Illustrative scene: a white woman in her seventies walking up the front path of her 1950s single-story house under tall Douglas firs in Washington

We Buy Houses in Washington

Call us about your Washington State house and a written cash offer comes within 24 hours. Escrow closes on the date you choose.

Prefer to talk it through? Call (984) 489-8269

Selling Your House for Cash in Washington

Tell us on one call what shape your Washington house is in, and a written cash offer follows within 24 hours.

You make no repairs, hold no showings and pay no commissions. In Washington the seller pays the real estate excise tax: on a $600,000 house sold in 2026, the state's share is $6,735, before your city or county adds its local rate. Escrow handles the closing, and you pick the closing date.

At a glance

No repairs
No commissions or showings
You pick the closing date

We Buy Houses in These Washington Cities

Spokane: Spokane County
Tacoma: Pierce County
Yakima: Yakima County

Washington's Largest Housing Markets, September 2026

Figures are for the county each city sits in.
City (county figures)	Median asking price	Median days on market
Spokane	$470,852	49 days
Tacoma	$625,000	55 days
Yakima	$428,213	58 days

King County, WA

King County, WA housing market, September 2026
Median asking price	$842,425about the same as a year earlier
Median days on market	50 daysup 9% from a year earlier
Homes for sale	7,611up 29% from a year earlier

Homes listed in King County, WA sat a median 50 days on the market in September 2026, up from 46 a year earlier. The median asking price in King County, WA was $842,425 in September 2026, about the same as a year earlier.

Source: Realtor.com Economic Research, September 2026. Asking prices of homes listed for sale, not sale prices.

Who Pays Closing Costs When You Sell in Washington, and How Much?

In the $600,000 worked example below, listing a Washington house costs about $69,500 before the mortgage is paid off. That covers the agent's commission, repairs, the excise tax, title and escrow fees, and three months of carrying costs. The biggest line set by law is the excise tax, and it is the seller's to pay ¹. Here is each cost and who usually pays it.

See every cost line

Item	Usually paid by	Typical
Real estate excise tax (REET)	The seller, by law ¹. If the seller doesn't pay, the buyer is responsible, and unpaid tax can become a lien on the house ².	The state's graduated share plus your city or county's local rate. The box below has the rates.
Owner's title policy	Usually the seller. The Insurance Commissioner says most sellers pay for the owner's policy ³.	No state-set price. Each title insurer files its own rates with the Commissioner and must charge by them ⁴, and the cost is based on the property's value ³.
Escrow fee	As your purchase contract divides it	Set by each escrow company. Ask for the figure in writing before you sign.
Mortgage payoff and any liens	Paid from your sale money at closing	Whatever you still owe. Your lender generally must send a payoff statement within seven business days of a written request; a reverse mortgage, or a loan in foreclosure or bankruptcy, can take longer ⁵.

Washington real estate excise tax: a graduated state rate plus a local rate

Washington taxes a home sale on a sliding scale. For sales from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2026, the state share is 1.1% of the price up to $525,000, 1.28% of the part from there to $1,525,000, 2.75% of the part to $3,025,000, and 3% of anything above that ². Each rate applies only to the slice of the price inside its bracket ⁶. Cities and counties add their own local excise tax on top ⁷. On the Department of Revenue's May 2026 table, Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and Vancouver each charge 0.5%. Most places charge 0.25% or 0.5%, a few charge nothing, and San Juan County charges 2% ⁸. The example below uses 0.5%. Ask the escrow company for your exact local rate.

Selling in Washington

Three Steps From Call to Closing in Washington

Illustrative scene: a Black man in his late sixties on the phone at the kitchen table of his older Washington home, holding a one-page letter

1. Describe the House by Phone
Walk us through your Washington house on one call: its age, its condition, what needs work. Nothing to fix first, and no showings.
2. Read Your Written Offer
A written cash offer reaches you within 24 hours. There is no commission to take out of it.
3. Close When It Suits You
You choose the closing date, and escrow handles the paperwork and pays out the sale money.
Get My Cash Offer →
Takes about a minute.
or call (984) 489-8269

Do You Still Fill Out Form 17 When You Sell a Washington House As-Is?

Usually, yes. When a home is sold in Washington, the seller fills out the state's seller disclosure statement, the form most agents call Form 17, and gives it to the buyer. It tells the buyer what you know about the house. It is not a warranty ⁹.

