Sell your house fast in Des Moines, WA
"I want to sell my house fast in Des Moines, and it's one of the older ones." For that house Jason starts with a walkthrough, and when it's a fit, we buy houses like it as is. 59.7% of the city's houses predate 1980, and half the homes sold in May 2026 went under contract within 6 days.
It takes about a minute, there's no obligation, and your details are never sold.
or call Jason (425) 242-4673
- Real Estate Investor Since 2003
- Licensed Real Estate Broker
- Much of Washington, from Skagit to Thurston County and beyond
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Des Moines by the numbers
Each figure below names its source and its month, from data refreshed on .
What selling a house in Des Moines looks like right now
Des Moines houses that were ready for buyers hardly sat this spring. Redfin counted 23 sales in the city in May 2026; the median one went under contract in 6 days and closed at 101.8% of its asking price. With that few sales one month can swing, but a sale-to-list figure over 100% means the typical house found a buyer willing to pay the asking price or more.
The age of the housing is the other half of the picture. The median Des Moines home was built in 1974, and only 15.6% went up in 2000 or later, against 29.5% for King County as a whole. A large share of the city was built in the 1960s and 1970s, and the ramblers and split-levels of that era line the hillside streets above the water. Many of them still have their first windows, their first electrical panel, or a roof that has been patched more than once.
Prices have barely moved over the year. Zillow put the typical Des Moines home value at $597,964 in August 2026, down 0.5% from twelve months before. The Census Bureau's number, the median value owners reported across 2020 to 2024, is $597,000. The two come from different methods (a model of recent sales on one side, owners' own estimates on the other) and they happen to land close together here, so the page keeps them labelled apart.
Set beside the county, Des Moines is older and a little more owner-occupied. King County's median home was built in 1983 and 55.4% of its homes are lived in by their owners; in Des Moines the figures are 1974 and 60.6%. That mix means many sellers here are long-time owners with a lot of equity and a house that hasn't been updated in years, the kind of house that takes longest to sell on the open market.
Will a Des Moines house that needs work sell as fast as those numbers suggest? Usually not, because the quick sales are houses a buyer can finance without conditions. A buyer using an FHA or conventional loan needs the house to appraise, and many loans also require it to meet basic condition standards, so a leaking roof, a rotted deck or a dead furnace can hold the deal up until someone pays to fix it. With 59.7% of homes here more than four decades old, that's a lot of houses. You have three practical routes: repair first and then list, list as-is at a lower price to buyers who can pay cash or take on the work, or accept a cash offer for the house in its current condition. Each route leaves you a different amount once commission, excise tax, repairs and the months of carrying costs are counted. The worked example below runs those figures at the city's median sale price.
Owners live in 60.6% of the city's occupied homes, and the rest are rented, many of them in the apartment buildings along Pacific Highway South. The median gross rent in Des Moines is $1,799 a month against a median household income of $92,483, which is why a fair number of the city's single-family houses are rentals owned by someone who once lived in them. Selling one of those with a tenant still in it follows its own rules.
Which situations come up most in Des Moines?
The city's own numbers point to the situations below: 1960s and 1970s houses that need more than paint, a parent's home passing through King County probate, single-family rentals with tenants, co-owners who need to split a house, and property tax that has fallen behind. Each one changes what a sale asks of you.
How to sell my house fast in Des Moines when the house needs work
Houses from the 1960s and 1970s tend to fail inspections for a familiar set of reasons. Aluminum single-pane windows sweat every winter and rot the sills beneath them. Some electrical panels from that period come from brands that home inspectors and insurers flag on sight. Popcorn ceilings and old vinyl floor tiles can contain asbestos, which a buyer will want tested before any remodel, and cedar shake roofs that were never replaced, decks built close to the ground and crawlspaces with torn vapor barriers are all common at this age.
Selling as-is hands that list to the buyer, who prices it into the offer, so you don't line up contractors or pay for anything up front. If the house mostly needs paint, carpet and a good cleaning, a listing will likely leave you more, and Jason will tell you that directly.
