Buying a home in Seattle, Washington

As of January 1, 2026, the FHA limit for a one-unit home in King County is $1,063,750 and the conforming limit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans is also $1,063,750, per HUD’s FHA Mortgage Limits lookup. HUD lists the median sale price for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area at $925,000 on the same record.

Those limits decide which loan a purchase fits. Above the FHA limit, an FHA loan is off the table for that home. Above the conforming limit, the loan is a jumbo. Buying two to four units and living in one raises both limits, as the table shows.

In Washington the lender’s security on the home is usually a deed of trust under the state’s Deeds of Trust Act, chapter 61.24 of the Revised Code of Washington, which says a deed of trust may be foreclosed by trustee’s sale. For a buyer the paperwork reads differently from a mortgage but the obligation to repay is the same.

Washington is also a community property state under RCW 26.16.030, which treats property a couple gains during a marriage or state-registered domestic partnership as shared unless it is separate property. If you are married and buying alone, raise it at the start rather than in underwriting.

A large share of Seattle income arrives as stock or bonus rather than base salary. Vested equity with a documented history can often be counted; a grant that has not vested generally cannot. Bring the paperwork to the first conversation. A lot of close-in inventory is also condo, and condo financing turns on the building as well as on you, so ask early.

For an eligible veteran or service member, a VA loan is often the strongest option on a home they will live in. I am an Army veteran myself, so this is a file I am glad to look at. Investing in Seattle instead? That is a different kind of loan, covered on the Seattle investment property page.