Recent News

June 19th, 2025 C. Michael Kvistad discusses "Owning Property with an LLC – Managing Financing Challenges". Read More

In Washington State, most home sales involve publicly disclosed and advertised transactions. They often start with listings on the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) and end up with buyers and sellers entering into purchase and sale agreements with the assistance of their respective real estate brokers. Although rife with risks, some of which we have… Read More

While strict application of caveat emptor or “buyer beware” has been softened over time, Washington is still often referred to as a “buyer beware” jurisdiction when it comes to sales of residential property. Consistent with Washington’s “buyer beware” reputation, Washington courts have held that where a buyer is put on notice of a defect, a… Read More

The world is full of insurance – health insurance, residential property insurance, liability insurance, car insurance, and more. One type of insurance often gets ignored – title insurance. When a homeowner purchases a home, the homeowner often obtains an owner’s policy of title insurance. If that homeowner has a lender with a security interest in… Read More

The Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) saga continues. Just recently, I wrote a blog post here about the push for private real estate listings in Washington State, spearheaded by Compass Real Estate and some other brokerages. As mentioned, this has been part of an ongoing argument about the merits of requiring new listings to become immediately available to… Read More

In March of 2025, King County added over 3,500 new residential listings to the market, a jump of over 20% from the same time last year. Edmonds itself added almost 20 new listings in March of 2025, compared to the same time the prior year, an increase of almost 36%. Meanwhile, average listing prices have… Read More

For decades, Washington State real estate brokerage firms have operated under agreement to share all real property listings with the public and the rest of the brokerage community. They have traditionally done this through the multiple listing service. These same properties will typically also show up on popular websites like Redfin, Zillow, and Trulia, where… Read More

The recent decision, Vision Landscapes v. Amundson, concerns a landscaping company (“Vision”), and a married couple, the Amundsons. The Amundsons hired Vision for landscaping services but disputed Vision’s final invoice. The dispute arose when the Amundsons refused to pay Vision, which then filed a lien and filed a lawsuit. Following extensive motion practice, the Amundsons… Read More

The process of buying and selling a home can involve a myriad of potential issues, just one of which was addressed in Ryan Foltz’s excellent article here about the dangers of waiving an inspection contingency. Even so, to be competitive in an aggressive market, buyers will often waive not only inspection contingencies, but financing contingencies, title contingencies,… Read More