Buying a home in King County
To buy a house in King County, get a pre-approval from a local lender, sign a buyer brokerage agreement, and narrow the search by commute and school district. Then tour, pre-inspect when a listing sets an offer review date, write terms the seller values, and track each review period through closing.
How do I start a home search in King County?
Start with where your days go, then work back to the house. Before we look at a single listing, I want to know where you need to be each morning, how you’ll get there, which school district matters to you, and how much yard you really want to take care of.
The county is big and uneven. The drive from Kirkland to South Lake Union is easy before six and slow at eight. The SR 520 bridge is tolled; I-90 is not. Seattle lots tend to be small and the houses on them old. On the Sammamish Plateau, lots run larger and houses newer. Knowing those tradeoffs early keeps you from falling for a house that doesn’t work on a Tuesday.
Next, talk with a local lender. A fully underwritten pre-approval tells you your real ceiling and carries more weight with a listing broker than a quick prequalification letter. Then I set up a search on the Northwest MLS around the streets we’ve chosen, and we tour. Ten houses in the right two neighborhoods will teach you more than a month of scattered Sunday open houses.
Do I need to sign an agreement with a buyer’s agent?
Yes. Washington law requires a written buyer brokerage agreement before, or as soon as practical after, a broker starts working with you, and the agreement has to spell out how the broker is paid.
The agreement names the broker who represents you, sets a term (60 days unless you choose a longer one), says whether the relationship is exclusive, and states how the broker is compensated. That compensation is negotiable. Sometimes a seller offers to cover it, sometimes we ask for it as a term of the offer, and sometimes the buyer pays it. I walk through the agreement with you line by line before we tour, so nothing about it comes as a surprise at the offer table.
How do multiple offers work in Seattle and on the Eastside?
Many listings here set an offer review date, usually several days after the home goes live. The seller’s broker collects every offer until then and the seller reviews them together. Other sellers take offers as they arrive, and some will consider a pre-emptive offer before the review date. The listing usually says which.
When several buyers want the same house, the terms carry real weight next to the price: the size of the earnest money, how much of the purchase is financed, whether the offer depends on selling another home, how long you need to close, and how clean the inspection terms are. An escalation addendum can help, but it also shows the seller your ceiling, so I use it deliberately.
Before we write, I call the listing broker. Often they’ll say what the seller cares about most: a quick close, a rent-back, a firm number, certainty. An offer written to that, with every term easy to accept, can win without being the highest.
“Write to what the seller cares about, then make every term easy to say yes to.”
Should I get an inspection if the house has an offer review date?
Almost always, yes. In competitive situations the inspection often happens before the offer, as a pre-inspection, so you can write without an inspection contingency and still know what you’re buying.
Some sellers provide a pre-listing inspection report. Read it closely, but remember the seller commissioned it. On most houses I still suggest your own inspector, even if the visit is shorter and focused on the big systems.
Which inspections matter most in King County?
On older Seattle houses, add a sewer scope, a camera run down the side sewer to the street, where clay pipe, roots and offset joints are common. Ask for an oil tank sweep: many pre-war houses once heated with oil, and a buried tank that was never decommissioned is a real cost. Knob-and-tube wiring and unlined brick chimneys turn up in the same houses, along with foundations that were never bolted to the framing.
On the Eastside the list shifts toward roofs, decks, siding, windows and the age of the furnace or heat pump in homes built from the 1970s on. Anywhere on a hillside, look at drainage and retaining walls, and in Seattle check whether the lot sits in a mapped Environmentally Critical Area, which can limit what you build later. I cover that in more depth in what to check before buying a view home on a steep lot.
What review periods come with a Washington purchase?
Several clocks start at mutual acceptance, and each one gives you a chance to review something and, in some cases, walk away. Which ones apply depends on the contract you sign.
- Seller disclosure. Sellers of most homes give buyers a disclosure statement, the Form 17. Unless you waived it, you can rescind within three business days of receiving it.
- Inspection. If your offer includes an inspection contingency, it sets a number of days to inspect and ask for repairs or a credit.
- Condominium documents. Condo buyers receive a resale certificate with the budget, reserves and rules, and state law gives a short window to review it.
- Title. You review the preliminary title commitment for easements, liens and anything unexpected on the record.
- Financing and appraisal. Financed offers usually include a financing contingency, and the appraisal can reopen the price conversation.
Timelines vary by contract. I keep every date on a shared calendar, and I’ll remind you before each one closes.
Seattle or the Eastside: what changes for a buyer?
Most people who can work from either side of Lake Washington look at both. Most end up choosing by the bridge they’re willing to cross each morning and the school district they want.
Seattle
Seattle’s housing is older and more varied. You’ll find Craftsman bungalows and foursquares from the early 1900s, brick Tudors, midcentury ramblers, and a steady supply of new townhomes on lots that once held a single house. Many neighborhoods have a walkable business district: Ballard Avenue, Fremont, Columbia City, the Junction in West Seattle.
Seattle Public Schools assigns neighborhood schools by address. Link light rail and a dense bus network make car-light living realistic in much of the city. Older houses bring more questions about side sewers, wiring and remodels done without permits.
The Eastside
Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah, Sammamish and Mercer Island hold more homes built from the 1960s onward, larger lots on average, and a great deal of newer construction. Downtown Bellevue adds high-rise condos, and the tech campuses in Redmond and downtown Bellevue shape where many buyers want to be.
The Eastside cities are served by several school districts, including Bellevue, Lake Washington, Issaquah and Mercer Island, and the boundaries don’t always follow city lines. Sound Transit’s 2 Line now crosses the lake on I-90, linking Seattle with Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond. For most people the commute is by car over SR 520, I-90 or I-405, so test the drive at the hour you’d really make it.
I’m moving to King County from another state. Where do I start?
Start with a video call and a short list of neighborhoods, then plan one trip to see them in person. The first conversation can happen weeks before you arrive.
I’ll send you streets to drive and a few homes worth touring, and I’ll walk listings on video when you can’t be here. If you’re selling a home somewhere else, I can introduce you to an agent in the Homexa® network, 300+ agents across 25 states, so both sides of the move are handled by people who talk to each other.
Questions buyers ask
Short answers to what comes up before the first tour. Your purchase agreement governs the details.
Do I need a pre-approval before I tour houses?
You can tour without one, but get it early. Listing brokers expect a pre-approval letter with an offer, and a fully underwritten approval carries more weight than a quick prequalification. Knowing your real ceiling also keeps you from falling for a house you can’t write an offer on.
Who pays the buyer’s agent in Washington?
It’s set in your written buyer brokerage agreement, and it’s negotiable. A seller may offer to cover it, we can ask for it as a term of your offer, or you pay it yourself. I go over the agreement line by line before we tour so the number is clear from the start.
How much earnest money should I offer?
There is no fixed amount. Earnest money is negotiated in the offer and held by escrow until closing. A larger deposit can make an offer look more committed when other buyers are competing. Whether you’d get it back if the purchase falls apart depends on your contingencies and the contract, so we set it with both in mind.
What is an escalation addendum?
It lets your price rise automatically above a competing offer, in steps you choose, up to a cap you set. It can help when several buyers want the same house, but it also shows the seller your ceiling. I use one only when it fits the situation, and we set the cap together.
How long does it take to close on a house in King County?
The closing date is whatever the purchase agreement says, and it’s negotiated with the seller. A financed purchase needs time for the appraisal and underwriting, while a cash purchase can often move faster. Timelines vary, so I plan backward from the date you need to move.