn’t stop a sale, but it limits what the next owner can build, so it affects price. It comes up on the Eastern Shore, along the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers, and on the Potomac shoreline in Fort Washington.

Disclosure rules are the same statewide

A Maryland seller of a single-family home (up to four units) generally gives the buyer either a property condition disclosure statement or a disclaimer statement on the State Real Estate Commission’s form. Some sales are exempt, including transfers by a personal representative of an estate. Even with the disclaimer, a seller must disclose latent defects they actually know about that a careful visual inspection wouldn’t reveal and that threaten health or safety. We still look at the house ourselves, and the price reflects what we see.

Title, Settlement and Transfer Taxes When You Sell a Maryland House

Our purchases close through a title company. The title company searches the county land records for liens, judgments, unpaid taxes and ownership problems, orders payoffs, and records the deed in the county where the house is. Liens found in that search are often paid from the sale proceeds at settlement. If something needs more work, such as an old mortgage that was never released, a judgment, or a missing heir, the liens and title guide above explains the usual fixes.

When a deed is recorded in Maryland, up to three taxes can apply:

• State transfer tax: 0.5% of the price statewide. When a qualifying first-time Maryland homebuyer buys a home to live in, the state rate is 0.25% and the seller pays all of it.
• County transfer tax: set by each county, and some counties charge none. In fiscal year 2026, Prince George’s County charges 1.4%, Baltimore City and Baltimore County charge 1.5% each, and Frederick, Carroll and Calvert counties charge 0%.
• Recordation tax: charged for each $500 of the price, at a rate set by each county or Baltimore City. In fiscal year 2026 it ranges from $2.50 per $500 in Baltimore and Howard counties to $7.00 per $500 in Frederick and Charles counties. Prince George’s County charges $2.75 and Baltimore City $5.00.

On the same price, those taxes can be very different from one county to the next. Who pays them is set by the sale contract. Our written purchase agreement identifies which costs the buyer and the seller are each responsible for, and the final settlement statement shows the actual allocation. For a worked example in Prince George’s County, see repair and list vs. sell as-is.

Your mortgage payoff, any liens, and the costs the contract assigns to you come out of the price, and the rest is paid to you at settlement. As the buyer, we don’t charge you a real estate commission.

How These Situations Work in Maryland

Inherited and probate houses

A Maryland estate is opened in the county where the person who died was living, through that county’s Register of Wills. A personal representative can generally sell estate real estate without court approval, unless the will or a court order limits that power. Heirs who live in another state can often handle the sale without traveling; see selling a Maryland house from out of state.

Foreclosure and pre-foreclosure

Before a lender can file a foreclosure case on a Maryland home, it must send the homeowner a notice of intent to foreclose at least 45 days ahead. Once a case is filed on an owner-occupied home, the homeowner can ask for foreclosure mediation. Selling before a foreclosure sale is one option to talk through with your servicer and a housing counselor, and the foreclosure guide above lays out the timeline.

Rentals and tired landlords

A sale doesn’t end a lease; the buyer takes the property subject to it. For a tenant-occupied rental with three or fewer units, Maryland gives the tenant a right of first refusal in many sales, with exemptions that include sales by an estate and transfers through foreclosure.

Houses that need major repairs

Roofs, foundations, fire or water damage, and outdated systems are why many sellers choose an as-is sale over fixing and listing. The repairs guide above compares the two paths line by line.

Back taxes and tax sale

State law requires each county and Baltimore City to sell unpaid property taxes at a tax sale. What is sold is the debt, not the house: the owner keeps the property and can redeem it until the right of redemption is finally foreclosed, and a sale of the house can usually pay the back taxes off at settlement.

A Completed Sale in Baltimore

On Wilkens Avenue in Baltimore, we coordinated an as-is, off-market transaction between several parties and an out-of-state buyer from New York, and it closed. The Baltimore case study explains how it came together. Every sale is different, so the case shows our process, not a promise about price or timing.