For Washington homeowners who are behind on the mortgage
A quiet place to start, when the house payments have fallen behind.
I’m Austin Hellickson, a real estate broker in Sumner. This site explains your options and how foreclosure runs in Washington, in plain terms. If selling turns out to be the right call, I can help you sell before a trustee’s sale, so more of your equity stays with you.
No cost to talk, and nothing is shared without your permission.
What this site is for
It usually starts with an envelope from the loan servicer, or from a trustee company you’ve never heard of, with the word “default” somewhere on the first page. Putting it in a drawer is a common reaction. It’s also expensive, because in Washington most of the ways out of missed payments depend on acting before a certain notice goes out or a certain date passes.
The pages here cover each option and the order of notices under Washington law, including where the state’s foreclosure mediation program comes in. One path is mine to help with directly: selling the home before a trustee’s sale, at a price and on a schedule you agree to.
I’m a real estate broker. I’m not an attorney, a housing counselor, or a lender, and I’ll tell you when a question belongs with one of them. What I can do is sit down with the numbers and help you decide whether selling belongs on the list at all.
What’s still open, and when
Most Washington foreclosures run outside of court, in an order set by the Deeds of Trust Act, chapter 61.24 RCW. Where you are in that order decides which options are still on the table. Here are four points along it. Real files move at very different speeds, so read this as a sketch and check your own dates.
The first months
Payments are missed
Nearly everything is open. You can catch up in full, which is called reinstatement, spread the arrears over a repayment plan, ask the servicer about forbearance or a loan modification, look at refinancing, or sell. Federal servicing rules generally keep a servicer from starting foreclosure until a loan is more than 120 days behind.
The formal start
A notice of default arrives
It states what’s owed and what it would take to cure. For most home loans, a housing counselor or a Washington attorney can refer you to mediation under the Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2011. If a sale is on your list, this is a comfortable time to begin one.
At least 120 days out
The notice of trustee’s sale is recorded
The sale date is set and now public, and the cash-offer mail tends to start. For most home loans, the notice has to be recorded at least 120 days before the sale. Reinstatement generally stays available until eleven days before the sale. A sale to a regular buyer, or a short sale the lender has approved, can still close ahead of it, with less room for delay.
Sale day
The trustee’s sale
A public auction. Afterward there is generally no right to redeem the home, and whatever equity remains depends on the bidding. A deed in lieu, signing the home over to the lender by agreement, is usually settled well before this point.
The full Washington timeline has all eight stages and what to do at each one. Every option above is explained on the options page, with the situations where it tends to fit.
If selling is the right answer
Some owners reach a point where keeping the house isn’t possible, or isn’t worth what it would take. If there’s equity in the home, a sale before the trustee’s sale tends to protect more of it than an auction would. Bidders at a trustee’s sale usually buy without going inside, and they price that risk into what they offer. A regular listing puts your home in front of buyers who have walked through it and arranged their financing.
When there isn’t enough equity, a short sale may still let you sell, with the lender approving the price and its terms in writing before closing. I handle these quietly. Nothing in the marketing mentions foreclosure, showings are arranged around your household, and your file stays with you, me, escrow, and anyone you choose to bring in.
A notice of trustee’s sale is a public record once it’s filed with the county, and investors watch those filings. The postcards usually follow, and the phone calls from numbers you don’t know. Some of those buyers deal fairly and some don’t. Either way, you should understand the process before anyone hands you something to sign.
If you call me, we’ll go through the notices you have and what you want to happen. If selling isn’t the right move, I’ll say so and point you toward a housing counselor or an attorney.
I work with homeowners across Washington, most closely in Pierce and King Counties. A conversation costs nothing, and you can decide what to do afterward, in your own time.
