Your DSHS record. Your license and any conditions on it, approved exemptions, and three years of inspection reports, complaint investigations, plans of correction and enforcement letters. A buyer can read most of this on the state's locator, so read it first.

Close what is open. Before DSHS licenses a buyer, a field manager reviews open complaints, your latest inspection, uncorrected deficiencies and enforcement history. The buyer must fix whatever is still open. Correct what you can before you list, and ask your field manager about anything still open.

Residents and money. Your disclosures of services and charges. Your Medicaid and specialty contracts. A count of private and Medicaid residents, with Medicaid rates and what each resident pays toward care, and no names. Recent payment statements, and the ledger for any resident money you hold. If the buyer uses an SBA loan (backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration), the lender will want three years of your financial statements and will check them against your IRS tax transcripts.

Staff. A list with hire dates, training, certificates and TB results. Ask DSHS which background check results you may share. Fingerprint results may not be shared between homes.

Your L&I claim history. Only you, the current owner, can request it: the Injury and Cost Profile, the injury report and the rate projection. A buyer takes on this history and will ask to see it.

Proof your taxes are paid. A Tax Status letter from the Department of Revenue, and proof for L&I and ESD (step 8).

The house. Owner names that match the county assessor, property taxes paid, a signed permission statement from every owner, and any septic or well approvals.

Privacy. Resident records stay in the home, and a resident may refuse to have theirs released. Share numbers without names, and ask your attorney before you share more.

Walk it the way a buyer will. My buyer's guide tells buyers to tour with a tape measure. They measure bedrooms, count the toilets a resident can reach from the hallway, check the narrowest door, and look for a path to the street with no steps. They ask about water, sewer and septic. Walk your house with the same eyes first.

Fix the small things. Smoke alarms that work, clear exits, windows that open. A loose grab bar, a dripping shower, a sticking door, a cracked front step. They are cheap to fix and costly to leave, because a buyer reads them as a sign of how the home is kept.

If you close and sell the house. A buyer who wants to open a new home there needs local building approval first. Your own signed building checklist and floor plan help that buyer.

Form 17. Washington's seller disclosure law covers a house with one to four dwelling units. State law treats an adult family home as a residential use, so in most cases you fill out Form 17 unless the buyer waives it. Even then, the environmental section still applies if any answer there is yes. The answers are yours, from what you actually know. I explain each section, and your attorney can help with any answer you are unsure of.

Showings. People live in your home. We show it at set times, with notice, and residents, their faces and their things stay out of the photos.

The house. I price it from nearby sales of similar houses, its condition and the timing. Then I weigh what an adult family home buyer looks for: bedrooms, bathrooms, a step-free path, and sewer or septic. I show you the sales behind the number.

The business. It is priced from its income, its residents and its record. That is not my work, and I do not value businesses. If you want a business broker, I can give you names. One option is eXp Commercial, a separate company from eXp Realty.

Online ranges are not a price. Any calculator, including the one on my seller page, gives only a rough range from monthly income. Take it to your accountant or business broker. I do not price businesses.

The split changes your tax. The price is divided among the house, the furniture and equipment, and the goodwill, and each is taxed in its own way. You and the buyer report the split to the IRS, and the state can use it to value the house for its excise tax. So settle the split with your accountant before you agree on the total, and have your attorney write it into the agreements.

Excise tax on the house. The seller usually pays it. It is due on the date of sale, and escrow collects it. It has a state part that rises in steps with the price and a local part on the whole price. It is charged on the house only, not the furniture or goodwill. The rates, and the change on January 1, 2027, are in my excise tax guide.

If you keep the house and lease it. A plain lease is not a sale, so there is no excise tax. A lease with an option to buy is taxed when the option is used. If the house sits in a company and half or more of the company changes hands, the tax applies as if the house sold. Rent is outside the business and occupation (B&O) tax.

