Selling a house in Spokane
Spokane, the South Hill, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake and Cheney
Selling in Spokane County mostly comes down to two things: how old the house is, and what month it is. Older brick and Craftsman homes go more smoothly when the heating system and the sewer line are explained up front. Winter sales go more smoothly when the driveway is clear and the lights are on.
What Spokane buyers check first in an older house
In a Spokane house built before the Second World War, buyers and their inspectors focus on what’s hidden: an old heating oil tank, original wiring, the sewer line, radon and the basement. Find out where you stand on each before you list or ask for cash offers, so the answers are already in your file when a buyer’s inspector goes looking.
Heating oil tanks
Many older Spokane homes were heated with oil, and plenty still have a tank in the basement or buried in the yard, even if the furnace was switched to gas decades ago. Buyers often ask for a tank scan. If a tank turns up, the usual paths are removal or decommissioning in place, with paperwork to prove it. Washington’s Pollution Liability Insurance Agency has programs for heating oil tanks that are worth looking up before you pay for anything.
Wiring and plumbing from another era
Knob-and-tube wiring still turns up in South Hill and north side houses, sometimes live, sometimes abandoned in the walls. Some insurance companies hesitate to cover it, which makes a financed buyer hesitate too. Galvanized steel water lines are the plumbing version of the same story. You can sell with either in place. Just know which you have before an inspector tells you.
The sewer line to the street
The line from your house to the city main is usually the owner’s responsibility. In older neighborhoods it may be clay or cast iron, and the big street trees on those blocks send roots into the joints. A sewer scope is a common inspection request. Having one done first, and having the video, takes the surprise out of the negotiation.
Radon
Spokane County is known for high radon levels, and many buyers test during their inspection period. If you have an older mitigation system, find the paperwork. If you have never tested, a short-term test before listing costs little and answers a question that will be asked anyway.
Lead paint in homes built before 1978
Federal law requires sellers of homes built before 1978 to disclose any lead-based paint they know about and to give buyers the standard pamphlet. Most of Spokane’s older housing falls under this rule. It is routine paperwork, and it belongs in the file from the first day.
Basements and foundations
Spokane’s older homes nearly all have basements, and a century of freeze and thaw leaves its marks: efflorescence on the walls, a patched crack, a sump pump that works hard in March. Buyers expect some of that in a house this age. What worries them is water they can’t explain.
Neighborhood by neighborhood
Comparable sales only mean something when they come from houses like yours. A South Hill Tudor gets measured against other South Hill brick, and a Valley split-level against other Valley split-levels.
- The South Hill 99203 · 99223
Brick Tudors, Craftsman bungalows and colonial revivals around Manito Park and Rockwood, with newer homes farther up the hill. It is in Spokane Public Schools, and buyers shopping here expect old-house quirks. The steep blocks are a real factor in winter: a showing on an unplowed hill is a showing that gets rescheduled.
- The older north side
The Garland District, Emerson-Garfield, Logan near Gonzaga, and Hillyard, which began as a railroad town and still feels like one. Smaller bungalows and cottages, many of them rentals at one point or another. This is where a cash offer request is more often worth pricing out, because deferred maintenance takes a bigger bite out of a smaller sale price.
- Spokane Valley 99206 · 99216 · 99037
Incorporated as its own city in 2003. A lot of 1950s through 1970s ranches and split-levels, then newer subdivisions toward Greenacres and the east end. Three school districts cover most of it (Central Valley, East Valley and West Valley), and buyers do sort by district, so know which one you’re in.
- Liberty Lake 99019
Mostly built in the last few decades, along I-90 near the Idaho line. Many homes sit inside homeowners associations. Depending on when the association was formed, Washington law may require you to give the buyer a resale certificate from the HOA; your agent or an attorney can tell you which rules apply. Associations take time to produce these documents, so order them early. Your competition here is often new construction.
- Cheney 99004
Home to Eastern Washington University, southwest of Spokane on SR 904, with the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge just outside town. A good share of the single-family homes near campus are rentals, and leases tend to follow the school year. If yours has a tenant, timing the sale around the lease often matters more than any repair.
Selling a Spokane house in winter
You can sell a house in Spokane between November and March. Fewer people are shopping, and the ones who are tend to have a reason to move. What changes is the preparation: access, light, heat and honest photos.
The walk to the front door
Clear the driveway and the steps before every showing, and keep ice melt by the door. The city expects property owners to clear the sidewalk in front of the house after a snowfall, and buyers notice the houses that don’t. A plow berm across the driveway at the end of the day is the Spokane equivalent of a locked gate.
Light
In late December the sun sets around four in the afternoon. Most after-work showings happen in the dark. Turn on every light before a showing, and make sure the porch and the path are lit. A dark house in January reads as a cold house, even when it isn’t.
Heat, pipes and the empty house
Buyers and inspectors will run the heat, so have the furnace or boiler serviced and keep the receipt. If the house is vacant, keep it heated and check it after every cold snap. Talk to your insurance agent too: many homeowner policies change or limit coverage once a house has sat empty for a while. One burst pipe can add an insurance claim and a repair crew to what was a simple sale.
Roofs under snow
An inspector often can’t walk a roof covered in snow and will write it up as not fully inspected. Expect the buyer to ask for a closer look later, or for a credit. Ice dams along the eaves of older homes point to attic insulation and ventilation, and a buyer’s inspector will say so. If you have roof records, put them in the file.
Photos from another season
A listing shot in August and still online in January misleads buyers, and they notice when they pull up to a snowbank. Use current exterior photos, or label seasonal ones clearly. Interiors can be photographed any time, and a warm, lit room looks good in every month.
Cash offer or listing in Spokane: how to decide
Start with the house. If it is an older home that needs a new heating system and a tank decommissioned, and you have neither the time nor the money to handle those, a cash buyer who prices them in may leave you close to what a listing would, after costs. If the house is sound and only needs cleaning and a weekend of small repairs, the open market usually pays more.
Then look at the calendar. A move for work or a house going empty for the winter changes the math. I put both options on one net sheet so you can see the real difference.
What helps me compare your two options
The address and the year it was built, if you know it. Then what you know about the big systems: furnace or boiler, roof, sewer, electrical, and any oil tank. Keep receipts and old inspection reports; they answer a buyer’s questions before anyone asks. If it is an estate, tell me who has authority to sign.
With that, I can pull comparable sales from homes that are actually like yours and tell you what I expect from cash buyers. How a cash offer request works
Selling in Spokane this winter or next spring starts with one phone call.
Send me the address, or call. I’ll tell you what I think a listing looks like and whether cash buyers are likely to be interested.
206.940.0942