How to Buy a House in Washington: Complete Guide

In August 2026 the median listing price of a Washington home was $649,000 and the median time on market was 54 days, per Realtor.com® Economic Research. One Washington statute shapes every offer: RCW 64.06.030 gives you three business days to rescind the purchase agreement once the seller’s disclosure statement arrives — a call it leaves to “the buyer’s sole discretion.”

How a purchase closes in Washington: escrow agents, LPOs, filed title rates

Escrow agents must hold a license. RCW 18.44.021: “unlawful for any person to engage in business as an escrow agent … unless such person possesses a valid license.” RCW 18.44.021(1) excuses banks, trust companies, savings and loan associations, credit unions, insurance companies and federally approved housing lenders; lawyers running escrows through their practice’s trust account; brokers acting incidentally to their own sales for no separate escrow fee; joint control agents paying construction costs; court-supervised receivers, trustees and fiduciaries; and title insurers holding a state certificate of authority and their licensed title agents.

The closing papers come from limited practice officers. APR 12, a Washington Supreme Court rule, licenses non-lawyers to “select, prepare and complete legal documents incident to the closing of real estate … transactions.” An LPO works only from Limited Practice Board-approved forms — deeds, notes, deeds of trust, excise tax affidavits — and only after all clients have agreed in writing to the basic terms. It then requires written notice that the LPO “is not acting as the advocate or representative of either of the clients,” cannot give legal advice about the documents, and that you “have a right to be represented by lawyers of their own selection.”

Title insurance rates pass the Insurance Commissioner before use. RCW 48.29.147 requires every title insurer to “file with the commissioner” each rate schedule “before using” it, effective no earlier than thirty days after receipt. WAC 284-29A-030: “On and after July 1, 2016, all rates used in Washington state must be filed and approved under RCW 48.29.147.”

What you pay to state and county at transfer

Recording your deed costs $303.50 for a one-page document under the fee statutes (RCW 36.18.010, 36.22.185, 36.22.250 plus smaller surcharges), the figure the King County recorder publishes. The excise tax sits with the seller by statute (RCW 82.45.080). Unpaid tax stays “a specific lien upon each parcel” (RCW 82.45.070), and the Department of Revenue warns that if the seller does not pay, “the buyer is responsible” — the lien lands “on the property itself.” Check the tax payment. Even an exempt deed owes the $5 technology fee and a $10 minimum. In San Juan County the conservation land bank tax “shall be the obligation of the purchaser” (RCW 82.46.070(1)(a)). Check the brackets. San Juan has its own split. Both appear in the Washington closing costs guide; the seller side is how to sell a house in Washington.

The seller’s disclosure statement, and your three business days

For improved residential real property — one to four dwelling units is the core case (full definition: RCW 64.06.005) — the seller must hand you a completed, signed and dated disclosure statement within five business days of mutual acceptance, “or as otherwise agreed to” (RCW 64.06.020, 64.06.030). Exempt transfers include, among others, foreclosures and deeds in lieu, gifts to a parent, spouse, domestic partner or child, transfers between spouses or domestic partners under a dissolution, and transfers by a personal representative or bankruptcy trustee; a buyer can waive the statement but never its “Environmental” section when any answer there would be “yes” (full list: RCW 64.06.010). See the Washington seller disclosure guide.

Within three business days of receiving it you approve the statement or rescind — “which decision may be made by the buyer in the buyer’s sole discretion” (RCW 64.06.030). Rescission takes written notice, returns every deposit “less any agreed disbursements,” and voids the agreement; Silence counts as approval. Keep the receipt date. Learn of a bad answer before closing — from anyone outside your side — and an amended statement restarts a fresh three-business-day period, unless the seller fixes it “at least three business days prior to the closing date”; a closing inside the period moves to its end (RCW 64.06.040). Miss the statement entirely and the right runs until the earlier of three business days after you finally receive it or the closing, unless you waived it in writing (RCW 64.06.040(3)). Read the forms. Save your notices. Track the receipt dates.

Down payment help from the Housing Finance Commission

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission lends, never grants: “All our downpayment assistant programs are provided as payment-deferred loans,” each paired with a Home Advantage or House Key Opportunity first mortgage. The Home Advantage DPA “Offers 3%, 4%, or 5% of the first-mortgage loan amount in downpayment assistance at 0% interest”; the statewide income limit is $215,000, first-time homeownership is not required, the home must be your principal residence, and a free Commission homebuyer class is mandatory. The second loan takes no monthly payment, comes due on sale, refinance, transfer, move-out or payoff, and covers closing costs too. The Covenant Homeownership Program lends to first-time buyers with family history in Washington before April 1968; lenders must pre-reserve funds as “demand is outpacing the monthly supply.” Start with mortgage pre-approval. Then compare Washington first-time buyer programs and down payment assistance programs.

Agent pay and the license lookup

Under the NAR settlement practice changes — NAR/REALTOR® MLS policy, not federal law — written buyer agreements are required before touring a home, and offers of compensation “can no longer be shared on Multiple Listing Services,” though a seller may still communicate them off-MLS; the changes took effect August 17, 2024. Sellers can still offer buyer concessions on an MLS, and compensation “remains fully negotiable and is not set by law.” Verify any broker in the Washington Department of Licensing’s license status lookup, Check the active status. Check the expiration date.

Washington buyer questions

Can I back out after reading the seller disclosure?

Yes — you have three business days from receipt to rescind in your “sole discretion,” with written notice; deposits return less agreed disbursements (RCW 64.06.030).

Who pays the excise tax on my purchase?

The seller, by statute: “The tax levied under this chapter is the obligation of the seller” (RCW 82.45.080). If it goes unpaid, the Department of Revenue says “the buyer is responsible,” and the amount stays “a specific lien upon each parcel” (RCW 82.45.070).

What changes on January 1, 2027?

The excise tax brackets reset — the first reaches $551,000 instead of $525,000 — and the disclosure statement’s environmental section gains “Does the property include a family burial ground, mausoleum, or columbarium?” (chapter 173, Laws of 2026).