This week we got a call from someone who had found us through a referral. They'd been sitting on the question for months. They had put real money into their home over the years: renovations, improvements, updates they believed in. Before they could seriously consider selling, they needed to know one thing: would the sale actually allow them to recoup what they had invested? If not, they'd need to rethink their plans entirely. Maybe a different timeline. Maybe a different approach. It wasn't a casual question. It was a real financial threshold they were standing at, and they needed an honest answer before they could move forward.
A few weeks ago, we hosted our spring client party. It's a chance to step away from transactions and just be with the people we've had the privilege of working with. We catch up on kids, jobs, life.
But this year, a question kept finding us across different conversations throughout the afternoon. Are people selling right now? Is this a good time to make a move? Should we rent out our existing home or just sell it?
People weren't asking us to list their home on the spot. They were wondering out loud. Testing the idea. Trying to figure out if what they were feeling was unique to them or something others were feeling too.
It wasn't unique. We've heard some version of this question more in the past few months than in any stretch we can recently remember. And we understand why.
The world feels genuinely uncertain right now. Tariffs are raising the cost of goods. Some of the most stable-seeming careers in tech and beyond are feeling less predictable than they did two years ago. Geopolitical unrest hums in the background of almost every news cycle. And underneath all of it, there's a quieter, more personal question: if things shift, what happens to what we've built?
When the world feels unsteady, your home is one of the last things you want to make a wrong move on. So the question "should we sell?" is often really asking something deeper: Do we have any control right now? Are we making good decisions for our family?
We want to try to answer that honestly.
What we're watching
One of the tools we rely on most is the Market Action Index from Altos Research. It tracks the balance between sales velocity and available inventory in real time — above 30 favors sellers, below 30 favors buyers. We pair it with the rate of price reductions, which tends to confirm what the MAI is already suggesting.
The seasonal context matters here. May is historically the strongest selling window of the year. When price reductions are elevated and the MAI is falling in spring, it tells us something real is happening, not just seasonal noise.
What we're seeing across four markets right now
These four markets aren't one story. They're a spectrum, and where you fall on it matters.
Seattle
Seattle is the most resilient market we're tracking. The MAI is holding steady at 50, putting it clearly in seller's market territory. Price reduction rates have come down from their fall 2025 peak and are running at levels that are reasonably normal for this time of year. The mid-tier segments of the market, homes in the $800,000 to $1.3M range, are still absorbing demand well. Seattle proper is not a market in distress.
Edmonds
Edmonds is quietly the strongest position for sellers right now. Inventory is the tightest of any market we're tracking, with only 89 active listings. The MAI ticked up slightly this week to 46. Recent price reduction rates have been declining, which suggests spring buyers are engaged and motivated. If you're in the Edmonds area and you've been thinking about selling, the current conditions are working in your favor.
Sammamish
Sammamish is at an inflection point. The MAI dropped six points in a single month, from 46 to 40. Price reductions are running around 28 percent, which in prior years was fall and winter territory, not May. Prices are holding for now. But both indicators are pointing in the same direction. Sellers still have a slight edge, well-priced homes are still moving, and yet the data is sending a clear early warning. The window feels like it's beginning to narrow.
Bellevue
Bellevue has seen the most significant shift of any market we track. The MAI is at 36 and declining. Price reductions are running well above prior spring floors. Average days on market have stretched to 77 days across the market. Altos Research's own narrative language calls it a buyer's market where prices are actively falling. That's a meaningful departure from where Bellevue was 18 months ago, and it's most pronounced at the higher price points. Sellers can still transact in Bellevue. But clear eyes and careful pricing strategy are more important here than anywhere else on this list.
Not everyone asking this question has the same answer
Here's what we've learned from doing this long enough: the right move depends far more on your situation than on the market. The market is one input, not the whole answer.
If you need to move, the market is largely secondary to your life. A job change, a growing family, aging parents who need you closer, a relationship that has changed your circumstances. These are the variables that actually drive the decision. People have successfully bought and sold in every kind of market. Waiting for a perfect window that may never come is its own kind of risk.
If you want to move and have financial flexibility, this is where the data matters most. In Seattle and Edmonds, you still have meaningful leverage. In Sammamish and Bellevue, you can still sell well, but pricing strategy matters more than it did a year ago. The days of listing at an aspirational number and waiting for the market to catch up are largely behind us in most submarkets right now.
If you're wondering whether you should sell as a purely financial strategy, that requires a different conversation. It means looking at what you'd actually net after costs, where you'd go next, what that move costs you, and whether the math genuinely works in your favor. In most cases, we'd encourage you to run those numbers carefully before making a decision driven more by anxiety than intention.
The rent-it-out question
A growing number of people are asking this one: "What if we just rented our house instead of selling?" It's a reasonable question, and sometimes the right answer. But it deserves an honest look before you commit.
Here's a number worth knowing. Seattle ranks fourth worst among large U.S. cities for rental yield, coming in at 4.63 percent. What that means in practice: with home prices in Seattle approaching a million dollars, the rental income most homes can generate doesn't come close to reflecting the asset's value.
You're not renting a million-dollar asset for what a million-dollar asset should return. Investors and economists who track this describe Seattle as an appreciation market, not a cash flow market. People who make money holding Seattle real estate over time tend to do so because the home went up in value, not because the rent check covered their costs comfortably.
That doesn't mean renting your home is always wrong. It can make sense when the rental income meaningfully covers your carrying costs, when you have a clear long-term plan to return or hold the asset, and when you're genuinely prepared for the responsibilities that come with being a landlord. Maintenance calls, tenant relationships, vacancy periods, and property management fees are all part of the picture. It is not a passive decision.
What we see more often than we'd like is homeowners choosing to rent because selling feels scary in the moment, not because renting is actually the right financial or strategic move. If the decision is being driven primarily by market anxiety rather than a clear long-term plan, it's worth slowing down. We're always happy to model both scenarios side by side so the decision is grounded in the actual numbers, not the feeling.
If you're sitting with this question
We'd love to have the conversation. No agenda, no pressure, and no pitch. Just an honest look at your specific situation, your home, your neighborhood, and what the data actually says about your options.
