Posted in Sell Your House, Taxes

Ask a Maryland seller what their house is worth and they will quote the listing price. Ask what they will actually receive and most have not run the number. The gap is routinely eight to ten percent of the sale price, and in some situations considerably more.

Here is every line.

Agent commission

The biggest single deduction on a listed sale, typically several percent of the price. It is negotiable, it always has been, and recent industry changes have altered how the buyer’s side gets paid — but a seller listing on the open market should still plan for a meaningful percentage going to representation.

Transfer and recordation taxes

Maryland stacks three charges on a conveyance: state transfer tax, county transfer tax, and recordation tax. County rates vary substantially — what you pay in Montgomery County is not what you pay in Prince George’s or on the Eastern Shore.

How the total splits between buyer and seller is partly statute, partly local custom, and partly negotiation. In a buyer’s market sellers absorb more of it. Your title company will quote the actual figure for your county; treat any number you read online, including here, as a rough guide only.

Nonresident withholding, if you have left the state

This one produces the most unpleasant surprises. If you are not a Maryland resident, the state withholds a percentage of your proceeds at settlement and remits it to the Comptroller. You reconcile it later by filing a Maryland return, and you may get much of it back — but not on closing day.

The people this hits hardest are exactly the people least prepared for it: heirs who inherited a Maryland house while living in another state, and owners who moved away and kept a rental. If you are counting on the proceeds to pay something off immediately, find out the withholding figure before you sign a contract.

Ground rent

If your property is subject to ground rent — common in Baltimore and parts of surrounding counties — the buyer’s lender will usually want it redeemed or properly documented before settlement. Tracking down a ground rent holder of record can take weeks, and redemption costs money. Start this early; it delays more Baltimore-area settlements than any other single item.

Settlement, title, and payoff

  • Settlement or closing fee and deed preparation
  • Lien release and lender payoff processing
  • Your mortgage payoff including per-diem interest through settlement
  • Prorated property taxes, water, and any HOA or condo dues
  • Anything the title search uncovers — old liens, judgments, unpaid utilities, a clouded title on an inherited property

Repairs and the inspection negotiation

Budget for two rounds. First, getting the house listable: paint, cleaning, hauling, landscaping, sometimes staging. Then the inspection, where the buyer returns with a list and asks for repairs or a credit. You are negotiating that from a weak position, because relisting means starting over and the next inspector finds the same things.

Older Maryland housing stock reliably generates findings: knob-and-tube wiring, aging oil tanks, failing sump systems, roofs at end of life, and in rural counties, well and septic results that can stop a sale outright.

Carrying costs, the invisible line

Every month the house is yours costs a mortgage payment, property tax, insurance, and utilities — and vacant-home insurance costs more than an occupied policy, if your carrier will write it at all. Add 30 to 45 days from contract to settlement on top of the time it takes to find a buyer.

What a cash sale removes

A cash offer is below retail. What disappears from the list above is commission, repairs, the inspection renegotiation, staging, months of carrying costs, and the risk that a financed buyer’s loan falls through in week five.

For a well-kept house with a patient owner, listing still nets more. For a house needing $40,000 of work owned by someone who does not have $40,000, the cash number is often the higher one once every line here is counted honestly.

8 Day Home Sale buys houses across Maryland as-is, with no commission and no repairs, and closes on your date. We also buy in Washington DC and Virginia. Request an offer or call (301) 242-SELL.

General information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm current Maryland rates and your withholding position with a title company or tax professional.

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