Henos AdhanaSeattle born & raisedeXp Realty

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What to look for when touring a house in Seattle: a printable checklist

14 min read · 10 sections · Published October 15, 2026
By Henos Adhana · Licensed WA Real Estate Broker #25016434 · eXp Realty

Look for what the listing photos leave out: signs of water, the age of the roof and the big systems, how the rooms work together, and the street at the hours you would live on it. In Seattle, also look for signs of an old heating oil tank and for knob and tube wiring, and look up the side sewer card and the permit history, both free online. If the house was built before 1978, federal rules generally require a lead paint disclosure from the seller and give you 10 days to have it tested, which you can waive in writing or change by written agreement. The checklist below runs in the order you walk a house.

What to check on a tour#

House tour checklist: What the listing photos leave out, checked in person before you offer. A drawing of a tour checklist: water stains, roof age, oil tank fill pipe, old wiring, and the street at 5pm.
The printable version is below.

How to tour a house so you see what the photos leave out#

Listing photos are chosen to sell the house. A tour is your chance to see what they left out, and on a competitive Seattle house it may be the only visit you get before offers are due. Walk in with a plan, and with your pre-approval done.

Bring a phone, a flashlight and a tape measure. Photograph the labels on the electrical panel, the furnace and the water heater, because the dates on them tell you what is coming due. The flashlight is for the attic, the crawlspace and under the sinks.

Most of what matters shows up as water or age. Water leaves stains, smells and soft floors. Age is printed on labels, or answered by the seller. The rest is whether the rooms, the light, the parking and the street suit how you live.

A tour is not an inspection. What anyone can see on a tour is largely in the price already, and the inspection is for what nobody can see yet. Everything you note below goes on the list for your inspector.

The same list works at an open house, with less time.

Not sure how this applies to the house you're looking at?

Talk it through before you write

Outside and on the street#

Start before you go in. Walk the block first, then circle the house.

The street

  • Noise at the hours you would be home. Stand outside for five minutes. Find the nearest arterial, freeway or rail line on a map, and note how far away it is. Why a busy street changes the price.
  • Planes. The Port of Seattle says Sea-Tac runs in south flow, with arrivals coming in from the north, about 65 percent of the year, mostly in cooler, cloudier months. Warm, sunny weather more often brings the reverse, so a summer tour can miss what you would hear most of the year. Sea-Tac and Boeing Field each run a public flight tracker, PublicVue.
  • Parking. Where the car actually goes: garage, driveway, alley or street. A time-limit sign that exempts permit holders and names a zone means a Restricted Parking Zone, where residents can buy a permit, usually $95 on a two-year cycle. SDOT's address look-up confirms eligibility.
  • The neighbors. How the houses on each side are kept, and which of your windows and how much of your yard they can see.

The lot and the outside of the house

  • Where the water goes. Ground that slopes toward the house, downspouts that empty against the foundation, a soggy lawn or standing water. If it rains the day you tour, go outside and look.
  • Siding, paint and trim. Peeling or cracking paint, and soft or split wood near the ground. On a house built before 1978 the paint may contain lead, and the EPA treats lead paint that is peeling, chipping or cracking as a hazard that needs prompt attention.
  • A pipe that goes nowhere. A capped pipe coming out of the ground near the foundation, or a small vent pipe running up the siding, can belong to a heating oil tank, buried or in the basement. Ask about it, and for the paperwork: buying a Seattle house with an oil tank.

Sources

Structure and roof#

You cannot see inside the walls, but water and movement leave marks. Photograph what you find and show it to the inspector.

Roof, gutters and attic

  • The roof, from the street. Moss, missing or curled shingles, and a ridge line that dips. Ask how old it is and whether there are invoices.
  • Gutters and ceilings. Gutters that overflow or pull away, and stains on the ceilings inside. One freshly painted patch of ceiling is worth a question.
  • The attic, if the hatch is open. Look from the ladder rather than climbing in. Daylight through the roof boards, dark stains on the wood, and the insulation. Loose, pebble-like insulation that is gray-brown or silver-gold is vermiculite, and the EPA says to assume it may contain asbestos and to leave it undisturbed.

