Cash home buyers in Montgomery County, Maryland: how to check one out

A cash home buyer in Montgomery County has to know more than one in most of Maryland. The county requires a radon test before settlement, twelve months of utility history to the buyer, an annual license on every single-family rental, and a recordation tax that climbs in tiers past $500,000. A buyer who has never heard of any of that is going to discover it from the title company and come back to you with a lower number. Here is how we suggest you check a buyer out, including us.

Proof of funds and a name you can look up

Ask for a bank or lender letter that covers the offer, and make sure the name on the contract matches a Maryland entity you can find on the state’s SDAT business search. Our principals are licensed Maryland real estate agents buying for our own account, and every contract we write says so. Then ask the buyer the county questions: who runs the radon test, what happens to a high reading, who chases the HOA resale package on a Germantown townhouse. The answers tell you whether they have closed here before.

The 2025 Maryland assignment disclosure

Since October 1, 2025, anyone who contracts to buy a Maryland house intending to assign the contract to someone else has to tell you so in writing. That is what a wholesaler does: tie up your house in Wheaton or Rockville, shop the contract to an investor, keep the spread. The disclosure has to say that. We buy to renovate or to hold, our offer says so, and our FAQ walks through the law in plain language.

What a real Montgomery County offer contains

• The math, line by line. After-repair value, the repair budget, closing and holding costs, and the buyer’s margin. Closing costs on our side here include the full recordation tax and the 1% county transfer tax, because an investor buyer does not get the owner-occupant exemptions. A single number with no reasoning is a negotiating tactic.
• The radon test on the buyer. County law lets either side run it. A real offer says the buyer orders it and takes the result as it comes. An offer that leaves the test to you is leaving a reason to reprice.
• No inspection used as a second negotiation. Some buyers offer high and cut after "inspection." Our number is the number, unless you tell us something we missed, in which case it goes up.
• A named Maryland title company. Settlement runs through a licensed title company, not the buyer’s own closing desk.
• Tenant and license handled. If the house is rented, the offer should say the buyer takes the lease as it stands, applies for the DHCA license after settlement, and lives with the rent cap where it applies. We do.

Where the calls come from: Silver Spring, Wheaton, Rockville, Gaithersburg

Most of our Montgomery County purchases are the post-war brick colonials and ramblers of close-in Silver Spring, Wheaton, Glenmont and Twinbrook, bought in the 1950s and 60s and never renovated, usually an estate with a full basement of belongings. The second group is the 1980s and 90s townhouse stock in Gaithersburg, Germantown and Montgomery Village, often a rental the owner is done managing. The third is split-levels and colonials in Olney, Damascus and Burtonsville where a family is settling an estate or moving a parent to care. Bethesda and Potomac ramblers on big lots usually go to builders as teardowns. We buy those too, and we tell you honestly when a builder or a listing will net you more.

What we will not do

• Assign your contract. We are the buyer at the table.
• Reprice after the radon result. The test is ours to order and ours to mitigate.
• Ask you for the utility history as a condition. The county rule asks the seller for what exists. We close with or without it.
• Close anywhere other than a licensed Maryland title company.

Where we buy in Montgomery County

Silver Spring inside and outside the Beltway, Wheaton, Glenmont, Takoma Park, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Montgomery Village, Clarksburg, Olney, Burtonsville, Damascus, Bethesda and Potomac, plus the upcounty well and septic lots around Poolesville and Laytonsville. Tenant or no tenant, in probate or owned outright. The full county page, with the radon rule, the utility rule, the recordation tiers and the June tax sale in detail, is at we buy houses in Montgomery County. If the house is a rental, our guide to selling a tenant-occupied property in Maryland covers the notice rules.