How to Tell a Legitimate Home Buyer From a Predatory One in Maryland

Three postcards in two weeks. Then a text that used her street address. Then a man on the porch on a Saturday morning. A woman in Capitol Heights called me after that, and she was not behind on anything.

She wanted one thing answered before she picked up the phone again: is this whole business a scam? No, not automatically. Buying houses for cash is legal in Maryland, and plenty of these companies close exactly as they say. But Maryland has statutes that draw a hard line, and there is a short list of things a predatory operator does that a straight buyer never does.

My interest first, because you deserve it up front. Most of the homeowners we talk to never sell to us, and if a fast sale is one of the things you are weighing, what selling a house quickly in Maryland actually involves is worth reading alongside this. We are usually paid a referral fee by an attorney, and once in a while we buy a house ourselves. The homeowner never pays us.

Twenty five years of this work has taught me that disclosure belongs at the top of the page, not the footer, which is why we publish how we get paid.

The Short Version

• Maryland does not license companies that buy houses as principals. You verify the entity through the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation instead.

• Since October 1, 2025, Maryland Real Property section 10-715 requires a wholesale buyer to tell you in writing, before you sign, that it may assign your contract to someone else.

• The Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act covers a residence in default, which the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation describes as Maryland property at least 60 days behind on the mortgage. If you are current, it does not cover you.

• Where it applies, Real Property section 7-310(a) gives you 5 days after signing to rescind a contract to sell. Days, not business days.

• Virginia has no matching rescission window. It relies on Virginia Code section 59.1-200.1 and the broker licensing rule at section 54.1-2100.

How They Got Your Name and Address

Almost nobody leaked anything. It came out of public records, and which record it came from tells you something.

Here is the part no ranking page mentions. The Notice of Intent to Foreclose, the 45 day notice required by Maryland Real Property section 7-105.1(c), goes to you and to the Commissioner of Financial Regulation, where it enters the Maryland Foreclosure Registration System. That office states on its Foreclosure Data Tracker page that the system is not available for public use. So if your mail started right after that notice, it did not come from that notice.

What is public is everything else:

• Circuit court filings. Maryland foreclosure is judicial, so an Order to Docket puts the case on a public docket searchable through Maryland Judiciary Case Search.

• The published Notice of Sale, which that same office states must run three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the action is pending.

• Land records, State Department of Assessments and Taxation property records, Register of Wills estate filings, tax sale lists, and the data brokers who tie a phone number to a name.

That last group explains most of the calls I get from families. An estate opens in Prince George’s County on a Tuesday and the mail starts the following week. If that is you, the order a Maryland estate actually moves in matters more right now than any postcard does.

A solicitation proves a public record exists. It does not prove anything leaked, and it does not prove the sender is a crook. A licensed agent, a housing counselor, an honest investor and an outright thief all read the same lists. If you are not sure which is in your mailbox, that is a five minute call. Free, and you are never required to sell.

What a Legitimate Maryland Cash Home Buyer Looks Like

You check a buyer with records, not reviews. Anyone can buy reviews.

Are cash home buyers legit in Maryland?

Many are. Maryland does not license or register a company that buys houses as a principal, so there is no cash buyer license to check. You verify the business entity through the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, not the Secretary of State, then judge the company on conduct: a written offer, a named settlement company, and no request for money from you.

That search runs through Maryland Business Express. A company missing from it, or showing as forfeited, is a problem before anybody discusses price.

The newest rule matters most if you are holding an unsigned contract. Effective October 1, 2025, Maryland Real Property section 10-715 requires a wholesale buyer to disclose in writing, before entering a contract of sale for residential property, that it may assign that contract to someone else.

Past the records, it is behavior. A legitimate buyer puts the offer in writing, lets you take it away, and names the settlement company without flinching when you say you will call them yourself.

Eight Warning Signs Worth Knowing

Each one is anchored to a statute or to published government guidance, not to industry folklore.

1. Any request for money up front. If the mortgage is at least 60 days behind, Maryland Real Property section 7-307(a)(2) bars a foreclosure consultant from collecting anything until every promised service is performed. Federal Regulation O says the same at 12 C.F.R. section 1015.5.