A parent's house in Des Moines and King County probate
King County Superior Court hears probate in two buildings, the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle and the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, and the Kent building is the shorter drive from Des Moines. Once the court appoints a personal representative, that person signs for the estate. With nonintervention powers, the personal representative can sell the house without first getting a court order approving the sale (RCW 11.68.090).
Families sometimes hope Washington's small-estate affidavit will let them skip probate. It won't for the house: the affidavit covers money owed to the person who died and their personal property, while real estate needs probate or a non-probate transfer, such as a deed that already passes the house on death (RCW 11.62.010). It's worth asking the family's attorney early which path applies.
Another rule shapes an estate sale: a sale by the personal representative is one of the sales exempt from the seller disclosure statement, Form 17, which helps when nobody left alive knows the house's history (RCW 64.06.010).
The personal representative can also publish a notice to creditors, which puts a time limit on claims against the estate before the money is handed out to the heirs (RCW 11.40.051). Selling the house and holding the proceeds in the estate account while that runs is a common way to keep everyone protected.
Selling a Des Moines rental with a tenant in it
An owner who wants a single-family rental empty before selling must give the tenant at least 90 days' written notice that the tenancy is ending for that reason (RCW 59.18.650). Many landlords skip the wait and sell with the tenant in place. The buyer then takes over the lease, the rent and the security deposit, and the tenant's routine stays the same.
A walkthrough of a rented house needs the tenant's advance notice, and it goes better when the tenant knows what's planned. Have the lease, the deposit amount and a ledger of rent paid on hand.
At a median rent of $1,799, a Des Moines rental can carry its own costs, and some owners would rather sell it occupied to a buyer who wants the income. Others want it empty so it shows at its best to buyers who plan to live there. The first keeps rent coming in during the sale; the second costs you the notice period and the months the house sits empty while it sells.
Divorce, separation or a co-owner who wants out
When a married couple owns a Des Moines house as community property, Washington law requires both spouses to join in selling it, so one signature isn't enough even if only one name is on the loan (RCW 26.16.030). In a divorce, the decree or a written agreement usually says who signs and how the money splits. Siblings who inherited a house together face a similar question: everyone on title has to agree to the price and sign the deed.
Back property taxes and other liens
In King County, a house can go to tax foreclosure once its property tax has gone unpaid for three years, the point at which the treasurer can issue a certificate of delinquency (RCW 84.64.050). The county runs one auction a year, and an owner can still redeem by paying everything owed before it. The county card further down shows the next date once it's posted and still ahead.
A sale can clear more than the tax. Contractor liens, judgments and unpaid utility charges recorded against the property all appear on the title report, and escrow pays them out of your proceeds at closing so the buyer receives clear title.
King County specifics for Des Moines sellers
Des Moines is a King County city, so its recorded deeds and property tax run through King County offices, and a probate case opened in King County goes to its Superior Court. The card below lists the court and the treasurer, with the treasurer's tax foreclosure page for the current schedule.
County offices you may deal with in King County
Probate
King County Superior Court, Ex Parte and Probate
King County Courthouse, 516 3rd Ave, Seattle, or the Maleng Regional Justice Center, 401 4th Ave N, Kent.
Property tax and tax sales
King County Treasury, tax foreclosures
King County's 2026 auction covered taxes from 2022 and earlier, and an owner could redeem up to the day before it (RCW 84.64.050 sets the three-year trigger).
The next sale date isn't posted yet. The treasurer's page lists it once it is.
Two habits make a King County sale smoother. Look up the exact amount owed on the treasurer's site before you settle on a price, because back taxes, interest and penalties come off the top at closing. And if an estate is involved, open the probate early, since the personal representative can't sign a purchase agreement until the court has issued letters naming them.
Recording and the excise tax go through the county too. At closing, escrow files the real estate excise tax affidavit, pays the tax and records the deed with King County, and the buyer's name then appears on the assessor's records.
Kent, Covington and the county's other cities are covered on the King County page.
