Title and settlement in Glen Burnie, MD

Glen Burnie is home for Maryland First Title. We are a title company in Glen Burnie: our only office is at 306 Crain Hwy N, and we have handled Maryland settlements since 1994. The county also has a cashier’s office in Glen Burnie that collects transfer and recordation tax. If you are buying, selling or representing a client in 21060 or 21061, this page covers the taxes, the path your deed follows after settlement, and the local checks worth making before you sign.

Why the tax side is simple here

Glen Burnie is not an incorporated town. Anne Arundel County has just two places with their own municipal governments, Annapolis and Highland Beach, so a Glen Burnie home answers only to county and state tax rules. There is no town transfer tax or town property tax to add.

• 0.5%Transfer tax0.5% for the state plus 1% for the county. On a sale of $1,000,000 or more, the county rate is 1.5% of the whole price, not just the part over a million.
• Recordation tax$3.50 for every $500 of the price, with any part of $500 counted as a full $500.
• Property tax for FY2027 (July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027)$0.968 county plus $0.112 state per $100 of assessed value.
• 2%Homestead capOnce your credit is approved, the assessment used for county tax on the home you live in can rise by no more than 2% a year. The state’s own cap, for state tax, is 10%.

The cap is not automatic for a buyer. The seller’s credit stops when the home changes hands, and yours begins only after the state approves your own application. The settlement agent must give you the form at settlement; once you have moved in, you can file it online or by mail, and the state also mails an application to new owners after the deed is recorded.

If your household income is modest, look at the separate Homeowners’ Property Tax Credit too. A buyer can apply before settlement: state law says to file within 7 working days after the contract is signed, and the state answers within 5 working days. Any credit it certifies reduces the property tax you owe at settlement.

Working through the numbers

Glen Burnie pays the same transfer and recordation taxes as every other Anne Arundel address, so the figures live on our Anne Arundel County page, where the calculator is set to the county and shows the buyer’s and seller’s shares, including the first-time buyer rules. A purchase-money mortgage recorded along with the deed normally adds no recordation tax.

The taxes are only part of the bill. On top of them come title insurance, our settlement fee, the lender’s charges, the Clerk’s recording fees, and prorated property tax and any HOA dues. The instant quote gives a fuller figure.

Where the deed goes after settlement

Recording a Glen Burnie deed takes two steps. Anne Arundel County’s Office of Finance comes first: it reviews the deed, collects the county’s transfer and recordation tax, and adds its endorsement. A deed subject to those taxes cannot be recorded without that endorsement, and the county’s Glen Burnie Cashier’s Office is one of the places that takes the payment. Next the deed goes to the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, Land Records Department, at the courthouse in Annapolis, where the state transfer tax and recording fees are paid. The Clerk’s Land Records Department also accepts electronic recording through Simplifile.

You do not need to make either trip. We pay the taxes from the settlement funds, pay off the seller’s mortgage, and send the deed and your new mortgage for recording.

Contract to keys: the usual sequence

Before settlement on a Glen Burnie home we check the property tax and the water and sewer balances along with the title. After settlement the deed takes the two-step route described above: county taxes first, then recording. How a Maryland settlement works walks through every step from ratified contract to recorded deed, and what to bring on the day.

Checks worth making before you buy in Glen Burnie

Airport noise

BWI Marshall Airport lies just west of Glen Burnie. Under state law, the Maryland Aviation Administration keeps an Airport Noise Zone around the airport to limit incompatible building nearby. It began updating the zone in 2025, and community groups from Glen Burnie, Severn and Linthicum-Shipley were invited to sit on the update’s stakeholder advisory committee. The administration’s BWI noise zone page posts the noise zone maps and a tax map grid. Check the specific property there, ask the administration if you are unsure which map applies, and visit at different times of day if noise is a concern.

Light rail and the B&A Trail

Light RailLink has two southern ends: BWI Airport, and Glen Burnie at Cromwell station. From Glen Burnie, trains head north toward downtown Baltimore. The B&A Trail also begins in Glen Burnie, at Dorsey Road, and follows the old Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad route toward Annapolis. Neither changes the title work or the taxes, but both are worth knowing about when you compare homes.

Notices in your contract

Maryland law requires every sales contract to carry a notice about the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays critical area, and residential contracts in Anne Arundel must also warn that the home may be near a military installation. State law adds two items for Anne Arundel County where they apply: a notice about land use under the county’s land-use plans, and, if the county or the state has started enforcement action over certain local-law violations at the property, a disclosure of the violation, the status of the enforcement and any steps the buyer may have to take to cure it. Read those pages before you sign.

Homes near tidal water

The critical area generally reaches 1,000 feet inland from tidal water or the edge of tidal wetlands. Inside it, a protected buffer of at least 100 feet runs along the shoreline, and in much of the area the county limits how much of a site can be paved or built on. If the home you want is near a creek, ask the county’s Office of Planning and Zoning before you plan a garage, shed or patio. Our waterfront and critical area guide goes further.

Deferred water and sewer charges

Anne Arundel County has let some older and disabled owners defer certain public water and sewer connection charges and front foot benefit assessments on the home they live in. Under the program’s last published terms, a deferred amount stays a lien on the property and is due in full when the home is sold. If you are selling, tell us early if any charges were deferred so the amount can be paid from your proceeds. If you are buying, ask the seller.

Older plats and property lines

In older neighborhoods, a lot may rest on an old plat or a loose deed description, and fences can drift over the years, so the boundary on paper and the one on the ground may not match. Order a survey if the lines matter to you. An owner’s title policy protects against many title problems that a search cannot find, but how it treats boundary questions can depend on whether a survey was done, so ask us before settlement. In Maryland an owner’s policy is optional, and its premium is paid once, at settlement. Read why title insurance is worth having.

Estates and sellers who live elsewhere

When the owner has died, the sale usually runs through the estate, and the personal representative appointed for the estate generally signs the deed. Bring us the estate papers early so we can confirm who must sign. An heir who lives in the home while the estate is open may be able to keep or apply for the property tax credits for a limited time by filing SDAT’s heirs’ affidavit; SDAT’s page explains who qualifies and for how long. The steps for an estate sale are in selling an inherited house in Anne Arundel County, and transfers within a family go through our deeds and family transfers service.

Sellers who are not Maryland residents should plan for state withholding at settlement: 8.75% of the total payment to the seller, meaning the net proceeds actually paid to the seller (nonresident individuals), or 8.25% of the total payment (nonresident entities). It does not apply when each seller certifies, under penalty of perjury, that the home is their principal residence, and a seller can also ask the Comptroller for a certificate showing that no tax, or a smaller amount, is due.

What we do on a Glen Burnie settlement

Maryland First Title is an attorney-led title and settlement company. Our attorney settlement agents search and clear title, hold deposits and settlement funds in escrow, prepare the documents, conduct the signing and get the deed recorded. You can settle at our Glen Burnie office, at home or anywhere else in Maryland, or meet with us online, with weekend and after-hours settlements by appointment. The owner’s and lender’s policies we issue are backed by Stewart Title.

Most purchases and sales fall under residential settlements. Owners selling without a listing agent can use for sale by owner support, and buyers without an agent can use purchase without an agent.