Some sales are outside the law. They include a foreclosure, a sale by an estate's executor or administrator, a gift or sale to your spouse, parent or child, and a transfer between spouses in a divorce. A buyer may also expressly waive the statement. But a buyer can't waive the environmental section if any answer there would be yes ¹⁰. That section asks about things like asbestos, radon and lead-based paint ⁹.

If the house was built before 1978, federal law also has you share what you know about lead paint, hand over any reports, and give the buyer a pamphlet ¹¹. On the call, tell us what you know: the old roof, the wet crawl space, the furnace that needs work.

This page is general information about Washington law, not legal or tax advice. For your own situation, talk to a Washington attorney or a tax professional.

Will Washington's Excise Tax Change If You Sell in 2027?

Yes, a little. For sales from January 1, 2027, the state's first bracket rises to $551,000, the next to $1,551,000 and the third to $3,051,000. The rates stay 1.1%, 1.28%, 2.75% and 3% ². The law raises the brackets every four years, by shelter-cost inflation, up to 5% each time ⁶.

At $525,000 or less nothing changes. Between $525,000 and $551,000 it falls by up to $47, and from $551,000 to $1,525,000 it falls by $47. Here is the state share at a few prices, before the local rate:

Sale price	State share, sold in 2026	State share, sold in 2027
$400,000	$4,400	$4,400
$525,000	$5,775	$5,775
$750,000	$8,655	$8,608
$1,000,000	$11,855	$11,808

The tax is due on the date of sale, not the day the deed is recorded ². So the closing date decides which year's brackets apply.

How Long Does Foreclosure Take in Washington?

At least 190 days from the missed payment that put you in default, and usually longer. A trustee's sale can't be held sooner than that ¹², and federal rules generally keep a servicer from starting foreclosure until you're more than 120 days behind ¹³. Here is the order of steps under a deed of trust, with the shortest waits the law allows:

Step	Shortest wait before the next step
The lender's letter and calls about options (owner-occupied homes)	90 days from the first contact if you respond; if you don't, 30 days after the lender finishes its contact attempts, which end with a certified letter ¹⁴
Notice of default, listing what it takes to catch up	30 days ¹⁵
Notice of trustee's sale, recorded and mailed	90 days, or 120 when the lender's letter was required ¹²
Trustee's sale, held on a Friday	You can catch up any time before the 11th day before the sale ¹⁶

Each wait is a minimum, and a lender can take longer. If letters have started to arrive, the state's housing counselors are free: call 1-877-894-HOME (4663) ¹⁷.

What Decides a Cash Offer on a Washington House?

The house itself, and what has to be paid off at closing. A cash offer starts from what the house would sell for in its current condition, less the repairs it needs. Then the closing sorts out what comes out of the price: your mortgage payoff and any liens, and the excise tax, which the seller owes on a cash sale the same as on any other ¹. If you deferred property taxes through the state program, they are paid back from the sale too ¹⁸.

So the most useful things to tell us on the call are the honest condition of the house, roughly what you owe, and any tax deferral. Your cash offer is based on what you tell us about the house. If your answers reflect its real condition, the price on the contract is the price at closing.

For a rough figure before you call, try what a cash buyer would pay for your house.

Does Washington's Capital Gains Tax Apply to Selling Your Home?

No. Washington's capital gains tax doesn't apply to the sale of real estate, whether it was your home, a rental or land, and however long you owned it ¹⁹. The law leaves out real estate transferred by a deed or real estate contract recorded with the county ²⁰. Washington's tax on a sale of real estate is the excise tax.

Federal tax is a separate question. If you owned the house and lived in it as your main home for at least two of the five years before the sale, you can generally leave up to $250,000 of the gain out of your income, or up to $500,000 on a joint return ²¹. For a house you inherited, the starting point for any gain is generally its value on the date the owner died, not what they paid for it ²².

This isn't tax advice. A tax professional can tell you what applies to you.

What Does the Disclosure Form Ask About Wells, Septic Systems and Manufactured Homes?

It has a section for each, and the questions are detailed ⁹:

Water: whether the house is on a private or shared well, any water rights, any treatment system, and whether the supply is enough.
Septic: the system's parts and permits, when it was last pumped and inspected, any defects, and how many bedrooms it is approved for.
Flooding: any flooding, standing water or drainage problems, and whether the basement has leaked.
Manufactured home: if the property has one, whether it was altered and had the permits.