Cash sale or listing in Des Moines: a worked example
For example, picture a house that sells at the Des Moines median for May 2026, $588,000 (Redfin). Washington's graduated excise tax on that price comes to about $6,581, the 0.5% local excise tax adds $2,940, and every 1% of commission you agree to is $5,880.
| List it | Take a cash offer | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $588,000 | Your written offer |
| State excise tax | $6,581 | The same graduated rate, on the offer |
| Local excise tax (0.5%) | $2,940 | 0.5% of the offer |
| Commission | $5,880 for each 1% you agree | No listing commission |
| Repairs, prep, months on the market | Your bids and your monthly costs | Priced into the offer |
The blank rows are yours to fill in. Get bids for the items a buyer's inspector is sure to flag, add up your monthly mortgage, property tax, insurance and utilities for each month the house might be on the market, and take both totals out of the listing column. What's left is the fair number to hold against a written cash offer.
Commission is negotiable, and no law sets the rate. Since 2024, the buyer's agent's pay is agreed separately with the buyer, though many sellers still offer to cover some of it to widen the pool of buyers. Whatever you agree, the table shows what each point costs at this price. The excise tax is the seller's to pay in Washington, and escrow takes it out at closing on either path, so it narrows the gap less than people expect.
Jason can show you both columns for your own house: a written cash offer when it fits, and what a listing would likely net when the house is ready to list, since he is also a licensed broker. Jason Bryant is a licensed broker with Windermere Real Estate (license 101377).
In a month when the median house went under contract in 6 days, the listing itself is short for a house that's ready. The time goes into getting it ready: clearing out, repairs, cleaning and photos. For a 1970s house that one family lived in for decades, that part can run far longer than the sale.
How a sale works with Jason in Des Moines
The steps don't change from city to city. In Des Moines they start with a call about the house and a walkthrough, and nothing has to be fixed, cleaned or emptied beforehand.
You call or send the address
Tell Jason a little about the house and what you need from the sale.
We schedule a walkthrough
One visit, in person, with no cleaning or repairs first.
You get your options in writing
A written cash offer when the house is a fit, and what a listing would likely leave you, side by side. Jason Bryant is a licensed broker with Windermere Real Estate (license 101377).
You choose
Take the offer, list, or do neither, with no obligation to pick any of them.
It closes at a title company
A licensed title or escrow company handles the money and the deed, on the date you agree.
A licensed escrow or title company closes every sale. It holds the money, pays off the mortgage and any liens, and sends the deed to the King County Recorder's Office to be recorded. Each step is laid out on the how-it-works page. On the walkthrough itself, we go room by room and then outside: the roof and gutters, the crawlspace, the panel, the water heater, the windows and the drainage around the foundation, telling you what we see as we go.
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Des Moines housing, from the marina to Pacific Highway
Des Moines stretches along Puget Sound south of Sea-Tac Airport, and its houses change as you climb away from the water. Near the marina and along Marine View Drive, homes sit on slopes facing west; farther east, toward Pacific Highway South, the streets flatten out and the lots get more regular.
Lots in the older subdivisions are often generous by today's standards. A buyer may see a small 1960s house on a big lot as a candidate for an addition or a rebuild and price it that way, which is one reason two houses of the same size can sell far apart.
Redondo, at the south end of the city, has its boardwalk and beach, and the hillside behind it holds everything from small older homes to later houses built for the view. Most of the rest of the city is mid-century subdivisions, where one street of split-levels from the same builder can look nearly identical until you see how each owner kept theirs up.
A house on a slope raises its own questions for a buyer: the retaining walls, where water goes when it runs off the hill, and the condition of stairs and decks built out over the grade. They rarely stop a sale, but an inspector walks to them first, and they cost a lot to repair on short notice.
About 56.3% of Des Moines housing is single-family detached. The rest is condos, townhouses and apartments, many of them near Pacific Highway South and the Kent Des Moines light rail station. Ideal Home Sale mostly buys single-family houses, and a condo or small multi-unit building gets a case-by-case look, explained on the property types page.