Sales tax on furniture and equipment. The Department of Revenue says sales tax applies when furniture, equipment and vehicles are sold with a business. Ask your accountant how that applies to your home. Goodwill is not subject to sales tax or B&O tax. County personal property tax must be paid when that property is sold.

B&O tax. It does not apply to licensed adult family homes (RCW 82.04.327), and the house sale is outside it too.

Washington capital gains tax. It is 7% on long-term gains above a yearly standard deduction, plus 2.9% on gains over $1 million. Real estate is exempt, and so are furniture and equipment that can be depreciated. Goodwill is not. A family-owned small business deduction can remove the gain, but only if strict tests are met, such as five years of ownership. Ask your accountant whether you qualify.

Federal tax. In an asset sale, each asset is taxed on its own. Depreciation you took on the house is taxed at up to 25%, and the home-sale exclusion does not cover it. Whether the exclusion covers any of the rest depends on whether and how you lived there. That is for your accountant.

Ask before you set the price. Each of these depends on the split and on your own situation. Bring your accountant in before you agree on a price.

The Department of Revenue. You file a final return, with payment, within 10 days of the sale. If you do not, the buyer can become liable for the full amount, and the law lets them hold back enough of the price to cover it.

The Tax Status letter. This is your proof. Get it free in My DOR, the Department of Revenue's online account. It usually comes at once. You can also give the buyer an access code so they can check it themselves. The code works for 30 days. It shows your account on that day. It does not prove past returns were right, and it does not cover the house's excise tax.

L&I and ESD. The same 10-day rule and holdback apply to workers' comp premiums and unemployment taxes. The buyer also takes on your L&I claim history, and a buyer with no employees yet takes on your unemployment tax rate for the rest of the year.

Closing your accounts. One request in My DOR closes your state account and tells Business Licensing, ESD and L&I. ESD also wants its own Business Change Form, with a copy of the sale document. Your final ESD quarterly report is due within 10 days of closing the account, with a final Paid Family and Medical Leave report. Keep your business records for five years. You do not need a Revenue Clearance Certificate to sell. It is only for dissolving a corporation.

Why it helps you. A buyer who can see your taxes are paid has less reason to hold money back. Ask your accountant to check before you list.

Who buys. People who just finished their training and want a home that already runs. Providers who want a second home. Investors who buy the house and lease it to a licensed operator. There are fewer of them than for an ordinary house, and whoever runs the home must qualify for a license.

Where buyers look. The MLS has no adult family home category. Some homes are listed as ordinary houses. Some sell through business brokers or from one operator to another, without a listing. We decide together how public the house listing should be. Your business broker or attorney decides what is said about the business.

Keep it quiet at first. Residents, families and staff should hear it from you, not from a listing. Before a buyer sees your income, residents or records, ask your attorney for a confidentiality agreement for the buyer to sign. I can show the house without the business details.

Check the buyer first. Ask about their caregiving hours, their training and their lender before you share anything. A buyer who cannot get a license or a loan cannot close, however good the price. For the house, I check that a buyer can pay for it. Your attorney or business broker checks the rest.

When to tell people. The law sets the latest date: written notice at least 60 days before the change. The buyer's application must include a copy of that notice, and your 10-412 says you already told each resident in writing. So the notice goes out before the buyer applies. A good time to tell staff and residents in person is after you have a signed agreement, just before the written notice. Tell everyone the same thing, close together. Plan the timing with your attorney.

Showings. At set times, with notice. Buyers see the rooms, not the people. Questions about residents and income go through your attorney.

The house. A Washington real estate purchase and sale agreement, on the standard residential forms. I write and negotiate it with you: price, earnest money, inspection, financing and closing date. If earnest money is your only remedy when a buyer fails to close, the law caps it at 5% of the price.

The business. A separate business purchase agreement, on a Commercial Brokers Association form or written by an attorney. Your attorney writes or reviews it. It sets the business price, what happens to resident money and deposits, how the month's charges are split, and what happens if residents move out before closing.

The lease, if you keep the house. Written or reviewed by your attorney, and kept to property terms: rent, length, repairs, and what happens if you sell later (step 2).