You answer from what you know. If you have pumping receipts, well test results or permits, find them before the call ⁹.

Who Closes a Home Sale in Washington, and How Do You Check Them?

An escrow company, a title company or an attorney handles it. To do escrow in Washington a business needs a state escrow license, unless it is, for example, a title insurer or licensed title agent, a bank, or an attorney doing it as part of a law practice ²³. The Department of Financial Institutions regulates escrow companies and lets you look up a license or file a complaint online ²⁴.

The closing papers, such as the deed and the excise tax affidavit, may be prepared by a Limited Practice Officer. Under a Washington Supreme Court rule, that person must tell you in writing that they aren't on either side, that you may have your own lawyer, and that they can't give legal advice ²⁵.

Get a written contract. Read every page, including the price and the closing date. A Washington real estate attorney can review it for you.
Look up the escrow company named in the contract, then call it yourself and ask whether it has the contract.
Pay no fee to get an offer. You shouldn't have to pay anyone to hear what they'll pay for your house.

Cash Sale or Listing: What's Left After Washington's Excise Tax?

That depends on your house and how long you can wait. A house in good shape, with time to sell, may bring more on the open market. So compare what you walk away with, not the price. A listing usually means an agent's commission, the repairs a buyer's inspector asks for, and months of mortgage, insurance, taxes and utilities while you wait.

A cash sale doesn't skip the excise tax: the seller owes it either way ¹. The example below adds the state's graduated share and a local rate. Set the net it leaves beside our written offer. If the listing comes out ahead and you have the time, listing may be the better choice for you.

On a $600,000 sale

Example, not a quote.

Listing with an agent

Sale price: $600,000
Agent commission (5.5% here; it varies): −$33,000
Repairs before listing (example): −$15,000
Real estate excise tax: state rate plus a 0.5% local rate: −$9,735
Owner's title policy and your share of escrow and recording fees (example; companies set their own rates): −$3,000
Three months of carrying costs (example): −$9,000
You'd walk away with: $530,265

Comparing a cash offer

In this example, listing would leave you about $530,265 before your mortgage payoff. Compare that with your cash offer, less any closing costs you'd still pay.

Your numbers depend on your house, your loan, your city or county and the escrow and title companies. Want your real numbers? Enter your address above or call (984) 489-8269.

Behind, Inheriting, Divorcing or Moving: Washington Rules to Know

Washington handles each of these its own way: deeds of trust instead of court foreclosures, community property in a marriage, and personal representatives for estates. Below is the general rule for each, in plain words. It isn't legal advice; a Washington attorney can tell you how it applies to you.

Facing foreclosureA trustee sells the house without a court case. Mediation can pause it.

Most Washington home loans are deeds of trust, and the trustee can sell the house at auction without a court case. The steps and their minimum waits are in the timeline above. Two things to know: the state's foreclosure mediation program can pause a sale if a housing counselor or attorney refers you in time ²⁶, and after a trustee's sale the lender generally can't get a deficiency judgment against you on the loan it foreclosed ²⁷. A second mortgage or home equity loan that wasn't the one foreclosed may still be owed, so ask an attorney. Tell us on the call where you are in the process.

Inherited a houseWho can sell a Washington house after the owner dies, with or without a will.

A Washington estate is usually handled by a personal representative. With nonintervention powers, the representative can sell the house without a court order, as long as they act in good faith for everyone with a stake in the estate ²⁸. A court must grant those powers when the estate can pay its debts and the representative is the one named in the will, among other cases, unless the will says otherwise ²⁹. Without a will, a surviving spouse takes the owner's whole share of the community property, and half of the owner's separate property when there are children ³⁰. A Washington probate attorney can tell you who has to sign the deed.

Behind on paymentsYour lender has to write and call before a notice of default. Use that time.

Washington makes the lender reach out before a notice of default on a home you live in: a letter, then tries to call you at least three times, on different days and at different hours, to set up a meeting about your options ¹⁴. That is the time to call your servicer, a housing counselor, or us, while every choice is still open. Tell us on the call how far behind you are and what letters have come.

Going through a divorceWashington is a community property state. Here is what that means for the house.

