Knock vs. Orchard vs. HomeLight: Who Lets You Keep Your Agent in King County

I get asked about these programs constantly by King County sellers who found them through a Google search or a Facebook ad. Knock. Orchard. HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell. They all promise the same thing: buy your next house before you sell your current one, skip the contingent offer, move once instead of twice.

All three actually operate here, which surprises some sellers who’ve read older posts claiming otherwise. What most comparisons miss is a fairer question than “which is cheapest”: every one of these transactions still involves a real estate agent and a commission. The programs just handle that piece differently, and that difference matters more than the headline fee percentage.

What These Programs Actually Solve

Every one of these programs exists to fix the same problem: you found the house you want, but your equity is still locked inside the house you’re living in. In King County right now, that problem is real. The county’s median sold price sits around $845,000, months of supply is running about 3.9, and the median days on market is 21. That’s still a market where a clean, non-contingent offer beats a contingent one most of the time, especially in tighter Eastside segments like Bellevue and Sammamish.

These three programs are one path through a bigger decision. If you’re weighing whether to sell and buy at the same time at all, or how buy-first programs stack up against a straightforward bridge loan or HELOC, those posts cover the broader framework. This one stays focused on the three named programs themselves.

So the appeal makes sense. You get access to your equity before your old house sells, you make a stronger offer on the new one, and you avoid living through two moves in three months. The part that gets skipped over is that “buy before you sell” isn’t one product. It’s three different structures, and they handle your real estate agent relationship in three different ways.

The Real Difference: Who You’re Required to Work With

Here’s what most comparisons of these three programs get wrong. They quote each program’s fee side by side as if that fee is the total cost, when in every case you’re also paying a real estate agent to actually list and sell your home. The programs just differ in whether you get to choose that agent.

Knock is the most flexible: Knock’s own FAQ confirms “you can work with any agent for listing your current home and the purchase of your new home.” Their roughly 2.25% fee is a separate charge on top of whatever commission you negotiate with your own agent.

HomeLight works through a network of local agents. You’re not required to use your existing agent, and you’re typically matched with a “certified HomeLight Buy Before You Sell agent” from their network. That agent still earns a standard commission, separate from HomeLight’s flat 2.4% fee.

Orchard is the one true exception: their own FAQ states plainly that “you will need to use an Orchard agent to help you sell your current home” (you can use an outside agent to buy, but not to sell). Because Orchard is acting as your listing brokerage, their quoted fee bundles a full 3-6% commission together with a separate 1.9-2.4% program fee. It looks like one number, but it’s doing the job of two separate charges the other programs keep apart.

Once you line these up honestly, the total cost gap between the three narrows considerably. Orchard isn’t necessarily the most expensive option, it’s the one where the agent commission is baked into the number you see instead of being a separate line item you’d pay Knock’s or HomeLight’s agent anyway.

Knock: Bring Your Own Agent

Knock’s Home Swap program is, at its core, a bridge loan. You get funds to cover your down payment and carrying costs on the new home while your old one sits on the market, and in some structures you can rent back your new home briefly during the transition.

The program fee: a fixed fee of about 2.25% of your new home’s purchase price, plus roughly $1,850 in estimated closing costs that vary by loan amount and state requirements. On a $700,000 replacement home, that fee alone runs close to $15,750, before closing costs. Your listing agent’s commission is separate and negotiable, since you’re free to use whichever agent you already trust.

The safety net: if your old home hasn’t sold within six months, Knock will make a non-contingent backup offer to buy it from you directly.

So what does this mean for you? Knock is available for sellers listing in Washington state, including King County. Because you keep your own agent, this is a good fit if you already have a relationship you don’t want to give up. If your home is priced right and likely to move inside that six-month window, the backup offer is more of an insurance policy than something you expect to use.

Orchard: Their Agent, Bundled Pricing

Orchard’s Move First program does operate in the Seattle metro area, including King County. Orchard expanded into Washington in 2022 as part of its push into the Western U.S., and its own site currently lists Seattle among its active selling markets. If you’ve read that Orchard skips this market entirely, that’s out of date.

