How to choose a cash home buyer in Maryland without getting burned

Pick a cash home buyer the same way you'd pick a contractor. Look the company up in Maryland's business database, ask for proof of funds, insist on a written offer that shows the math, and confirm a licensed Maryland title company will run the closing. Then get a second offer anyway. Anyone who resists any of those steps is not your buyer.

If you own a house in Silver Spring, Wheaton, or anywhere else inside the Beltway, you've seen the yard signs and the handwritten mailers. Some of the people behind them are honest local buyers. Some are wholesalers who will never own your house for a single day. A few are predators who watch probate filings and foreclosure dockets for owners under pressure. From the outside they all look the same, so the vetting falls on you. Here's how we'd vet us, or anyone else in this business.

Run a five minute background check first

Every real buyer leaves a paper trail, and Maryland lets you check it for free. Start with the state's Business Express entity search, run by the Department of Assessments and Taxation. It shows when the company was formed and whether it's in good standing. An LLC registered six weeks ago that wants to buy your largest asset deserves harder questions than one that has been closing houses here for years. Then read reviews somewhere the company can't edit, like Google or the BBB, and pay attention to how they respond to the bad ones.

What questions should I ask a cash home buyer before signing?

Ask these seven. The answers matter, but how fast and how plainly they come matters almost as much. A straight operator has heard every one of them before.

1. Are you buying the house yourselves, or assigning the contract?Assignment means a wholesaler sells your contract to another investor for a fee. That's legal in Maryland with the right disclosure, but you deserve to know which deal you're actually in.
2. Can I see proof of funds dated this month? Any real cash buyer produces a bank letter within a day. Stalling here ends the conversation.
3. How much is the deposit, and who holds it? A serious buyer puts meaningful money in escrow with the title company. A $100 deposit means they can walk away for the price of lunch.
4. Which title company closes for you? Then call that title company and confirm it.
5. What lets you cancel after we sign? Long inspection windows and vague partner approval clauses are exit hatches. Tight contingencies mean they intend to close.
6. How did you get to this number? A fair offer comes with the math: the fixed-up value, the repair budget, and their margin. Silence here usually predicts a price cut later.
7. Who pays closing costs? Get the answer in the contract, in dollars where possible.

How much should the offer actually be?

In this market a fair as-is cash offer usually lands 10 to 25 percent under the fixed-up value of the house, less the honest cost of the repairs it needs. That discount is what buys the speed, the certainty, and the skipped commissions. We published the full breakdown, including the fees you avoid and the ones you still pay, on our what a cash sale costspage, because almost nobody in this business will put numbers in writing before they're on your couch.

Use that range as a smell test. If three buyers cluster in it and a fourth offers half of what the house is worth, the fourth isn't competing. And watch for the bait and switch: a strong number over the phone, then a deep cut after the walkthrough once you've stopped talking to other buyers. Getting two or three written offers is the whole defense.

Red flags that should end the conversation

• Pressure to sign the same day they visit, or a price that expires in hours.
• No proof of funds, or excuses about why it's coming later.
• Any suggestion that you deed the house over before you get paid, or that they'll catch up your payments while you keep living there. That's the classic foreclosure rescue scam, and the Maryland Attorney General warns about it by name.
• An offer that only exists by phone, or a contract with a different number in it.
• They won't name their title company, or want to use one you can't find anywhere.

Maryland law is on your side

Two protections are worth knowing before you sign. First, Maryland's 2025 wholesale disclosure law (Chapters 508 and 509, effective October 1, 2025) requires a wholesale buyer of an owner-occupied house to tell you in writing, before you sign, that they may assign your contract. No disclosure means you can rescind before closing without penalty. Second, the Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act tightly regulates anyone offering to rescue a home in default, which is why the deed-for-promises arrangement above is illegal. Our FAQ covers both in plain language.

When a cash buyer is the wrong choice

If the house is in decent shape and you can wait 60 to 90 days, list it with an agent. A retail buyer with a mortgage will nearly always pay more than any investor, and no honest cash buyer should tell you otherwise. A cash sale earns its discount when the condition of the house or the calendar makes a normal listing painful: an estate house in Wheaton still full of furniture, an order to docket with an auction date attached, a rental with tenants who won't open the door for showings, a 1950s rancher with a wet basement no lender wants to finance.

What we do

We buy houses in Silver Springand across Maryland for cash, as-is, and we're happy to be vetted with every step on this page. Look us up, call our title company, ask us the seven questions. Our offers come in writing with the math shown, and the full process is on our how it workspage. If listing would clearly net you more and you have the time, we'll say so. The principals here are licensed Maryland agents, and that comparison costs you nothing.