Henos AdhanaSeattle born & raisedeXp RealtyGuides
Straight answers to the questions that come up before a Seattle-area transaction.
Newest guide · Costs & taxes
Estimate your monthly payment on a Seattle-area home: principal and interest, property tax by city, insurance, HOA dues, and PMI, FHA or VA costs.
Henos Adhana
Oct 22, 2026 · 8 min read
Adult family homes
From first call to first resident, in plain steps. Who does what, and where I come in.
Adult family homes
From the first decision to the day the new owner is licensed, in plain steps. Who does what, and where I come in.
Adult family homes
6,231 licensed adult family homes and 36,235 beds, county by county, city by city and ZIP by ZIP. What the ratios measure, and what they cannot tell you.
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.
Adult family homes
Buying an adult family home as a going business in Washington: what transfers, what does not, the 60-day notice, your own license, and who handles each half of the deal.
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.
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
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
The order it happens in: the business, the people, the training, a house that passes inspection, then the DSHS application and inspection. Written for first-time operators.
Costs & taxes
The loan minimums are 0% to 3.5%. But that is not the whole answer. Here is how Seattle-area down payment help works, and what you actually bring to closing.
Buying
77 Seattle condo projects were on HUD's FHA list on Oct. 20, 2026. How to check a building, what each status means, and when single-unit approval works.
The house
Seattle's 2026 rules: new lots need 5,000 sq ft and unit lots have no minimum. Short plats, lot boundary adjustments, city fees and a timeline.
The house
Seattle DADU rules for 2026: two ADUs per lot, up to 1,000 sq ft, no parking and no minimum lot size. Then a 15-minute check of the lot itself.
The house
A buried oil tank is not automatically a dealbreaker. Seattle's permit records, the $184 permit, what decommissioning costs, and how to check before you offer.
Adult family homes
One costs more and earns sooner. One costs less and takes much longer. Here is how to tell which of the two purchases is actually yours.
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.
Adult family homes
You are buying a house and a licensed business at the same time. Most buyers inspect the house and trust the business. Here is how to check both.
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
It can be, but a resident's monthly rate is revenue, not profit. What Washington owners keep depends on full beds, staffing and the house you start with.
Adult family homes
A normal home loan usually will not work on an operating adult family home. Here are the paths that do, and the cost most buyers forget to plan for.
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.
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.
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.
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
What you walk away with after a Washington sale: the excise tax at 2026 or 2027 rates, title, escrow, the sales tax on them, commission and your payoff.
The house
A printable Seattle house tour checklist in the order you walk a house, with side sewer, oil tank and permit checks and questions for the listing broker.
Costs & taxes
Pre-qualified, pre-approved or fully underwritten: what each checks, how long it lasts, whether it hurts your credit, and which a Seattle offer needs.
The house
Cracks, sloping floors, an unbolted house, a liquefaction map: what each means for a Seattle purchase, your loan and insurance, and the price.
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.
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 license 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.
Costs & taxes
Graduated state rates, Seattle's 0.50% on top, and new bands from January 1, 2027. Worked to the dollar at three Seattle prices, from DOR's own tables.
Adult family homes
What a change of ownership actually involves: a new license for the buyer, sixty days of written notice to your residents, and a Medicaid contract that ends with your license.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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