What’s different about Orchard is that you’re required to list with Orchard’s own agents. That’s why their pricing looks higher at first glance: a 3-6% brokerage commission plus a separate 1.9-2.4% program fee (minimum $9,000). On a $700,000 sale, that’s roughly $21,000 to $42,000 in commission plus $13,300 to $16,800 in program fee, for a combined total in the $34,000 to $59,000 range. But that commission is money you’d be paying an agent under any of these three programs anyway, it’s just visible here instead of being a separate line item.

The safety net: if your home hasn’t sold within 120 days, Orchard extends a guaranteed backup offer, with the option to extend the listing period further on some plans.

So what does this mean for you? Orchard is a legitimate option in King County, not a wasted application. The real trade-off isn’t price, it’s that you give up your choice of listing agent to get it. If you already have an agent relationship you value, that’s the real cost of Orchard, more than the dollar figure on the quote.

HomeLight: A Network Agent, Not Necessarily Your Own

HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell program works through a network of local agents and lenders rather than an in-house brokerage model. You get an equity unlock to use toward your new down payment, you buy first, then an agent lists and sells the old home on the open market.

The program fee: a flat fee of 2.4% of your departing home’s sale price in most markets, with regional variations (Florida runs 2.9%, parts of the Chicago area charge a flat $1,500 instead). On an $845,000 King County median-priced home, that 2.4% fee comes out to roughly $20,280, separate from your agent’s commission.

The safety net: if your home hasn’t sold within 90 to 120 days depending on the source you check, HomeLight extends a backup purchase offer. Under their “Upside Protection” structure, if the home eventually sells for more than that backup offer, you get the difference back, minus HomeLight’s costs and the agent’s commission.

So what does this mean for you? HomeLight is available in Washington state, and the flat 2.4% program fee is simple to run the math on. But confirm up front whether you’ll be matched with a HomeLight network agent or whether your own agent can participate, since that varies and directly affects whether you keep the representation and local market knowledge you already have in King County’s submarket-by-submarket pricing.

The Local Angle: What This Costs a King County Seller Specifically

Run the real numbers on a $700,000 King County departing home and a $700,000 replacement home, and here’s how it breaks down once agent commission is accounted for on all three.

Add a comparable commission to the Knock and HomeLight numbers and the three programs land closer together than the headline fees suggest. The number that should drive your decision isn’t which fee percentage is smallest, it’s whether keeping your own agent (Knock), accepting a network match (HomeLight), or trading agent choice for a single bundled number (Orchard) fits how you want to sell.

All three programs operate in King County, and once agent commission is counted consistently, their total costs are closer than a fee-only comparison suggests.

Compare any of those numbers to a bridge loan or HELOC, and the math often tilts further in your favor if you have the equity and timeline flexibility for a more traditional structure. I’ve written about how bridge loans, HELOCs, and buy-first programs stack up against each other in more detail. It’s also worth asking your lender about lesser-known regional buy-first and bridge programs beyond these three national brands. Several exist, availability and terms vary a lot, and your own agent or lender will know what’s currently on offer for King County.

What This Means for You

If you’re a King County seller with solid equity in your current home and a property that will sell inside 60 to 90 days at a fair price, look hard at a HELOC or bridge loan before any of these three programs. You’ll typically pay less in total cost, and you keep full control of your sale timeline instead of a program’s backup-offer clock.

If your equity is thinner, your timeline is tight, or you need the certainty of a guaranteed backup offer to make a competitive, non-contingent offer on your next home, all three programs are real options here. Start with the agent-choice question, not the fee percentage: do you want to keep your current agent (Knock), are you open to a matched agent (HomeLight), or is a single bundled number worth giving up that choice (Orchard)? Then run the actual numbers, including commission, on your specific purchase and sale prices.

Either way, don’t sign up for a program based on a “top 3 options” article that compares program fees without accounting for who’s earning the commission. That’s the mistake I see most often, and it’s an easy one to avoid once you’ve seen how the fees actually break down.

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