MD First Time Home Buyer Transfer Tax Credit

Hello this is Deirdre Brown your settlement agent serving the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Today we’re going to talk about the Maryland First Time Homebuyer Transfer Tax Credit. 

Normally when you purchase a property in the state of Maryland you will pay 0.5% transfer tax split equally between the buyer and the seller. If you’re a first-time Maryland home buyer you can have that the 0.25% that you would normally pay for the transfer tax is waived. In addition, you can request that the seller to pick up your portion of the recordation taxes.  Your Realtor will need to write the request into the contract and there is special addendum for that request for the GCAAR and MAR Sales Contracts. 

 In order to receive this credit the buyer will need to affirm that he plans to own the property as his principal residence and that he has never owned a principal residence in the state of Maryland. 

If title is held by more than one person and one person does not qualify then neither person will qualify for this tax credit. However if the person who doesn’t qualify is just a cosigner and  will not live in the property then the other person is eligible for this tax credit. 

If you have more title related questions you can reach out to us at lexicontitle.com