2. Being told to pay the company instead of your lender. The Maryland Attorney General’s Consumer’s Edge Issue #138, January 2023, opens with a Suitland case where a couple paid a purported consultant more than $3,000, lost the home, and recovered nothing.

3. An offer to let you stay and buy the house back later. Real Property section 7-307(a)(1) prohibits a foreclosure consultant from carrying out a foreclosure rescue transaction, defined at section 7-301(f).

4. Anyone calling themselves your advisor, consultant or rescue service, or talking about saving the house. Real Property section 7-312 makes all of that unlawful for a purchaser of a residence in default.

5. A claim of government affiliation. That Suitland flyer falsely claimed ties to the Federal Housing Administration and HUD. The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development states there is never a fee to get help from a HUD approved housing counselor.

6. Pressure to sign today, or blank spaces in the paperwork. The Attorney General’s bulletin says never sign under pressure and never sign a document with blank lines.

7. A request for the deed, or a power of attorney, before closing. Real Property section 7-307(a)(9) bars a foreclosure consultant from taking a power of attorney except to inspect documents.

8. Silence about assignment. In Maryland the question triggers the section 10-715 disclosure duty. In Virginia, assigning contracts twice in any 12 month period for compensation requires a broker license under Virginia Code section 54.1-2100.

Now the thing that is not on that list. A low offer is not a scam. A company buying as a principal can offer what it likes and you can say no. Treating a lowball number as fraud smears the only line that matters, which is conduct. I have watched people refuse a fair offer from an honest buyer, then sign something far worse from somebody smoother.

The Questions I Tell People to Ask Before Signing

Each one maps to a legal test. You do not owe anybody an explanation for asking.

1. Are you buying this house yourself, or assigning the contract to someone else?

2. What is the exact legal name of the entity that will be on the contract, and its Department ID?

3. Which title or settlement company will handle closing, and may I call them directly?

4. Are you asking me for any money, at any point, for anything?

5. Am I signing anything that transfers the deed or gives you a lien, an option or a power of attorney before settlement?

Question three does more work than the other four put together. A man in Waldorf reached out to me with a contract in his hand and a walkthrough already behind him. I asked one thing: who is the title company. He did not know. I told him to call and ask, then call that company himself. Two days later he phoned me. Three asks, three different non answers. He did not sign.

You do not have to figure this out alone. Free consultation, every option explained, including the ones that do not involve us. The questions we get asked most are already answered in writing.

What Maryland Law Gives You, and Who It Leaves Out

The Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act, at Maryland Code, Real Property Article sections 7-301 through 7-321, is the strongest protection a Maryland homeowner has here. It carries a threshold almost nobody mentions. It attaches to a residence in default, which the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation describes as Maryland residential property at least 60 days behind on the mortgage. If you are current and holding a lowball postcard offer, the rescission right below is not yours. Every commercial page I have read leaves that out. If you are behind, the Maryland pre-foreclosure timeline lays out what comes when.

Can I cancel a contract after I sign it in Maryland?

It depends which contract. Under Maryland Real Property section 7-305(a), a homeowner may rescind a foreclosure consulting contract at any time, with no deadline. Under Real Property section 7-310(a), the homeowner of a residence in default may rescind a contract for the sale or transfer of that residence within 5 days after it is executed.

Five days, not five business days. The statute says days. The notice language required at section 7-306(a)(6) phrases it as canceling within 5 days after you sign and are informed of the right, which ties the window to being told. You will see three days quoted online. That belongs to a different Maryland law, the Credit Services Businesses Act.

Section 10-715 gives a separate right with nothing to do with default. If a wholesale buyer never told you in writing that it might assign your contract, and then assigned it, you may rescind without penalty any time before closing. That holds even for a house that came through an estate, where selling an inherited Maryland house runs on different rules.

This is where an attorney earns their fee. The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland held in Julian v. Buonassissi that a transaction failing this Act is voidable rather than void, so timing and third parties matter. We can connect you with someone who handles these in your county, and the introduction costs you nothing.

