A client asked me something last week that stuck with me. She and her husband have been going back and forth for months about whether to sell, and she finally just said, “Reba, with everything so expensive right now, it almost feels selfish to make a move.” I understood what she meant. When rates are sitting in the mid-6s and every trip to the grocery store makes you wince, a home sale can feel like a purely selfish, purely stressful thing you’re doing for your own family.
But that’s not really the whole picture, and I told her so.
A home sale moves a lot more money than the sale price
Here’s what most people never stop to think about. Real estate is one of the biggest engines in the entire economy. Nationally it came out to around $5.6 trillion in 2025, according to the National Association of REALTORS. And a huge portion of that isn’t giant corporations or Wall Street. It’s regular people. It’s a client in Kenmore selling the house she raised her kids in, and a young couple in Renton finally buying their first place. Deals like that, thousands of them, are what add up to that number.
When you sell or buy, the money doesn’t just move from one bank account to another and disappear. NAR figures a typical existing-home sale puts about $64,000 into the local economy. Buy something newly built and it’s north of $134,000, because more than half of that is the actual labor and materials of putting the house up. The rest is the stuff around the sale that people forget about: the agent and lender fees, and then all the spending that comes right after you get the keys. New couch. Fridge that actually works. The remodel you swore you wouldn’t do and started three weeks later. I’ve watched clients do exactly that more times than I can count.
One sale keeps a whole crew of people working
And I’ll tell you who feels it most: the people whose names never show up on the paperwork. Every closing I’ve ever been part of had a small army behind it. The inspector who caught the water heater that wasn’t hooked up right. The two-guys-and-a-truck moving crew. The lender, the escrow officer, the stager, the guy who comes out to fix the one thing the inspection flagged. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said it plainly: more home sales mean more work for everybody from lawn care to furniture stores to mortgage folks. In a year when people are watching every paycheck, keeping that whole chain of neighbors busy is not a small thing.
Why the Washington number runs higher
Now, where it gets interesting for us here in Washington is that our numbers run higher than the national average. That $134,000 figure for a new build? In pricey states it climbs fast. California is over $300,000 a sale. Hawaii tops $350,000. We sit toward the upper end of that range too, because our home values, especially around Seattle and the Eastside, are well above the middle of the country. I won’t quote you an exact Washington dollar amount, because I haven’t seen a figure I’d stake my name on, but if you want the number for your own neighborhood, that’s the kind of thing I’ll dig up when we sit down together.
The Washington wrinkle: your excise tax funds the community directly
There’s one more Washington wrinkle worth knowing, and it’s one the national articles never mention. When you sell here, you pay the state’s real estate excise tax, or REET. It’s on a sliding scale that’s been in place since the start of 2023: 1.1% on the first chunk of the price up to $525,000, 1.28% up to about $1.5 million, 2.75% up to roughly $3 million, and 3% above that. Most cities and counties tack on a little local REET too, usually a quarter to a half percent. I always walk my sellers through this early so the number at closing isn’t a gut-punch.
But here’s the part I actually like about it. That tax doesn’t go into a hole. The state’s share mostly funds the general budget, plus dedicated pieces that go to public works, to local city and county governments, and to a trust account that helps pay for schools. The local portion is set aside for local capital projects, the roads and parks and public buildings in your own town. So when I say a home sale gives back to the community around here, I don’t mean it as a warm-and-fuzzy figure of speech. In Washington, a slice of your sale literally helps pave a road and fund a classroom.
So should you make a move?
I’m not telling you any of this to talk you into a move you’re not ready for. Timing a home purchase or sale is personal, and it should be built around your life and your numbers, not a headline or a pep talk. If it’s genuinely not your season, it’s not your season.
But if you’ve been sitting on the fence feeling like a move would only matter to you and yours, I hope this shifts that a little. It matters to more people than you’ll ever meet. And when you are ready, I’d love to show you what it could mean, both for your family and for the community right outside your door. You can always reach me and the team at [email protected].
A few questions I get a lot
How much does one home sale add to the local economy?
According to the National Association of REALTORS, a typical existing-home sale adds about $64,000 to the local economy, and a newly built home adds more than $134,000. In high-value states like Washington, the figure runs higher than the national average.
What is Washington’s real estate excise tax, and who pays it?
Washington charges a graduated real estate excise tax (REET) on home sales, usually paid by the seller at closing. Since January 1, 2023 the state rate is 1.1% on the price up to $525,000, 1.28% up to $1,525,000, 2.75% up to $3,025,000, and 3% above that, and most cities and counties add a local REET of roughly 0.25% to 0.5%.
Where does Washington’s excise tax money go?
The state portion mostly funds the general budget, with dedicated shares going to public works, local city and county governments, and a trust account that helps pay for schools. The locally imposed REET is set aside for local capital projects such as roads, parks, and public buildings.
Rebecca “Reba” Haas has been helping people buy, sell, and invest across the Seattle area and greater Puget Sound since 2003. She leads Team Reba at RE/MAX Metro Eastside. This is general information, not tax or legal advice; Washington’s excise tax rates can change and vary by city, so check current figures with your escrow officer before closing.