Tie them to the license. DSHS does not wait for your closing, and your closing does not wait for DSHS. Your license ends on the day DSHS licenses the buyer, closed or not. So your attorney lines up the dates. For example: closing a set number of days after the license, a last date for the license, and what happens if it is late or denied. I set the house dates to match.

Tie them to each other. Your attorney can link the agreements so that both close, or neither does.

What the buyer will ask for. A license by a set date. Financing, with a lender's review of your books. A review of your records and your DSHS history. A house inspection. A holdback in escrow until your taxes are shown paid.

If you carry a note. Some sellers let the buyer pay part of the price over time. If the buyer uses an SBA loan (backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration), your note counts toward their down payment only if you take no payments for the whole life of that loan. Even then, it can cover no more than half of the smallest down payment the SBA requires. Washington has its own rules when a note is secured by a house the buyer lives in. Ask your attorney and the buyer's lender first.

A non-compete. Washington has different rules for a non-compete in a business sale and one in a job contract. The job-contract rules change on June 30, 2027. Ask your attorney where yours belongs, and let them write it.

DSHS does not wait for your closing, and your closing does not wait for DSHS.

Your 60-day notice. At least 60 calendar days before the planned change, give written notice to DSHS and to every resident or their representative. It names you and the buyer, and each partner, member, officer and director if either is a company. It gives the home's name and address and the date you give the notice. It tells residents they may stay or move, and says if anything could change their ability to stay, such as the new owner's Medicaid policy. A faulty notice is DSHS's top reason for sending these applications back.

The Medicaid notice. Your Medicaid contract asks for its own 60 days' notice, to your Medicaid residents and to the director of DSHS Residential Care Services. Send it at the same time.

Form DSHS 10-412. Your relinquishment letter. You give up your license if and when DSHS licenses this one named buyer. Every member of your company must sign. You confirm you know of no lawsuit or barrier, and that you told each resident in writing. If the buyer changes, ask DSHS what you must send again.

The wait. The buyer applies and pays a $700 fee. DSHS starts only when the application is complete, then says processing could take up to 60 days. Your own form says several weeks to several months. In October 2026, DSHS's page said it was working on applications received in June 2026. Plan for months, and ask DSHS for the current wait.

A record review, not an inspection. DSHS does not inspect before licensing a buyer through a change of ownership. A field manager reviews your record and recommends yes or no (step 4).

Asking DSHS to hurry. You, the licensee, can ask DSHS in writing to give the application priority, to avoid disruption to residents. DSHS publishes no form for it. If DSHS agrees, the 60 days can be waived, but give notice as early as you can. If serious illness forces the sale, ask about the one-time fee waiver too.

Until the buyer is licensed, the home is yours. You stay responsible for daily operations until DSHS licenses the buyer. Do not let the buyer run the home, direct staff or take over care before then. DSHS once cited a seller who handed over early, so the buyer ran a home without a license. The same seller let liability insurance lapse after the sale. Keep both policies in force until your license ends. DSHS emails you when the buyer's license is approved.

If the deal falls through. If you no longer agree to give up your license, DSHS cancels the buyer's application. You stay licensed, and your Medicaid contract goes on. No rule says what to tell residents, but they were told they could move, so tell them in writing that nothing is changing, and tell your DSHS field office. Deposits and exit terms are for your attorney.

If DSHS has an action open against you. Giving up a license after DSHS starts to deny, suspend, not renew or revoke it can bar you from a new license or contract for 20 years. See an attorney before you sign the 10-412.

Your license ends the day DSHS licenses the buyer, not the day you close.

Telling residents. The notice goes to each resident or their representative. A family member is not always the legal representative, so check each file. Tell people in person as well as in writing: what stays the same, and that each may choose to stay or move.

Their money. Before the change, give each resident a written statement of their money you hold. Give the buyer a statement of all the residents' money you transfer, and get a written receipt. Medicaid residents should have no deposits. A refund owed to a resident who leaves is due within 30 days.