Foundation, basement and crawlspace

  • Cracks. In the foundation outside and the concrete walls inside. Note how wide they are, and whether one side sits higher than the other.
  • Signs of movement. Doors that stick or swing on their own, floors that slope, and cracks running from the corners of doors and windows.
  • Water. Tide lines or white, powdery deposits on the concrete, a musty smell, a sump pump, or a dehumidifier running.
  • The crawlspace, from the hatch. Standing water, insulation hanging down, and wood sitting on the dirt.
  • Earthquake bolting. Along the wood sill where the house sits on the foundation, look for anchor bolts, and on any short wall between the foundation and the first floor, plywood or OSB panels. Seattle's Earthquake Home Retrofit plans use both, with square steel washers on the bolts, so ask whether the work was done and permitted.

More on reading these clues: foundation problems in Seattle houses.

Sources

Systems: wiring, heat and water#

Photograph every label you can find, then look for these.

Wiring

  • Knob and tube. In an open attic or basement: single wires on porcelain knobs and through porcelain tubes. If insulation covers them, ask for the electrician's written survey. Seattle's electrical code allows loose or rolled insulation around knob and tube only after a licensed electrical contractor certifies the wiring in writing, and never foam. What knob and tube does to a purchase.
  • Aluminum wiring. In a house built, added onto or rewired between 1965 and the mid-1970s, read the cable jackets in the basement, attic or garage for the word Aluminum or the letters Al. A survey for the CPSC found that homes built before 1972 and wired with aluminum were 55 times more likely than copper-wired homes to have an outlet connection reach fire hazard conditions.
  • Warning signs. Switch or outlet plates warm to the touch, flickering lights, dead outlets, or a smell of burning plastic, all signs of an electrical problem according to the CPSC.
  • The panel. Where it is, whether the circuits are labeled, and a clear photo of the maker's label for your inspector.

Heat, water and air

  • What heats the house. Gas, electric baseboard, a heat pump, or oil. The City estimates 8,000 to 10,000 Seattle homes still heat with oil. If you see an oil burner, working or not, ask where the tank is.
  • The water heater. The date on its label, and two metal straps, one in the top third and one in the bottom third, which Public Health – Seattle & King County requires when a water heater is installed. Since July 1, 2026, replacing one needs a permit too.
  • Carbon monoxide alarms. Washington requires the seller to install them before you can legally move in. Note whether they are there now.
  • Water pressure. Run a faucet upstairs while a toilet flushes, and watch whether the flow drops.

Sources

Room by room#

Inside, decide first whether the house would work for you, then look for water and wear. Open cabinets, closets and a window or two.

Kitchen and bathrooms

  • Kitchen. Cabinets and drawers that close properly, the age of the appliances, a range hood that vents outside, enough outlets along the counters, and light where you would work.
  • Under the sinks. Stains, drips, a swollen or soft cabinet floor, and a musty smell.
  • Bathrooms. An exhaust fan that runs and pulls air, loose tiles or a soft floor around the toilet, cracked caulk, and stains on any ceiling below.
  • Old floors, ceilings and pipe wrap. Old vinyl floor tiles, textured ceilings, and hot water or steam pipes wrapped in insulation or tape are all on the EPA's list of places asbestos may be found. You cannot tell by looking, so leave them alone, and have them tested before any remodel.

Bedrooms, living space and the basement

  • How the house lives. Where the bedrooms sit in relation to each other, the size of the main bedroom and its bathroom, closets and storage, and somewhere to work.
  • Light and windows. Which way the main rooms face, windows that open and close, fog between double panes, and stains under the sills.
  • A basement bedroom. Bring out the tape measure. Seattle's residential code calls for an escape window or door in every bedroom: at least 5.7 square feet open, at least 20 inches wide and 24 inches high, with the bottom no more than 44 inches above the floor. If the only window is small and high, ask whether the room was permitted as a bedroom.
  • A finished basement, attic or garage. Ask when the work was done and under which permit, then check the permit history.
  • Smells. Damp, smoke, pets, or heavy air freshener covering any of them.

Sources

The paperwork to ask for, and what to look up yourself#

I would want all of this before writing an offer. Much of it is free to look up.

