List it.
To list a house for sale in Washington, you sign a listing agreement with a broker, price the home against nearby like-kind sales, fix what an inspector would flag, and photograph it. The broker then enters it in the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, books showings, negotiates offers and follows escrow through to recording.
What does listing with Austin involve?
Pricing, getting the house ready, photographs and the NWMLS listing, showings, offers, and the escrow period that ends when the deed records with the county.
The NWMLS is the database agents across Puget Sound search for their buyers, which is why listing usually produces the highest price. It also asks the most of you: a house kept ready for showings, then several weeks of escrow while the buyer’s lender works through the file.
Timelines vary from house to house and from season to season, so read any schedule here as a sketch. Early spring behaves differently from the weeks before the holidays, and a rambler in Sumner sells to a different buyer than a new-construction two-story in Tehaleh.
How is the list price set?
From like-kind sales: homes of the same type, close to yours, sold recently, adjusted for the differences buyers actually pay for.
A single-family rambler is compared with other single-family ramblers near it. Townhouses and condos are a separate market, and so is a house across the county that happens to share a zip code. Then come the adjustments. A finished basement, a detached shop, a bedroom on the main floor or a real view of Rainier add value. A busy arterial out front or a roof near the end of its life takes it away.
The current competition matters as much as last quarter’s sales. Buyers compare your house with what is for sale this week, so the price has to make sense next to those listings.
You receive a recommended range with the reasoning written out, and you set the list price. A price that starts too high tends to cost more than it gains: the first few weeks bring the most attention a listing will ever get, and a stale listing gets a second look mostly from buyers hoping for a discount.
What should I fix before listing?
Fix what an inspector will write up and what a buyer can see from the front door. Skip the remodel. The usual Western Washington list:
- Moss on the roof, full gutters.
A roof cleaning is a small line item next to the credit a buyer asks for once an inspector has photographed it.
- The crawl space.
Standing water or a torn vapor barrier will be in the inspection report, and either one can read worse on paper than it is.
- Electrical and plumbing oddities.
Ungrounded outlets, a panel brand inspectors routinely flag, a toilet that rocks, the slow drain everyone in the family has learned to ignore.
- Exterior paint and trim.
Peeling paint and soft wood near the ground are common after a few wet winters, and they show in the first listing photo.
- Interior paint.
A light neutral over bold bedroom colors and a scuffed hallway is usually the cheapest change a buyer notices.
- The walk from the curb.
Overgrown laurel and a porch light that stopped working. Buyers form an opinion before they reach the door.
Some things are worth finding out before a buyer does. On an older home, a sewer scope of the side sewer line. On a house built when heating oil was common, a check for a buried oil tank, which is a familiar question in pre-war neighborhoods around Tacoma. Out in the county, a house on septic is expected to have a current Report of System Status when it sells, and what Pierce County asks of septic sellers has its own note. Knowing first keeps you in control of the fix and of the conversation about price.
What goes into the photography and marketing?
Professional photographs once the house is ready, and a listing description written for the buyer most likely to want this particular house.
Buyers decide whether to visit from the photos, so they wait until the cleaning and repairs are done and the light is right. A measured floor plan helps with homes whose layout is hard to read from pictures, such as split-levels and houses with additions.
The NWMLS listing feeds the home search sites buyers already use, so the description does real work. A rambler near Sumner gets written for someone who wants everything on one level. A house in Bonney Lake gets written for someone weighing the commute on SR 410.
The listing also goes out to agents in the Homexa® network, 300+ of them across 25 states. That helps with relocation buyers, including households moving for a posting at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, who often start a search from another state.
How do showings work?
Buyers’ agents book through a showing service inside the windows you set, and a lockbox holds the key so you don’t have to be home.
Plan to be out of the house during showings. Buyers talk more freely and stay longer when the owner isn’t there, and a longer visit is usually a better sign. An open house on the first weekend can help. Whether to hold one depends on the house and the street.
Feedback from showing agents comes back to you, including the uncomfortable kind, such as three different buyers mentioning the same smell in the basement. It is often the fastest way to learn whether the issue is the price or the presentation.
What happens when offers come in?
