Henos AdhanaSeattle born & raisedeXp RealtyGuides
Straight answers to the questions that come up before a Seattle-area transaction.
Newest guide · Buying
When the listing agent offers to represent you too: what a limited dual agent can and cannot do in Washington, how consent works, and your other options.
Henos Adhana
5 Oct 2026 · 13 min read
Buying
6,212 licensed adult family homes and 36,124 beds, county by county, city by city and ZIP by ZIP. What the ratios measure, and what they cannot tell you.
Adult family homes
Zoning is rarely the obstacle. The permit is. Seattle requires one to establish the use even when you are proposing no construction at all.
The house
A home priced well below its comparables usually has a reason, and it is usually one you cannot renovate away. Here is how to find it before you offer.
Costs & taxes
What Washington's 2024 agency law changed, what the Seattle-area MLS still shows on listings, and what your written buyer agreement has to say.
Adult family homes
The licence fees are the small number. The one that decides whether you make it is how long you carry the property before a single resident arrives.
Adult family homes
Most answers online tell you what residents pay, not what owners keep. Here's the difference, and the property costs that decide whether an AFH works.
Costs & taxes
Graduated state rates, Seattle's 0.50% on top, and new bands from 1 January 2027. Worked to the dollar at three Seattle prices, from DOR's own tables.
The house
Many Seattle townhouses sit on unit lots; some are legally condos. How to tell which you are buying, and what it changes: the loan, insurance, dues and repairs.
The house
In Seattle you own the sewer line to the city main under the street. How to read the side sewer card, what a scope shows, and what to do when it comes back bad.
Selling
Instant cash offers spend heavily to reach Seattle sellers. How to compare one with listing, net to net, and when the cash offer is genuinely the better deal.
Adult family homes
What a change of ownership actually involves: a new licence for the buyer, sixty days of written notice to your residents, and a Medicaid contract that ends with your licence.
The house
You can sell it. The real question is whether your buyer needs a mortgage, and why the loudest warnings come from companies that want to buy it cheap.
The house
You do not have to remove it before you list, but you will pay for it either way. Here is how to decide between decommissioning now or pricing it in.
Costs & taxes
What a seller credit can pay for, the loan limits (3%, 6% or 9% conventional, 6% FHA), a credit against a price cut worked for a Seattle house, and when to ask.
The house
Orangeburg is sewer pipe made of wood pulp and tar, used in houses built 1945 to 1972. What it means for a Seattle sale, and how to price it before your contingency runs out.
The house
Knob and tube is an insurance and lending problem before it is a safety one. Here is what to check before you offer, and how it gets negotiated.
Buying
Thinking of buying a Seattle home without an agent? A licensed local broker on the WA process, the paperwork, the risks, and when going solo makes sense.
Costs & taxes
The loan minimums are 0% to 3.5%. But that's not the real answer. Here's how Seattle-area assistance programs stack, and what you actually bring to closing.
Selling
Getting ready, time on the market and closing, stage by stage: how long a Seattle sale really takes, what slows it down, and what genuinely makes it faster.
Selling
Who has to fill out Washington's seller disclosure, what it asks, when the buyer gets it, the three-day right to rescind, and what it cannot promise.
Costs & taxes
How much to put down in Seattle, when it is due, who holds it, when you get it back, and the 5% limit Washington law puts on what a seller can keep.
Buying
No, you are not required to. Here is exactly what changes without one, what the 2024 rules did to who pays, and when going alone genuinely makes sense.
Adult family homes
Which houses pass as a Washington adult family home: bedroom square footage, the toilet ratio, evacuation, and what it takes to reach eight beds. A broker's property checklist.
Costs & taxes
Who pays what at a Washington closing, worked for an $850,000 Seattle house: about $19,300 for the seller before commission and $13,800 for the buyer.
The house
Before you write an offer, here's how to check whether a Seattle lot can take a backyard cottage: zoning, lot size, and the city tools to verify it.
Buying
Five ways to sell one Seattle home and buy the next: rent-backs, contingent offers and the bump, bridge loans and equity lines, and how to choose between them.
Buying
What a Seattle condo costs to own, how to read the resale certificate and reserve study, whether your loan works in the building, and the 2028 law change.
The house
An underground oil tank is not automatically a dealbreaker, but an undocumented one can stop your loan. Here is how to check before you write the offer.
Costs & taxes
FHA, VA and USDA loans can be assumed at the seller's old rate. The gap between the balance and the price is what decides whether it is possible.
Costs & taxes
Washington's 7% capital gains tax does not apply to real estate. What a seller can owe is federal, and most people who lived in the house owe nothing.
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