Buying and Selling a Home in Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is Maryland’s largest housing market and its most regulated. It is the only county in the state requiring a radon test before settlement on a single-family home — and that requirement stops at four municipal borders inside the county.
What follows is not a general county guide. These are the differences that can change how a property should be priced, investigated, negotiated or sold.
The Montgomery County Market
Demand concentrates close-in along the Metro corridors, thins upcounty, and prices vary more between neighbourhoods than the county median suggests.
Read the full Montgomery County market reportHow We Determine What Applies to Your Property
- 01
Which jurisdiction controls the property?
Montgomery County alone, or does Rockville, Gaithersburg, Takoma Park, Kensington, Poolesville or another municipality add or displace requirements? The answer determines which county rules even reach the address.
- 02
What restrictions travel with the property?
MPDU resale controls, association covenants, deferred water and sewer charges, easements and agricultural or conservation limits. These bind whoever owns the home next, not just the owner who agreed to them.
- 03
Which property systems require additional diligence?
Public sewer or septic, public water or well, private roads and shared driveways, older electrical and plumbing, drainage and grading, radon, and additions or renovations of uncertain provenance.
- 04
Which market actually determines value?
Not the county median or the ZIP code, but the municipality, neighbourhood, school assignment, housing type, construction era, lot characteristics and the inventory actually competing with this property.
- 05
What changes for this buyer or this seller?
Contract structure, inspection scope, records to obtain, cash required, pricing approach, preparation, negotiation strategy and the transaction timeline.
We complete this review before recommending a price, writing an offer or establishing the transaction strategy.
How Montgomery County Differs From Neighbouring Counties
| Montgomery | Prince George’s | Howard | Frederick | Carroll | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radon test required before settlement | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| County transfer tax | 1.0% | 1.4% | 1.25% | — | — |
| Recordation per $500 | $4.45–$11.35 tiered | $2.75 | $2.50 | $7.00 | $5.00 |
| Tax charged on loan amount | — | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Septic inspection expected before sale | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| New-build allocation limits | — | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Resale price controls (MPDU) | ✓ | — | Limited | — | — |
The Differences That Change a Montgomery County Transaction
Before pricing or offering
Resale prices that can be capped for thirty years
Moderately Priced Dwelling Units carry a control period — thirty years on new units — capping resale at the original price plus inflation and improvements. After control ends, the owner owes the county half the excess profit. No listing reliably discloses it.
What you can pay, whether you qualify, and what your own resale will look like are all set by formula rather than by the market.
Pricing, buyer eligibility, marketing and permitted appreciation are all constrained. The number is a calculation, not an opinion.
We confirm control status with the housing department before you price a listing or write an offer. For sellers just past the control period, we model the net at several timings — the fifty percent share can make a few months worth tens of thousands.
Four municipalities that opt out of county rules
Rockville, Kensington, Barnesville and Poolesville sit inside Montgomery County but outside the radon law, and municipal permitting can differ. County rules do not apply uniformly across the map.
You may be entitled to less statutory protection than a buyer three streets away, and records may sit with the municipality rather than the county.
Your obligations differ depending on which side of a municipal line you sit on. Assuming the county rule applies can cost you money you did not owe.
We confirm the governing municipality before building the timeline. Where the county mandate does not reach, we put the protection into the contract ourselves.
Before completing due diligence
A radon test the seller owes the buyer
Since October 2016, county law has required a radon test before settlement on a single-family home. The seller must perform it, or permit the buyer to — and if the buyer declines, the obligation returns to the seller. The buyer cannot waive it. No neighbouring county has this rule.
You have a right to receive the report before completing the purchase, and the law places the cost of producing it on the seller.
The obligation is yours whether or not the buyer raises it. A result arriving mid-contract becomes the buyer’s leverage.
We tell buyers about that right at the outset, so you receive a radon report without adding a radon test to your own inspection bill. For sellers we order it before listing. The law requires neither remediation nor a right to cancel, so a high reading is a negotiation — and we would rather negotiate from a number held for three weeks.
Before settlement
Recordation tax that climbs in tiers
Montgomery is the only county here that steps recordation through brackets rather than one flat rate — from $4.45 per $500 on the first $500,000 up to $11.35 per $500 above one million.
Cash required at settlement does not rise in a straight line. Crossing a bracket costs more than the price difference suggests.
A list price a few thousand above a bracket line quietly shrinks the pool of buyers who can afford to close.
We calculate your closing cost at your offer and at the next bracket up, so you see exactly what an extra $10,000 of price costs at settlement.
Charges that attach to the property, not the owner
Front foot benefit and deferred water and sewer charges recover the cost of extending mains. They run for decades and pass to whoever owns the home, under disclosure rules in Section 14-117 of the Real Property Article.
A recurring cost you inherit that appears nowhere in the listing price.
The statutory notice must be in the contract. Missing it invites a late renegotiation.
We pull the charge and remaining term during review, so it lands in your carrying-cost budget rather than your first tax bill.
The Home’s Era Changes the Review
Pre-war and older close-in homes
Electrical service and wiring, plumbing materials, foundations, drainage, lead-based paint, sewer lines, additions and permit history across multiple ownership periods.
Mid-century suburban, 1940s–1960s
Original mechanical systems, aluminium wiring where present, below-grade moisture, ageing supply and drain lines, converted spaces, insulation, roofing and grading.
Planned communities, 1970s–1980s
Association documents and reserves, exterior architectural restrictions, shared amenities, assessments, parking and common elements.
Recent construction and infill
Builder contracts and warranties, construction quality, future phases, which upgrades are recoverable at resale, lot premiums and competing builder inventory.
How We Manage Montgomery County Transactions
Property and jurisdiction review
We identify the governing municipality, property restrictions, association structure, utility systems and public records that may affect the transaction.
Market-specific pricing
We determine which neighbourhood, housing type, school assignment and competing inventory actually establish value — rather than pricing to a county median.
Inspection and due-diligence planning
We tailor the investigation to the property’s age, construction, systems, location and documented improvement history instead of running one checklist on every house.
Cost and settlement preparation
We calculate likely recordation and transfer taxes, association expenses and property-attached charges before they become surprises.
Contract and timeline management
We structure deadlines around document delivery, inspections, financing, appraisal and property-specific review requirements.
Issue resolution
When a permit, title, restriction, inspection or association concern emerges, we coordinate the right professionals and keep the transaction moving.
Cities We Serve in Montgomery County
Close-in urban and suburban
Older housing, extensive renovation history, constrained lots, highly localised pricing and — in some places — municipal rules sitting on top of county requirements.
Established suburban centres
Multiple construction eras, municipal distinctions, varied lot patterns and neighbourhood-level differences that broad ZIP-code analysis misses.
Planned and growing communities
Association structures, active builder inventory, future development phases and subdivision-specific resale patterns affecting both value and diligence.
Estate, acreage and rural markets
Private wells and septic, access rights, acreage and outbuildings, agricultural restrictions and limited comparable inventory requiring a broader property review.
Other Areas We Serve
Before You Price, Tour or Offer in Montgomery County
- Montgomery County Code Sec. 40-13C, Radon test - single-family home
- Montgomery County DEP, Radon and Buying or Building a Home
- Montgomery County Code Sec. 52-16B, Recordation Tax
- MC311, Rates for the County Transfer Tax Fee
- Capitol Title Group, Maryland Transfer and Recordation Chart
- Montgomery County DHCA, MPDU Homeowners
- Montgomery County Code Sec. 25A-9, Control of rents and resale prices
- Montgomery County OCP, Front Foot Benefit Charges
Last reviewed July 2026. Rates and requirements change — confirm current figures at settlement.