Each offer is laid out on one sheet so you can see what it is worth in practice, and you decide what to accept, counter or decline.
Offers in Washington are usually written on NWMLS forms, with the purchase and sale agreement as the base and addenda for financing and inspection. Price is one line. The others decide whether that price survives to closing: the earnest money, the loan type and down payment, the length of the inspection contingency, whether the buyer will cover a gap if the appraisal comes in low, and the closing and possession dates.
When several offers arrive, they go side by side. NWMLS has a standard escalation addendum, and each one needs a careful read, because both the cap and the proof a buyer must show are negotiable.
What are the steps from accepted offer to closing?
Earnest money, inspection, an appraisal if the buyer is financing, title and escrow work, signing, and recording with the county. The order rarely changes. The pace does.
- Mutual acceptance
The buyer’s earnest money goes to escrow within the number of days set in the agreement.
- Inspection
The buyer’s inspector goes through the house. The buyer may ask for repairs or a credit, inside a short window.
- Appraisal
If the buyer has a loan, the lender’s appraiser values the home. A low number reopens the price.
- Title and escrow
The title company reports any liens. Escrow orders your payoff and prepares the documents.
- Signing
You sign with escrow, usually a few days before the closing date.
- Recording
The deed records with the county, funds are disbursed, and keys change hands per the possession terms.
Before any of that, most sellers complete NWMLS Form 17, the seller disclosure statement Washington requires under RCW 64.06. It asks about the roof, water, the sewer or septic, permits and more. A buyer has a short window to back out after receiving it, so it is best finished before the house goes on the market.
What does listing cost?
Brokerage compensation, which is negotiable, plus the closing costs every Washington seller pays in some form.
Compensation is agreed in writing before the home goes on the market, along with how any buyer’s broker will be paid. On top of that: Washington’s real estate excise tax, which state law puts on the seller and which is paid at closing; your share of escrow fees; the owner’s title insurance policy that sellers here customarily provide; and any repairs or credits negotiated after inspection.
Before you list, all of it goes on one net sheet showing what you would keep at a few different sale prices. The same sheet has a column for the cash offer path, so both sets of figures come from the same assumptions.
Listing, set against the cash offer
You keep the upside of the open market: every buyer searching the area can see the house, and two of them wanting it at once is how prices get set. You carry more of the work and more of the waiting, and the sale depends on a stranger’s loan approval and appraisal.
It tends to fit a house that shows well, an owner who can live with showings, and a calendar with a few months of room in it.
You give up some price for a shorter list of things that can go wrong. No public listing, no repair list, and no lender in the middle. It depends entirely on an investor choosing to make an offer, which may not happen.
Listing questions sellers ask
How long does it take to sell a house after listing it?
It varies with the price, the condition of the house and the season. After an offer is accepted, a buyer who is financing usually needs several weeks for the inspection, appraisal and loan approval before closing. No timeline is promised.
Is the listing commission negotiable in Washington?
Yes. Brokerage compensation is negotiable. It is agreed in writing before the house goes on the market, along with how any buyer’s broker will be paid.
Do I have to fill out Form 17 before listing?
Most sellers of a Washington home do. Form 17 is the seller disclosure statement that RCW 64.06 requires, and only a few kinds of sales are exempt. Finishing it before the house goes on the market avoids delays once a buyer is found.
Who pays the excise tax when a house sells?
The seller, in the normal case. Escrow takes the state excise tax and any local rate out of the sale proceeds at closing, and it appears as its own line on your net sheet.
Do I need to stage my house before listing?
Not always. A vacant house, or one full of dated heavy furniture, often photographs better with some staging. A house that is already clean and uncluttered may need little more than paint and cleared counters.
Can I see a cash offer before I decide to list?
Yes. That is how this site is set up: a listing plan and a cash offer request for the same house, side by side, before you sign a listing agreement. A cash offer depends on whether an investor chooses to make one.
See the listing plan.
If listing looks right for your house, I’ll walk it with you and put the plan on paper, with the cash offer path beside it so you can compare.
Get both numbersOr call me at 206.940.0942
Email Austin.Hellickson@homexa.com