Avoiding Foreclosure in Federal Way, WA: Options and Timelines

On many owner-occupied residential loans, chapter 61.24 RCW adds steps before a notice of default exists. RCW 61.24.031 says a trustee, beneficiary, or agent may not issue the notice of default under RCW 61.24.030(8) until 30 days after the due-diligence contact rules are met and the borrower has not responded, or, if the borrower responds, until 90 days after the initial contact was initiated. That section has exceptions, including some commercial loans and seller-financed sales. KindKey will not tell you that your loan is inside or outside those exceptions.

Once a notice of default is issued, RCW 61.24.030(8) requires that it go out at least 30 days before the notice of sale is recorded, transmitted, or served, for the loans that subsection covers. The statutory form tells owner-occupants that a notice of sale may issue as soon as 30 days later and will give a minimum of 120 days’ notice of the sale. RCW 61.24.040 then requires the notice of sale to be recorded at least 90 days before the sale, or at least 120 days before the sale if a letter under RCW 61.24.031 is required. Your notice is the clock. A blog is not.

RCW 61.24.090 lets the borrower discontinue the sale by curing the default before the eleventh day before the sale date, or before the eleventh day before a continued sale. The amount is the trustee’s figure. A repayment plan or a loan modification is a conversation with the servicer. KindKey is not that servicer and will not pose as your representative.

Where it applies, foreclosure mediation under RCW 61.24.163 has a deadline the notice of default describes, counted back from the sale date. Ask a housing counselor or a Washington attorney whether Federal Way owner-occupied property in your loan file qualifies. A summons in a judicial foreclosure under chapter 61.12 RCW is a different document from a notice of trustee’s sale. Bankruptcy is a lawyer’s filing. KindKey will not explain how to use it.

A sale can pay the mortgage and other required liens from closing proceeds when the price covers them and the date is still open. If it does not cover them, the lender has to agree to something else or the sale does not close. KindKey will not negotiate that agreement for you. The closing agent shows the math on a settlement statement first.

You do not have to catch up payments or repair a Twin Lakes roof, a Marine Hills deck, or a Dash Point drainage problem before requesting an offer. There is a separate Federal Way page for selling before foreclosure if you want the service-page version of this path. KindKey does not charge an agent commission or a separate assignment fee. An offer does not, by itself, stop the sale.

Put the sale date, the eleventh-day cure deadline, and any mediation date from the notice on one page. Take that page and any offer to a Washington attorney. If the attorney says a listed sale cannot finish, a direct sale is the comparison that is left, not a slogan about stopping foreclosure. KindKey does not use that slogan, because a buyer cannot stop a trustee.

Do not deed the house away in a parking lot near The Commons or sign a contract that postpones the settlement statement. RCW 61.34 exists because owners under this kind of pressure get rushed. Requesting a KindKey number does not lock you in.