Lead with the answer: one sheet, two columns, identical line items
If a client asks you to put the renovate-first recommendation in writing, the document that settles it is a net sheet with two columns that carry the same line items. Not a renovation cost estimate next to a comparative market analysis. Two columns, same rows, both ending in a dollar figure the seller can put in their pocket.
The failure mode is not dishonesty, it is incompleteness. Most net sheets stop at commission and excise tax because that is all the as-is side needs. The renovated side needs four more rows, and if you leave them off, the renovated column looks better than it is.
Add them and something useful happens: the comparison becomes defensible, and in some cases it tells you to list as-is. This post gives the rows, the order, and a clearly labeled hypothetical with round numbers. Swap in your own market data and your client's actual payoff.
The rows every Washington net sheet needs
Both columns get all of these, in this order.
1. Contract sale price. As-is column: your as-is pricing opinion, supported by comps. Renovated column: your post-renovation pricing opinion, also supported by comps. Label both as opinions with a date on them.
For context on the market you are pricing into, the NWMLS August 2026 snapshot put the median sales price for homes and condominiums sold across its service area at $635,000, down 2.3% from August 2025, with King County at $845,000 and Snohomish at $724,500. County medians in Washington vary enormously, so use your own submarket.
2. Real estate excise tax (REET). This is the row agents most often flatten into a single percentage, and in Washington that is wrong. The state portion is graduated. Under the Department of Revenue's structure in effect since January 1, 2023, the state portion is 1.10% on the portion of the price up to $525,000, 1.28% from there to $1,525,000, 2.75% from there to $3,025,000, and 3.00% above that.
Those thresholds change for closings on or after January 1, 2027. DOR says the thresholds are adjusted every four years under RCW 82.45.060, and its published 2027 table moves them to $551,000, $1,551,000 and $3,051,000 with the same rates. If a listing could close on either side of New Year's Day, run the row both ways, and confirm the current brackets before you circulate a sheet.
Then add the local portion. MRSC explains that any city, town or county may impose a first local REET of 0.25%, and a jurisdiction fully planning under the Growth Management Act may impose a second 0.25%, and that almost every jurisdiction in the state has imposed at least the first. Look up the combined local rate for the parcel's location code rather than assuming it.
The Department of Revenue notes that the seller usually pays REET, but if the seller does not, the buyer is responsible.
Because the state portion is graduated, a higher renovated sale price does not just raise this row proportionally, it can push a slice of the price into a higher bracket. Calculate the renovated column's REET on the renovated price, not by scaling the as-is number.
3. Commissions. Use the actual figures from your listing agreement and any buyer-broker compensation the seller has agreed to offer. Compensation is negotiable and set by agreement, so do not carry a "standard" rate into a document a client may rely on. Note that this row is a percentage, which means it grows with the renovated price.
4. Title and escrow, plus owner's policy if the seller is paying it. Get a real quote for both price points rather than guessing.
5. Mortgage payoff. Order a payoff statement, or at minimum use a current principal balance plus per diem interest. In the renovated column, the payoff is larger because the seller carries the loan for the additional months of construction and marketing.
6. Prorations and holdbacks. Property taxes, any HOA dues, utilities, and the usual seller credits. Ask escrow how the current year's property taxes will be split at closing rather than estimating the proration yourself.
The four rows the renovation column adds
This is where most sheets go quiet. If your client is using a pay-at-closing renovation, the renovated column owes four additional line items.
7. Fixed contract price. The number on the signed estimate. Not a range, not an allowance-heavy budget. If the estimate you were handed is a range, the net sheet cannot be finished.
8. Washington retail sales tax on the renovation. This one surprises people, including experienced agents. The Department of Revenue's construction guidance says businesses performing retail services such as custom prime construction must collect and remit retail sales tax on their total charges unless a specific exemption applies, and that the taxable amount includes charges for permits and other fees, labor, profit, materials and subcontractors.
On custom construction, DOR adds that prime contractors must collect retail sales tax from the landowner on the gross contract price, without deduction of costs incurred, that invoices must separately state the sales tax, and that retail construction services are sourced to the location where the construction takes place. The rate is the job site's combined rate, not the seller's mailing address.
Practically: sales tax on a renovation is a real line item, usually thousands of dollars. It belongs on the net sheet as its own row so nobody discovers it at signing.
9. Signed change orders. At the time you build the sheet this may be zero. Leave the row visible anyway, valued at zero, and write next to it that every scope change is a signed change order added to the payoff. A visible zero row prepares the seller for the row changing.
10. County recording fee. A pay-at-closing renovation is secured by a deed of trust recorded against the property, and recording costs money. Recording fee schedules are set by county and change. A current listing of King County's schedule shows a deed of trust at $304.50 for the first page and $1.00 for each additional page, and notes the fees can change without notice, so confirm with the county recorder. It is a small row. Include it anyway, because a net sheet that is complete on the small rows is believable on the large ones.
The row almost nobody includes: the downside
A two-column net sheet with only a projected renovated price is a sales document. Add a third column showing the renovated plan at a price below projection, and it becomes an analysis.