Their records. Records stay in the home, and a resident may refuse their release. The rules do not say how records pass to a new owner, or who keeps the old ones. Ask your attorney. The rules say resident records are kept three years after a resident leaves, and Medicaid contract records six years after the contract ends.

Medicaid residents. If the new owner will not sign a Medicaid contract, the notice must say so, and DSHS case managers help those residents move. Ask the buyer early. Calling each case manager early is not required, but it can help.

Staff pay. Staff work for you until the change. Final pay is due at the end of the normal pay period. You need not pay out unused sick leave. Whether a buyer who rehires staff must honor their balance is not answered in the rules, so ask L&I or an employment attorney. If you pay it out, put the terms in writing.

Staff records. The buyer gets a new DSHS background check account and cannot see checks run under yours. Help them collect what the rules let you share before the change. Keep personnel and background records at least two years after each person leaves. If the buyer wants to keep your resident manager, ask DSHS early what it needs.

If you stay on. I found no DSHS rule that stops you working for the buyer, with the usual checks and training. But do not keep control of the home. If you run it for the buyer, DSHS can treat that as a change of ownership. Ask DSHS and your attorney first. Managing it under a contract has its own rules and its own 60-day notice. With an SBA loan (backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration), you cannot stay as officer, director, owner or employee, but the buyer may hire you as a consultant for up to 24 months.

If you close instead. At least 30 days' written notice to DSHS, each resident and each representative, and a discharge plan that meets each resident's needs. Each resident's notice gives the reason, the date, where they are going if known, and the contact for the long-term care ombuds, a free advocate for residents. Medicaid residents' notices carry extra lines, with copies to their case manager and the ombuds within three days. One rule asks for 90 days when a home cuts back its care. DSHS has not said whether that covers a full closure, so ask your field manager and give more than 30 days if you can.

Two dates. The day the house and business close in escrow, and the day DSHS licenses the buyer. Until the license date, the home is yours to run, staff and insure.

At closing. Escrow collects the excise tax and pays off any loans on the house. Bring your Tax Status letter and your L&I and ESD proof, so the buyer has less reason to hold money back.

Medicaid payments. DSHS pays you up to the day the licensee changes. Ask the DSHS contracts unit which day is your last paid day. These terms come from DSHS's sample contract, so check your own. Part months are prorated, with no pay for part days, and DSHS can hold back part of the final payment. Bill well within 12 months. Ask the DSHS contracts unit which day is your last paid day.

Resident money. Before the change, give the buyer the written statement of residents' money you transfer, and get their signed receipt.

Within 10 days. Your final Department of Revenue return and payment, and your final L&I and ESD returns and payments. Then close the accounts (step 8).

After. Keep business records five years, resident records three years after each resident left, Medicaid records six years, and personnel records two years. File for the year of the sale with your accountant, including Washington's capital gains tax if you owe it. End your insurance only after your license has ended.

If you closed instead. Once the last resident has moved, you may give up the license at any time. The house then sells as a house, and I handle it like any other sale.

What I do: the house. I price it from nearby sales, help you get it ready, and list it, or keep the sale quiet when that is better. I walk you through Form 17. I find buyers for the house, check that they can pay for it, and negotiate the house terms with you. And I keep the house calendar lined up with the business sale and DSHS.

What I do not do: the business. I do not value, price, market, broker or negotiate the sale of a business, its license, its lease or its agreement. The business price and the business agreement belong with your attorney, your accountant, and a business broker if you use one. I can give you names. One option is eXp Commercial, a separate company from eXp Realty.

What belongs to others. The license belongs to the buyer and DSHS. The lease belongs to your attorney, taxes to your accountant, and staff questions to your attorney or L&I. I bring them in early and keep everyone on the same dates.

Why the house. My family runs a licensed adult family home north of Seattle, and I have seen the house side up close.

No rush. Now or in a year or two, start before you decide. Records take time to gather, and open items take time to close. A first talk costs nothing.