Ask the listing broker for

  • Form 17, the seller's disclosure, and any pre-listing inspection. On most Seattle listings both are available before offers are written. How to read Form 17.
  • The lead disclosure, on most houses built before 1978: what the seller knows about lead-based paint, any reports, and the EPA pamphlet. You then get 10 days to have the house tested, which you can waive in writing or change by written agreement.
  • The oil tank record. For a tank decommissioned in Seattle, the Fire Department permit, Permit Code 6103, and the decommissioning report form completed by the certified decommissioner.
  • A sewer scope video or side sewer repair invoices, if the seller has them.
  • Ages and invoices for the roof, the furnace or boiler, and the water heater.
  • On a condo, the dues, any special assessment coming, the rental rules, the reserve study and the last year of board minutes. What to read on a Seattle condo.

Look up yourself

  • The side sewer card, on Seattle Public Utilities' Side Sewer Cards and Map viewer. In Seattle you own the side sewer all the way to the public main under the street. Reading the card, and the scope.
  • The permit history, on SDCI's Permit and Site History Research Tool, which searches by address. Compare it with what the listing says was added: a bathroom, a finished basement, a converted garage, a deck.
  • Parking, on SDOT's RPZ address look-up, if the block has zone signs.
  • Flight tracks over the address, on PublicVue for Sea-Tac or Boeing Field.

Sources

Questions to ask when touring a house, and what the broker must tell you#

In Washington the listing broker represents the seller. Every broker in a sale still has to deal honestly and disclose the material facts they know that you could not see or readily find out. They do not have to inspect the house or investigate for you, so ask specific questions and write the answers down.

About the house. How old are the roof, the furnace and the water heater? Has the side sewer been scoped or replaced? Was the house ever heated with oil, and where is the tank? What was remodeled, and under which permits?

About the sale. Is there a pre-inspection? Have offers come in, and is there a review date? What stays with the house: appliances, window coverings, the shed?

About a condo. Is a special assessment being discussed? How many units are rented, and is there a cap?

Washington law does not treat a past death or crime at a property as a material fact, so if that matters to you, ask directly. If an answer is vague, ask again in writing before you offer. If the listing broker offers to represent you too, read how dual agency works first.

Sources

Before you leave the driveway#

Score the house out of 7 while it is fresh, then ask what would make it a 6. If the answer is paint and a new range, it is still a candidate. If it is a different street, it is not.

Write one line on the best thing about it and one on the worst. By the third house of the day they run together.

Then put your open questions in writing and keep your photos together: every crack, stain and label you photographed is something to show the inspector. If the house is still a candidate, go back at a different hour before you write an offer.

Common questions#

What should I look for when touring a house?

Signs of water, the age of the roof and the big systems, how the rooms work for you, and the street at the hours you would be home. In Seattle, also look for signs of a heating oil tank and for knob and tube wiring, and look up the side sewer card and the permit history before you offer.

What questions should I ask when touring a house?

Ask how old the roof, furnace and water heater are, whether the side sewer has been scoped or replaced, whether the house was ever heated with oil, what was remodeled and under which permits, whether there is a pre-inspection, and when offers will be reviewed. Write the answers down.

What should I look for at an open house?

The same things as on a private tour, in less time. The broker hosting usually represents the seller, so ask for Form 17 and any pre-inspection, and send your detailed questions in writing afterward.

Is a house tour the same as a home inspection?

No. A tour covers what anyone can see, and much of that is already in the price. An inspection looks at the roof, structure and systems in detail, and on an older Seattle house I would add a sewer scope. Your tour notes tell the inspector what you want looked at.

What are red flags when touring a house in Seattle?

Signs of water in the basement or attic, a capped pipe near the foundation with no oil tank paperwork, knob and tube wiring with insulation over it and no electrician's survey, a basement bedroom with no escape window, and a finished basement or addition with no permit on record.

Do I need an agent to tour a house in Seattle?

Not for an open house. For your own broker to arrange private tours, Washington has required since January 2024 that their firm have a written services agreement with you, signed before or as soon as reasonably practical after they start working for you. For a buyer the default term is 60 days.

How many times should I tour a house before buying?

Twice if the market gives you time: once to decide whether it is a candidate, and once at a different hour to check noise, parking and light. On a competitive house you may get one visit, which is why it pays to have the checklist with you the first time.

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