The Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP) through Arundel Community Development Services (ACDS) provides up to $50,000 toward your down payment and closing costs at 0% interest with no monthly payments. It is one of the most generous county programs in Maryland. It also has one big catch that trips up unprepared buyers: you have to start months before you shop. Here is the full playbook.
The Mortgage Assistance Program is run by Arundel Community Development Services, Inc. (ACDS), the nonprofit that administers housing programs for Anne Arundel County. It provides deferred loans of up to $50,000 to first-time homebuyers purchasing anywhere in the county, from Annapolis and Glen Burnie to Severna Park, Pasadena, Odenton, and beyond.
The terms are hard to beat. The assistance is a 0% interest loan with no monthly payments, deferred for 30 years. You repay it when you sell, transfer the property, or stop living in the home as your primary residence. The funds can be used as needed for closing costs, down payment, and even mortgage write downs, and ACDS determines the exact amount based on what you actually need.
Two more things that make this program stand out: there is no credit score requirement for the MAP funds themselves, and you are free to work with whichever lender and Realtor you choose. You will still need to qualify for your first mortgage, and your back-end debt-to-income ratio must come in at 45% or below.
Here is the single most important thing to know about this program, and the thing that catches buyers off guard. Before you can even apply for MAP, you must complete the ACDS Homeownership Counseling Program, and it must be finished before you enter into a contract to purchase a home.
Due to high demand, the first available counseling class is often booked up to 8 weeks in advance. The program itself is 4 classes totaling 8 hours, and on average it takes 2 to 4 months to complete from your start date. Add that up: if you fall in love with a house this weekend, this program cannot help you. But if you plan ahead and enroll now, you position yourself to shop with up to $50,000 behind you!
Compare that with the Maryland Mortgage Program, which requires only a short online homebuyer education class that is self-paced, taken virtually, and can even be completed after your offer has been accepted. This is exactly why a strategy conversation early in your journey matters so much: the right program for you depends heavily on your timeline, and the earlier we talk, the more doors stay open.
Household income from all sources cannot exceed 100% of the Area Median Income for the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, adjusted for household size. Here are the limits effective June 1, 2026:
| Household size | 2026 income limit |
|---|---|
| 1 person | $93,500 |
| 2 people | $106,813 |
| 3 people | $120,188 |
| 4 people | $133,500 |
| 5 people | $144,188 |
| 6 people | $154,875 |
Limits are set by ACDS and change periodically. The maximum purchase price is $500,000, depending on affordability. See the official ACDS Mortgage Assistance page for current details, or ask Mike to run your numbers.
No credit score requirement on the MAP side is a genuinely rare feature. Your first mortgage still has its own qualifying standards, and that is where I come in: matching you with the right loan so the whole stack works together.
When you request MAP financing for a specific house, an ACDS Construction Specialist visits the property and prepares a checklist to determine whether it meets the Anne Arundel County Property Maintenance Code, and visually checks for any apparent lead-based paint hazards. Any deficiencies identified on that checklist must be corrected before MAP funding will be approved.
ACDS does not publish the checklist itself, but property maintenance codes generally cover the essentials of a safe, sound home: the structure and roof, plumbing, electrical, and heating systems, smoke and carbon monoxide protection, and obvious safety hazards, plus that visual lead paint review (a big deal in homes built before 1978). Practically, this means two things for your strategy. First, homes in rough shape can stall or sink your funding until repairs are made, so we factor condition into which homes you target. Second, the repairs become a negotiation point with the seller, and that needs to be handled carefully in a competitive market.
ACDS asks for 45 to 60 days of processing time from when they receive your contract of sale. In practice, these purchases often take 60 to 90 days to close. In a multiple-offer situation, a 90-day close can make your offer less competitive than one that closes in 30, and in Anne Arundel County's stronger markets that matters.
That does not mean MAP is the wrong choice. Fifty thousand dollars at 0% interest is worth planning around! It means your offer strategy has to account for it: targeting the right homes and sellers, getting every other piece of your file airtight in advance, and sometimes weighing whether a faster program like the Maryland Mortgage Program wins you the house even if the assistance is smaller. That is a conversation to have before you write offers, not after you lose one.
In one free, no-pressure conversation I will tell you whether MAP fits your timeline, what it is worth in dollars for your situation, and how it stacks against your other options. No cost, no obligation.
MAP is not the only tool in the Anne Arundel toolbox. The county runs a Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit (MPDU) program, and the City of Annapolis runs its own MPDU program, offering select homes to income-qualified buyers at below-market prices. Pairing a reduced-price MPDU home with MAP assistance can produce some of the most affordable paths to ownership anywhere in the region.
And remember the statewide layer: MAP can be used in conjunction with FHA financing and the Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP), which brings its own down payment assistance and that quick, self-paced online education class. For some buyers the winning play is MAP plus MMP stacked together. For others on a tight timeline, MMP alone is the faster path to keys in hand. See every Maryland program by county here, or reach out and I will map your exact options.
Maryland native, licensed loan officer for nearly a decade, hundreds of families served, and one of the highest-rated loan officers on Google. Michael is with First Home Mortgage and specializes in Maryland down payment assistance programs like the Anne Arundel County MAP.
Michael Basch · NMLS #1721748 · First Home Mortgage · NMLS #71603
Tell me a little about your situation and I will follow up, usually within one business day, with which programs you may qualify for and what they are worth to you.
