Washington State Law RCW 61.34 and Preforeclosure Flipping

[Greg Lovern]

I'm trying to get started with preforeclosure flipping in King County, Washington State. I read RCW 61.34 but as a non-lawyer found it confusing, tangled, and murky. In an effort to understand it better, I went through it item by item and translated it to plain language. But I still have questions.

Here's my translation to plain language. My commentary is in yellow highlighting and my questions are in red highlighting. I'd be interested in any answers to my questions, and any comments about anything I may have misunderstood:

RCW 61.34 in plain language, by a non-expert non-lawyer

I'd put the questions here in the post too but I think they make more sense in context. They are easy and quick to find by scrolling through looking for the red highlighting.

Oh -- I did the same for the 2014 Washington State Supreme Court decision related to RCW 61.34. My translation of it to plain language is at the end of the page linked above.

Thanks for any answers or comments!

Greg Lovern

[Nghi Le]

Greg, I mentioned this to you on our call: you are trying to get clarity on a law that isn't written clearly; many attorneys have scratched their heads trying to understand RCW 61.34. A lot of us investors in Seattle are waiting for someone to do this and fight it in court (to set a precedent and help us all better understand it), but nobody wants to be the guinea pig.

If you're starting out, just avoid owner occupied properties and you won't be affected by this law. You can still do preforeclosures with absentee owners.

If you're learning about "preforeclosure flipping" from a national guru or seminar, please go back and tell them to stop teaching that stuff in WA state.