Flat-fee MLS in Washington

What you save, and what you take on

On a $450,000 sale in Washington, a 2.5% listing commission is $11,250. A flat-fee Multiple Listing Service (MLS) package typically runs a few hundred dollars. That difference, $10,800, is the entire financial case for selling this way.

In exchange you inherit the listing agent’s job. Pricing it right, getting decent photographs, writing the thing, answering the phone, standing in the kitchen every Saturday, and then negotiating a contract with someone who may do this for a living.

Whether that is a good trade depends on what your time is worth and whether haggling over a six-figure number sounds tolerable or awful. Both answers are legitimate.

What Washington charges no matter who sells the house

Washington charges a graduated real estate excise tax paid by the seller: 1.10% up to $525,000, 1.28% to $1,525,000, 2.75% to $3,025,000, then 3.00%. Local jurisdictions add a surcharge on top, 0.25% in most counties and 0.50% in King County cities. The 1.35% shown is the state 1.10% plus a typical 0.25% local surcharge.

Who pays the owner's title policy here is set by local custom and is commonly the buyer, so it is left out of the seller's column. Confirm locally.

Where in Washington matters

Local transfer taxes can dwarf the state rate. These are the ones worth knowing about before you price the house:

• King County (Seattle): about 1.60% for the seller. King County cities levy a 0.50% local surcharge rather than the 0.25% common elsewhere, on top of the state 1.10% rate for a sale under $525,000.