Recent News

Most people know they should have a contract with their business partners.  But too often, they try to perform the legal drafting themselves, or they use a form inapplicable to their specific partnership.  Usually, such contracts do more harm than good.  Most small businesses form as LLCs in Washington, and rightfully so.  By far the… Read More

You borrow money to buy or refinance your home.  Your lender takes a deed of trust on your home as collateral.  Some time goes by and you pay off the loan or refinance it with a new lender who also takes a deed of trust on your home as collateral.  More time goes by and… Read More

A friendly quiet-title lawsuit is usually the most efficient option to adjust property lines in Washington State. You and your neighbor just settled a property line dispute with a handshake.  Now you figure you must head down to City Hall to fill out a boundary line adjustment application (“BLA”).  But your most efficient route to an… Read More

Effective January 1, 2013, the top capital gain tax rate has been permanently increased to 20% for married couples filing jointly with incomes exceeding $450,000 (400,000 taxable income for single filers). Investors owe capital gains taxes for taxable transfers of real property on the gain associated with the transfer. Please contact one of the real… Read More

Since the Washington Supreme Court’s decision in Bain v. Metropolitan Mortgage Group, we have seen an increasing number of foreclosures-by-lawsuit (“judicial” foreclosures). The judicial foreclosure typically takes far longer to complete than the standard non-judicial foreclosure, in which a trustee goes through a notification process before selling the property without court involvement. One main drawback… Read More

When an obligation to pay money or perform some other obligation is secured by a deed of trust and that obligation has been satisfied, the owner of the real estate affected by the deed of trust is entitled to have the lien of the deed of trust removed from the records. Sometimes the lien is… Read More

  Residential foreclosures in Washington probably just became more difficult and expensive for lenders. In a usual foreclosure, when the borrower stops paying the mortgage, the lender directs a third-party “trustee” of the deed-of-trust (mortgage) to go through the foreclosure process.  This process rarely involves the courts.  Instead, there is a “non-judicial” process under Washington… Read More

Sellers of real property sign a Statutory Warranty Deed (“SWD”) at the closing of the vast majority of residential real estate transactions.  This is the document that actually transfers title from seller to buyer.  If you sell a piece of real estate and give your buyer a SWD, you are promising a lot more than… Read More