Title and settlement in Severn, MD

Severn at a glance

Severn is an unincorporated community in Anne Arundel County, a short drive from our Glen Burnie office. With no town government of its own, a Severn property owes no municipal property tax and no town transfer tax. The yearly bill is figured per $100 of assessed value: $0.968 to the county and $0.112 to the State in FY2027 (July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027).

Two large neighbors shape many Severn sales. Fort George G. Meade, home of the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency, is close by, and so is BWI Marshall Airport. Both are worth understanding before you buy here, and aircraft noise is a fair question for any address.

Every county rate, with its official source, is set out in our Anne Arundel County closing costs guide.

Who pays what at settlement

Recording a Severn deed triggers three government taxes:

• Maryland’s transfer tax, 0.5% of the price
• Anne Arundel’s transfer tax of 1%, or 1.5% of the whole price once the price reaches $1,000,000
• the county recordation tax of $3.50 for every $500 of the price, or part of $500

Maryland law presumes the buyer and seller pay half each, but the contract can change that, and many do. Check the tax clause before you sign.

The main exception is the first-time Maryland home buyer: someone who has never owned a home in Maryland that was their principal residence, and who will live in this one. When there is more than one buyer, each must be a first-time buyer or a co-signer or guarantor of the purchase loan who will not live in the home. In that case the State transfer tax is cut to 0.25% and the seller pays all of it. Both county taxes fall on the seller too, unless the contract expressly provides otherwise. Each buyer (or the buyer’s agent) must give a statement under oath to claim the exemption.

The numbers at the county median

At Anne Arundel’s median sale price of $509,990 (July 2025 - June 2026), the State transfer tax is $2,549.95, the county transfer tax is $5,099.90 and the recordation tax is $3,570, for $11,219.85 altogether. On a half-and-half split the buyer pays $5,609.92 and the seller $5,609.93, because the odd cent of the State tax falls to the seller.

In a first-time buyer sale where the contract says nothing different, the buyer pays none of these taxes. The seller pays the reduced State tax of $1,274.98 and both county taxes. The calculator on our Anne Arundel County page reruns these figures for any price.

The buyer’s purchase loan generally adds no recordation tax of its own: Maryland law exempts a purchase-money deed of trust given as part of the same sale, as long as it is signed and recorded within the time limits the law sets. These taxes are not the whole bill, though. Title insurance, the settlement fee, lender charges and recording fees are extra, and the year’s property tax and any HOA dues are divided between buyer and seller. Our instant quote gives a full figure for a specific home.

Maryland property tax is billed for a year that starts July 1. At settlement the bill is usually divided by date, with the seller covering the days up to settlement. The seller’s Homestead Tax Credit does not carry over to a new owner, and Maryland requires the person conducting the settlement to give the buyer a copy of the Homestead application at settlement.

Buying near Fort Meade

Anne Arundel is not one of the seven Maryland counties exempt from the military installation notice. So a contract to sell a Severn home must tell the buyer that the property may be near a military installation whose flight operations, munitions testing or other military operations may cause high noise levels. The wording is the same for every home in the county and says nothing about the particular house.

For military and civilian buyers at Fort Meade, the practical points are money and timing:

• VA loans. A seller may pay some or all of a VA buyer’s closing costs. Separately, the VA caps seller concessions, meaning things of value such as paying the buyer’s funding fee or debts, at 4% of the home’s reasonable value on the VA Notice of Value. On a VA purchase loan the funding fee can be financed into the loan; plan for the other closing costs to be paid at closing, by you or through a seller credit. Write any credit into the contract so the lender can show it on the Closing Disclosure.
• Orders and travel. If a move or deployment could clash with the settlement date, raise it when you sign the contract. If someone will sign for you under a power of attorney, check early that your lender and the title insurer will accept it. Our attorneys can also meet you elsewhere in Maryland or hold the meeting online.

Our guide to buying a home near Fort Meade sets Severn beside Odenton, Gambrills, Hanover and Laurel.