Washington is a community property state. Property either spouse acquires during the marriage is community property, unless it is separate property, such as what you owned before ³¹. In a divorce, the court divides both kinds of property in a way that is just and equitable, without regard to misconduct. One thing it may weigh is giving the family home to the parent the children mostly live with ³². Your divorce attorneys can tell you what your decree allows before either of you signs a contract.

Selling a rental with tenantsYour tenants don't have to move out first. Bring the lease and the deposit records to the call.

The tenant doesn't have to move out before we make an offer. When a Washington rental changes hands, the deposits held in trust move to the new landlord's trust account at the same time, and the new landlord must promptly tell each tenant where the money is now held ³³. When a tenant later moves out, the landlord has 30 days to return the deposit or send a full statement of why any of it is kept ³⁴. Tell us about the lease, the rent and the deposits on the call.

Moving to care or downsizingMoving into care or a smaller home? Here is what happens to your senior tax exemption.

The sale can line up with your move. If you have Washington's property tax exemption for seniors, moving into a hospital, nursing home, assisted living or an adult family home doesn't by itself end it. The house can sit empty, a spouse can live there, or you can rent it to pay for your care ³⁵. If you sell and buy a smaller home in Washington, you can carry the exemption to the new home, though no one gets it on two homes in the same year ³⁵. Ask your county assessor how to move it.

Curious what your Washington house would bring in cash?

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Washington Cash Home Buyers: Common Questions

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Call (984) 489-8269

When would the sale close if I took your offer?

You pick the closing date after you accept our written offer. Escrow needs your loan's payoff figure, and your lender generally has to send a payoff statement within seven business days of a written request ⁵. An estate, a tenant or a divorce can add steps, so tell us about any of them on the call.

Does Washington tax a house I inherited?

Inheriting it doesn't trigger the excise tax: a transfer by will or inheritance isn't subject to it, but when you as the heir sell the house to someone else, that sale is ³⁶. Washington's estate tax is separate and applies only to large estates: for deaths from July 1, 2026, the filing threshold is a gross estate of $3,000,000 ³⁷. An estate attorney or tax professional can tell you whether either applies to your family.

Who files the excise tax affidavit when my Washington house sells?

It goes to the treasurer of the county where the house is, with the deed and the tax payment ². A Limited Practice Officer at escrow may prepare it for you ²⁵. The tax is due on the date of sale, and penalties and interest start if it isn't paid within a month ².

Can we use a small estate affidavit to pass my late parent's Washington house?

No. Washington's small estate affidavit is for personal property, such as bank accounts and cars. It can be used 40 days after the death when the probate estate, less mortgages and other liens and not counting a surviving spouse's community share, is worth $100,000 or less, and the house's value counts toward that limit ³⁸. For the house, ask a Washington probate attorney about naming a personal representative, who can sell it without a court order once given nonintervention powers ²⁸.

I deferred my property taxes through the state program. What happens when I sell?

The deferred taxes and interest are paid back at closing. Washington's deferral for homeowners 60 or older lets you put off taxes up to 80% of your equity in the home ³⁹, and the amount comes due when the house is sold or you stop living there ¹⁸⁴⁰. Ask your county for the payoff and tell us on the call, so it's in the numbers from the start.

My spouse and I are separated. Can one of us sell the Washington house alone?

Not if it's community property, even if only one of you is on the title. Neither spouse can sell community-owned real estate unless the other joins in the deed, and both have to sign it in front of a notary ³¹. If the house was one spouse's separate property, or a decree has already given it to one of you, the answer can differ, so check with your divorce attorney first.

Can foreclosure mediation stop the sale of my Washington home?

It can pause it, unless your lender is one of the smaller banks the law exempts ²⁶. A housing counselor or an attorney has to refer you, no later than 90 days before the sale date in the notice of sale. You can't refer yourself, and you and the lender each pay half the mediator's fee ¹⁷. If you're referred after the notice of sale, the sale can't go ahead until the trustee gets the mediator's report ²⁶. Tell us on the call if mediation has started.

Can a buyer back out after reading my Washington disclosure statement?

Yes, for a short time. You give the statement within five business days after you both sign the contract, unless you agree otherwise. The buyer then has three business days, unless you agree on another period, to approve it or cancel in writing ⁴¹. A buyer can waive the statement, except the environmental section when any answer there is yes ¹⁰.

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