Pick a haircut and defend it. Five to ten percent below your post-renovation opinion is a reasonable stress test to start with. Then recalculate the price-driven rows: REET, commission, and the sale price itself. Everything else stays fixed, which is precisely the point. The renovation payoff does not shrink when the sale price does.
Two more downside mechanics belong in the notes under the table:
- Carrying cost during the work. Taxes, insurance, utilities, and loan interest keep running. Put a monthly number and a month count in the renovated columns.
- Interest after the grace period. With FLYP's structure there is no interest during the renovation and none for six months after the work is finished. If the home has not closed by then, the balance accrues 1.5% per month. Ten months after completion the balance is due directly, whether or not the home has sold. On a six-figure payoff, that is a four-figure monthly line item once it starts. Paying the balance off early stops the interest. The plain-language terms are at how the process works.
Hypothetical example, round numbers
Hypothetical example with round numbers, not a real transaction and not a projection for any property. It assumes a 0.50% local REET, a total commission of 5% for arithmetic only, the state REET brackets in effect through 2026, and a round 10% sales tax rate on the renovation so the math is easy to follow. Use your client's real figures and the actual job-site tax rate.
| Line item | As-is sale | Renovated (projected) | Renovated (about 5% under) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract sale price | $600,000 | $740,000 | $700,000 |
| REET, state graduated + 0.50% local | ($9,735) | ($12,227) | ($11,515) |
| Commissions at 5% | ($30,000) | ($37,000) | ($35,000) |
| Title and escrow | ($2,500) | ($2,500) | ($2,500) |
| Mortgage payoff | ($250,000) | ($250,000) | ($250,000) |
| Renovation contract price | $0 | ($90,000) | ($90,000) |
| Sales tax on renovation | $0 | ($9,000) | ($9,000) |
| Signed change orders | $0 | ($0) | ($0) |
| County recording fee | $0 | ($300) | ($300) |
| Carrying cost, 3 months | $0 | ($3,000) | ($3,000) |
| Prorations | ($1,500) | ($1,500) | ($1,500) |
| Estimated net to seller | $306,265 | $334,473 | $297,185 |
In this hypothetical example, read the last row across. The renovated plan hitting projection nets about $28,000 more than the as-is sale. The same plan landing about five percent under projection nets about $9,000 less than the as-is sale. The renovated column needs a sale price of roughly $710,000 just to match the as-is net, which is about $110,000 above the as-is price and only $30,000 below the projected renovated price.
That break-even price is the single most useful number on the page. Calculate it for your client and write it on the sheet. It converts "renovating should be worth it" into "renovating is worth it above roughly this price, and below it we would have been better off listing as-is."
Presenting it without overselling
Four habits keep the sheet honest and keep you out of trouble.
- Label every price as an opinion with a date. Your post-renovation pricing opinion is the largest assumption in the document. Say so in a sentence directly under the table.
- Never present the projected column alone. If the downside column is not on the page, do not hand over the page.
- Say plainly that equity can be lost. A seller using a pay-at-closing renovation can lose money or equity. Markets move, homes sell for less than projected, and interest can accrue after the grace period. Put that sentence in writing rather than saying it out loud and hoping it lands.
- Stay in your lane on tax and legal questions. Capital gains treatment, basis adjustments for improvements, and the effect of a recorded deed of trust on the seller's title are questions for a CPA or a real estate attorney. Write "confirm with your CPA" next to the rows that invite them.
When the as-is column should win
A comparison is only credible if it can come out the other way. Recommend as-is, or at least a smaller scope, when:
- The break-even price is uncomfortably close to your post-renovation opinion. Thin spreads do not survive a soft month.
- The seller needs to be out on a fixed date. Construction plus marketing plus escrow does not compress well, and the ten-month due date on a pay-at-closing balance does not move.
- The scope is mostly invisible. Sewer lines, foundations, and panels are real costs that rarely show up as price.
- Comps in the submarket are thin, so the renovated price is an extrapolation rather than an observation.
- The seller's tolerance for construction risk is low. Some clients would rather take less and be done, and that is a legitimate choice. Selling as-is and cash buyer comparisons belong on the table too.
Documenting the choice in the file
After the conversation, put three things in the transaction file: the two-column net sheet with the downside column and a date, a short written note of which option the seller chose and the reason they gave, and the seller's initials or an email acknowledgment on the sheet itself. If the market moves and the renovated sale lands under projection, the file shows the downside was disclosed before the decision, in numbers, not in a caveat.
The bottom line
A renovate-first recommendation is only as honest as the net sheet behind it. Carry the same rows in both columns, add the four renovation rows with sales tax and the recording fee, stress-test the renovated price, and write the break-even price on the page. If the break-even sits close to your post-renovation opinion, the sheet is telling you to list as-is.
If it helps to build the renovated column off a real fixed-price scope instead of an estimate, we write those for Washington homeowners and their agents. FLYP plans, funds, and manages the work, the renovation is performed by Green State Restoration, LLC, a licensed and insured Washington general contractor, and the homeowner pays from the sale proceeds at closing. See pay-at-closing renovation for the structure, the FAQ for the details agents ask about most, or send us an address at get started and we will tell you whether the numbers clear our coverage threshold before you build the sheet.