What a 1970s Des Moines house needs before it can be listed
Getting a 1970s house ready for the market usually comes down to a few big-ticket items and a long list of small ones. The big ones decide whether a buyer's loan can close; the small ones decide how the listing photographs and how many people book a showing.
The big items tend to be the roof, the heat, the windows and anything water has reached. Plenty of houses from that decade were built with electric baseboard heaters, which still work but cost more to run than a heat pump, and buyers ask to see the winter utility bills. A roof at the end of its life or a crawlspace holding water can hold up a buyer's loan until it's fixed.
The small items add up quickly: original bathrooms, worn carpet, a kitchen that dates from the year the house was built, and a garage or basement room finished without a permit. An appraiser may not give full value for unpermitted space, so a buyer may not pay for it either. If you know work was done, check the City of Des Moines permit records before you list.
Add the months it takes to book contractors and the carrying costs on a house you may already have moved out of, and the gap between a repaired listing and an as-is sale can turn out smaller than it first looks. Put your own bids into the worked example above before you choose.
One piece of paperwork follows the age of the house rather than its condition. For a home built before 1978, federal rules require the seller to disclose any lead-based paint they know about and hand the buyer the standard pamphlet, whether the house is listed or sold for cash. If an old inspection or abatement report exists, keep it with the other house papers.
Selling a Des Moines house you've already moved out of
Some Des Moines sellers have already moved to a smaller place or closer to family, and the house sits empty while they decide what to do. An empty house brings costs and risks that an occupied one doesn't, and they're worth weighing before you choose how to sell.
Many homeowner policies limit coverage once a house has been empty for a stretch, so call your insurer and ask what yours says about a vacant house. Keep the heat on low through the winter so pipes don't freeze, and have someone check the house after big storms, when gutters overflow and wind brings down branches. A house near the water takes the weather first, and a wet winter shows up in an empty house as musty air, a damp crawlspace and mildew on the window frames.
Then there's the monthly bill: the mortgage if there is one, property tax, insurance, power, water and sewer, and yard care so the place doesn't look abandoned. Multiply that by the months a repair-and-list plan might take, and you have the number that belongs in the carrying-costs row of the worked example.
If the house is still full of furniture and belongings, that doesn't have to be sorted before a walkthrough. Some sellers take what they want and leave the rest; how the rest is handled gets settled in the written terms. Clearing out a house that held one family for forty years is a job of its own, and it doesn't have to be finished before you know what the house is worth.
Pricing a Des Moines house in a flat market
With values down 0.5% over the year, the price a Des Moines house brings depends more on its condition and its asking price than on any rise in the market. A house that's priced right and ready to show still draws buyers quickly; one that's priced on last year's hopes tends to sit.
Zillow counted 115 Des Moines homes listed for sale in August 2026, with a median of 26 days to pending. That's slower than Redfin's spring figure of 6 days, and the two shouldn't be mixed: one is a late-summer count of every listing that went pending, the other covers the sales that closed in one spring month. Read together, they say the market cooled a little after spring, as it usually does here.
For a seller, the useful comparison is the handful of houses like yours that sold nearby in the last few months: the same era, a similar size, and the same kind of condition. A renovated split-level two streets over isn't a fair comparison for one with its original kitchen and roof. An agent's comparative market analysis or a recent appraisal gives you that list, and it's worth having before you weigh any offer.
A cash offer for a house that needs work will come in under those renovated sales, because the buyer is carrying the repairs, the holding costs and the risk of what turns up once the walls are open. Judge the offer against what the house would net you after the repairs were done and paid for.
What to gather before selling a Des Moines house
A few papers make any Des Moines sale go more smoothly, whichever way you sell. None of them are needed for the first walkthrough, but having them early keeps a closing date from slipping while someone hunts for a document.
What to have handy
- The latest King County property tax statement, which shows the parcel number and anything still owed.
- The lender's payoff figure for the mortgage and any home equity line.
- Permits, receipts or warranties for a roof, furnace, water heater or other major work.