The BWI noise zone

Under the Maryland Environmental Noise Act, the Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA) keeps an Airport Noise Zone around BWI Marshall to limit land development that does not fit with aircraft noise. MAA began updating the zone in early 2025, and the Severn Improvement Association was among the community groups invited to the update’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee. MAA’s noise zone page says the update is complete and posts the 2025 final study and a tax map grid.

What a Severn buyer should know:

1. Check it yourself. Look the property up on MAA’s tax map grid before you sign the contract, not after, and ask MAA which zone map is in force if the answer matters to you.
2. It matters most for building. The zone exists to control land development, so it counts most if you plan to build, add on or subdivide.
3. Watch for an avigation easement. Owners whose homes went through MAA’s Residential Sound Insulation Program signed an avigation easement. It grants the right of aircraft overflight, is recorded in the Anne Arundel County land records and stays with the property. If the title search finds one, we will point it out. As of January 2026, MAA had paused the program until an updated Noise Exposure Map is approved, which it expected to take about 18 to 24 months.

Title issues we look for in Severn

Most Severn settlements are routine. These are the items that cause delays when nobody spots them early.

Homeowners associations. If the home is in a homeowners association, the Maryland Homeowners Association Act requires the seller to give the buyer a disclosure package. It covers the fees and any unpaid amounts, the declaration and recorded covenants, and the bylaws and rules. It is due at or before signing, or within 20 calendar days after. If the buyer does not have all of it at least 5 calendar days before signing, the buyer may cancel within 5 calendar days of receiving it. Before settlement we ask the association for a statement so dues are paid up to the settlement date.

Deferred water and sewer charges. Anne Arundel County has let some owners put off water and sewer connection charges and front foot benefit assessments on a single-family home they live in. The newest edition of the county’s application we could find, for July 2023 to June 2024, limited it to owners aged 60 and up or their surviving spouses, and to owners with a permanent and total disability, in each case below the county’s household income limits. Under that edition, the deferred charges stayed a lien on the property and the full amount fell due on sale or transfer. If the seller has a deferral, expect it to be paid from the sale proceeds at settlement.

Open county code cases. Anne Arundel has a contract rule of its own. Where the county or the State has already begun enforcement against the property over certain local-law violations, the contract must describe the violation, where the case stands and what the buyer may have to do to cure it. The rule does not apply once the violation is cured and the buyer would have nothing to cure. In older homes, ask the seller whether decks, finished basements or garage conversions had permits.

Boundaries. Fences, sheds and driveways in older neighborhoods do not always sit where the recorded plat puts the line. A survey or location drawing settles the question, and a standard owner’s policy may not cover a boundary problem that only a survey would show. Optional owner’s title insurance, paid for once at settlement, protects against covered title defects for as long as you own the home.

Inherited homes. When a house is sold out of a probate estate, the deed is generally signed by the personal representative appointed through the Register of Wills, so open the estate early. Our guide to selling an inherited house in Anne Arundel County walks through it, and our deeds and family transfers team prepares the deed.

Wells, septic and the critical area. If the home has a private well or septic system, ask your lender early which tests it requires. Maryland sales contracts must also include a notice that the property may be in the Chesapeake Bay critical area, which generally takes in land and water within 1,000 feet of the landward edge of tidal waters and tidal wetlands. Waterfront rules are covered in our critical area guide.

How Maryland First Title helps

Maryland First Title has handled title and settlement work for Maryland buyers and sellers since 1994, from 306 Crain Hwy N in Glen Burnie, with real estate attorneys leading the team. On a Severn purchase or sale:

• Attorneys at settlement. Our attorney settlement agents run the closing, so you can raise questions about the contract, deed or title with an attorney in the room.
• Where and when it suits you. We can come to you anywhere in Maryland at no extra cost, see you at our Glen Burnie office or meet online, with weekend and after-hours settlements by appointment.
• Title insurance. We issue owner’s and lender’s title policies backed by Stewart Title. In Maryland an owner’s policy is optional, and its premium is paid once, at settlement.
• No agent? If you are selling your home yourself or buying without an agent, we handle the documents and the closing.

See our residential settlement page for how a home closing runs with us.