Recent News

This may (holding my breath) be my final article about the legal dispute saga between Compass Real Estate and Zillow, which erupted in the summer of 2025. You can find my previous articles regarding this topic here, here, here, here, and here to the extent you wish to have more background on the development of the dispute and the outcome of the… Read More

In this webinar, Attorney William O. Kessler discusses "Selling or Buying a House? Disclosure Traps for the Unwary" Read More

In December of 2025, the Seattle City Council approved an update in zoning regulations, effective on January 21st of this year, permitting certain types of ground-floor retail businesses to operate in residential city blocks. Limitations on the type of businesses include: (1) a size restriction of up to 2,500 square feet; (2) a requirement that the… Read More

Last year, I wrote several articles regarding the push for private listings by Compass Real Estate, and the subsequent legal battle that erupted between Compass and Zillow. These articles can be found here, here, here, and here. In a nutshell, Compass created a private portal for its agents and their clients where they could engage in “pre-marketing”, essentially, testing the… Read More

In an era where technology is advancing at an unprecedented pace, the law often struggles to keep up. One area where this is particularly evident is the use of video surveillance, such as IP cameras, to monitor neighbors. While video recording your neighbor is not inherently illegal, it can give rise to legal disputes under… Read More

Back in April of 2025, I posted an article here regarding increasing inventory in King County and Snohomish County resulting in some amount of breathing room for buyers, but not quite a buyers’ market. Now, nine months later, the trends seen at the beginning of 2025 have only continued. Active listings in Washington State increased approximately 23%… Read More

Property ownership can involve serious and unforeseen risks. Such is the case with environmental contamination from underground storage tanks and conflicts among co-owners. A recent Washington Court of Appeals case, Johnston v. Peach, illustrates these perils vividly. In this decision, co-owners of a commercial building in Bellingham faced costly soil pollution from leaking oil tanks left… Read More

In Washington, “one whose land is located in or adjacent to an urban or residential area and who has actual or constructive knowledge of defects affecting his trees has a duty to take corrective action.” Lewis v. Krussell, 101 Wn.App. 178 (2000).  This means that if your neighbor has a dangerous tree, such as a… Read More

Most real estate purchase and sale agreements involve the acquisition of residential real estate, often housing (apartment style units, townhomes, single family homes, etc.), for the purpose of serving as a primary residence for the buyer, or as an investment opportunity in the property’s current form. In these circumstances, the buyers basically know what they… Read More