- For an estate, the death certificate and the court's letters naming the personal representative.
- For a rental, the lease, the deposit amount and the rent ledger.
- For a house built before 1978, any lead paint test or abatement report you have.
- For a condo or a house in an HOA, the association's contact details and the current dues.
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If something is missing, the title company can pull the recorded documents itself, including the deed, the legal description and any liens filed against the property. Old permits are a different matter: the City of Des Moines keeps those, and a records request is the way to find out what was signed off and when.
Questions sellers ask
Are home values in Des Moines going up or down?
They've barely moved over the past year. Zillow's typical value for the city was $597,964 in August 2026, which works out down 0.5% on the year, so a buyer today pays about what a buyer paid last summer for the same house. Condition matters more than timing in a market like that.
How fast do houses sell in Des Moines?
Houses that are ready to show move fast. The median Des Moines sale in May 2026 went pending after 6 days on the market (Redfin, 23 sales), and Zillow's median days to pending for August 2026 was 26. A house that needs repairs first takes longer to reach that stage.
Do you buy houses in Des Moines as-is?
Yes, when the house is a fit: a cash offer on a single-family house as it stands, from a dated split-level to one with a failing roof or a wet crawlspace. You don't repair or clean anything first, and you'll hear plainly if the house would do better on the open market. Belongings left inside are fine too.
Where is probate filed for a Des Moines house?
In King County Superior Court, which takes probate at the courthouse on 3rd Avenue in Seattle and at the Maleng Regional Justice Center on 4th Avenue North in Kent. Whoever the court appoints as personal representative signs the sale for the estate, and the Kent building is the nearer of the two for most Des Moines families.
When is King County's tax sale?
Once a year, for property with at least three years of unpaid tax. The treasurer posts the auction date and the redemption deadline on its tax foreclosure page, and the county card here shows the next date while it's ahead.
Is Des Moines a buyer's or seller's market?
For move-in-ready houses it favors sellers. In May 2026 the average sale closed at 101.8% of list price (Redfin), slightly over asking, though 23 sales make a small sample. Houses that need work don't get that premium, since most buyers using a loan pass on them.
Do you buy condos and townhouses in Des Moines?
Sometimes. Ideal Home Sale looks mostly at single-family houses, and a condo or townhouse gets a case-by-case look that depends on the building, the association and the unit itself. Send the address and you'll get a straight answer about whether it fits.
What does it cost to sell a house in Des Moines?
At the city's median sale price, the state excise tax runs about $6,581 and the local tax about $2,940, and the seller pays both. Commission adds $5,880 for each point you agree to, before repairs, cleaning and the months you carry the house. A cash sale has the same excise tax and no listing commission.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimateschecked
- Zillow Research, Zillow Home Value Index (typical home value, mid tier)checked
- Zillow Research, median days to pending and for-sale inventorychecked
- Redfin Data Center, city market tracker (all residential, monthly)checked
- Washington Department of Revenue, real estate excise taxchecked
- Washington Department of Revenue, local REET rates effective January 1, 2026 (form 84-0013)checked
- RCW 11.68.090, sale of estate property under nonintervention powerschecked
- RCW 11.62.010, small-estate affidavit and its limitschecked
- RCW 59.18.650, notice to tenants when an owner sells a single-family homechecked
- RCW 64.06.010, sales exempt from the seller disclosure statementchecked
- RCW 11.40.051, time limits on creditor claims against an estatechecked
- RCW 26.16.030, community property and the joinder of both spouseschecked
- RCW 84.64.050, certificate of delinquency after three years of unpaid taxchecked
- Washington Courts directory, King County Superior Courtchecked
- King County Superior Court, ex parte and probate procedureschecked
- King County Treasury, tax foreclosureschecked
Tell Jason about your Des Moines house
Send the address and a line about the house, and we'll call you back to set up a walkthrough. Whatever we propose comes to you in writing before you decide anything.
It takes about a minute, there's no obligation, and your details are never sold.
or call Jason (425) 242-4673