Do you have to go through probate to sell an inherited house in Maryland?
Usually the house has to clear probate (or a small-estate/affidavit shortcut, or a trust or transfer-on-death deed) before you can pass clean title to a buyer. The exact threshold and the shortcut available depend on Maryland law and how the estate was set up, so confirm your path with the Maryland probate court or an estate attorney before you list.
Will you owe capital gains tax when you sell?
Usually very little. An inherited home gets a stepped-up basis to its fair-market value on the date of death (IRC §1014), so if you sell near that value there is almost no taxable gain. This is federal and applies in Maryland like everywhere else — one of the few rules that makes selling an inherited house simpler than people fear.
What does the house cost you while probate runs?
Every month the estate is open, the home keeps costing money: Maryland property taxes (about 1.07%/yr on the value), insurance on a often-vacant house, utilities, and upkeep. Those carrying costs are the real bleed, and they land whether or not anyone is living there.
What an inherited Maryland house carries, in numbers
- Median sale price
- $477,000 (Redfin state market tracker, May 2026)
- Property tax
- ~1.07% a year — the #21 highest rate of the 50 states and D.C. — about $425 a month on a median-priced home
- Typical sale costs
- about $34,154 on the median — $25,806 commission (5.41%) + $4,770 closing costs + $3,578 transfer tax
- Transfer tax rule
- State transfer tax of 0.5% plus county transfer taxes that can total 1% to 1.5%. Split varies by jurisdiction.
- Market clock
- 34 days median to go under contract (Redfin state market tracker, May 2026)
What an inherited Maryland house nets after selling costs
Heirs tend to anchor on the list price, but the estate only banks what survives the costs. On the Maryland median of about $477,000 (Redfin state market tracker, May 2026), a traditional sale gives up roughly $25,806 to agent commission at 5.41%, around $4,770 to seller closing costs, and about $3,578 of transfer tax — about $34,154 in all, leaving roughly $442,846 before any mortgage balance or liens the estate inherited along with the deed. That after-cost figure, not the listing price, is the number to divide among heirs or weigh against a faster sale.
Carrying costs while the estate settles
Until the estate can pass clean title, the house bills whoever is minding it. Property tax in Maryland runs about 1.07% of value a year — the #21 highest rate in the country — which is roughly $425 a month on a median-priced home, plus insurance on a house that may be sitting empty and every utility that keeps the pipes safe. And the clock does not stop once you are cleared to sell: the median Maryland listing takes about 34 more days to go under contract (Redfin state market tracker, May 2026). How long the legal side takes varies by county and by how the estate was set up — the probate court or a Maryland estate attorney can tell you which track yours is on.
If the estate is behind on property taxes
Estates sometimes inherit arrears along with the deed, and unpaid property taxes run on their own statutory clock in Maryland. Property tax sales are separate from mortgage foreclosure. After a tax sale, the owner may redeem at any time until the circuit court forecloses the right of redemption. The certificate holder may not file the foreclosure complaint until at least 6 months after the tax sale — 9 months for owner-occupied residential property — so the owner has at least that long, and redemption remains open until final judgment. (Md. Code, Tax-Property §14-833) Those deadlines do not pause for estate paperwork — if tax notices are arriving at the house, get the county's payoff figure early and put the dates in front of the estate's attorney.
The honest math on an inherited Maryland house
Because the stepped-up basis usually erases capital-gains tax either way, the real comparison isn't tax — it's months of carrying costs plus agent commission (about 6%) against a clean cash sale that closes in days once you're legally cleared to sell.
A cash sale can close fast once probate clears title. Confirm the probate path with a Maryland attorney, then weigh the certainty against the retail upside.
