Research and Data Methodology

Several parts of the site are built from data rather than written from scratch. This page explains where each dataset comes from, how it is processed, how current it is, and its limits. Last reviewed September 27, 2026.

Adult family home directory

The directory of licensed adult family homes is built from the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Adult Family Home Locator, using the county exports from its Advanced Lookup for all 39 Washington counties. Each home's page shows the date its data was retrieved. For each home we keep the fields DSHS publishes: license number, name, address, county, contact name, phone, licensed capacity (beds), specialty designations (dementia, mental health, developmental disabilities), DSHS contracts, whether the home accepts Medicaid, and whether DSHS has inspection or investigation reports on file. Processing is limited to cleaning: standardizing city names and ZIP codes, correcting obvious typos in city names, and merging records DSHS lists more than once for multiple contracts. We do not add, estimate, or infer any field. A home that does not appear in the DSHS locator is not listed as licensed. Limits: the directory is a snapshot. Licenses are issued, changed, and closed every week, so always confirm a home's current status in the DSHS locator. We do not rate or rank homes, and a listing is not a recommendation.

Inspection and enforcement history

Real Property Planning does not republish or summarize DSHS inspection reports. Where DSHS has reports on file, the directory tells you so and links to DSHS, where the reports themselves are published. Our guide to reading violation history explains how to find and interpret them.

Medicaid rates and specialty payments

DSHS adult family home daily rates come from the published DSHS rate tables and are updated each July when new rates take effect. Behavioral-health and specialty add-on amounts come from the published adult family home collective bargaining agreement and the related Washington rules. Each page states the effective period of the figures it shows.

Private-pay estimates

Private-pay adult family home prices are not published by any agency, and there is no public dataset of them. The ranges shown for King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties are working estimates from the featured broker and appraiser's experience with operating homes, and they are labeled as estimates with a review date. Other counties show no private-pay estimate until there is enough information to publish one honestly.

Adult family homes for sale and sold

For-sale and sold adult family home listings come mainly from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), with some from other listing services and business-for-sale sites, each reviewed by hand and credited to its source. Each listing is labeled by what the record actually supports: an operating licensed home, a licensed home with no residents, a former adult family home, a home with a passed building inspection that was never licensed, or a home marketed as a potential adult family home with nothing verified. A listing broker's description is never used as the label. Listings are marked sold or expired rather than deleted, so the record stays accurate over time.

Calculators and scores

The site's calculators, such as the cost-of-care calculators, the adult family home ROI and valuation tools, the Occupancy and Financing calculator, and the AFH Property Score, run entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. Each tool shows its assumptions. Rates and rules that the tools rely on come from the same published sources described above. Weights and cost ranges that involve judgment, such as the Property Score's weights, are described on the tool's page as provisional. A calculator result is an estimate for planning, not an appraisal, a lending decision, or a licensing determination.

Reporting a data problem

If a home's details are wrong, check the DSHS locator first, since our data comes from it. If DSHS is correct and we are not, email info@realpropertyplanning.com with the license number and we will fix it.