Maryland and Virginia Are Not the Same Jurisdiction

Every national page on this topic writes as if Maryland, Virginia and the District were one legal place. They are not. Maryland foreclosure is judicial and runs through the circuit court. Virginia foreclosure is predominantly non judicial and moves faster. The protections differ to match, and they do not transfer.

Protection	Maryland	Virginia
Fee before performance	No compensation until every promised service is fully performed. Real Property section 7-307(a)(2).	No fee before full performance, or before settlement where a sale is involved. Virginia Code section 59.1-200.1(A)(1).
Cancelling a signed contract	5 days after execution, for a residence in default. Real Property section 7-310(a).	No fixed rescission window. Remedies come after the fact under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
Assignment of your contract	Wholesale buyer must disclose in writing before signing that it may assign. Real Property section 10-715, effective October 1, 2025.	Assignable contracts twice in any 12 months for compensation requires a broker license. Virginia Code section 54.1-2100.
Notice before a sale	Notice of Intent to Foreclose at least 45 days before a foreclosure action may be filed. Real Property section 7-105.1(c).	Trustee sale notice by certified or registered mail at least 60 days before sale, owner occupied. Virginia Code section 55.1-321.
Where complaints go	Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division; Commissioner of Financial Regulation.	Attorney General, Consumer Protection Section; Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.

One more Virginia point. Under Virginia Code section 59.1-200.1(C), a mandatory arbitration clause in one of these agreements is null and void.

If Somebody Already Crossed the Line

Maryland complaints go to the Office of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division, 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, on 410-528-8662 or toll free at 1-888-743-0023. It cannot mediate an anonymous complaint. Conduct under the Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act is investigated by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation within the Maryland Department of Labor. In Virginia, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section takes complaints at 1-800-552-9963, and unlicensed activity goes to the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.

Most of what people call a scam turns out to be an ordinary company making an ordinary offer you are free to refuse. And most of what turns out to be a real problem announced itself early, usually in the first conversation, with one of the eight signs above. The postcard tells you nothing. The conduct tells you everything.

If any of this sounds like where you are, you already know you need to talk to somebody who has been through it before. Tell us what showed up in your mailbox, and we will tell you where you stand and which options do not involve us.

If a quick sale is one of the paths you are weighing, start with what selling fast in Maryland really means. It costs nothing to find out where you stand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are cash home buyers legit in Maryland?

Many are. Maryland does not license or register companies that buy houses as principals, so there is no cash buyer license to verify. You confirm the business entity through the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, then judge the company on conduct: a written offer, a named settlement company, proof of funds on request, and no request for money from you at any point.

How did a house buying company get my address?

From public records. The Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation states that the Maryland Foreclosure Registration System holding Notices of Intent to Foreclose is not available for public use. The lists come instead from circuit court foreclosure dockets, published notices of sale, land records, State Department of Assessments and Taxation property records, Register of Wills estate filings and county tax sale lists.

Can I cancel a contract after signing with a cash buyer in Maryland?

Sometimes. Maryland Real Property section 7-310(a) gives the homeowner of a residence in default 5 days after executing a contract to sell or transfer that residence to rescind it. Separately, Real Property section 10-715 lets an owner rescind without penalty any time before closing if a wholesale buyer failed to disclose in writing that it might assign the contract and then assigned it.

Do I have to pay a company to help with a Maryland foreclosure?

Maryland Real Property section 7-307(a)(2) prohibits a foreclosure consultant from collecting any compensation until it has fully performed every service it promised. The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development states there is never a fee to get assistance or information from your lender or from a HUD approved housing counselor. A request for money up front is a warning sign.

Does Virginia give homeowners the same protections as Maryland?

No. Virginia has no rescission window comparable to Maryland’s. Virginia Code section 59.1-200.1(A)(1) prohibits a supplier of foreclosure avoidance services from charging a fee before full performance, or before settlement where a sale is involved, and section 59.1-200.1(C) voids mandatory arbitration clauses. Virginia Code section 54.1-2100 also requires a broker license for repeated contract assignments.