Foreclosure in King County: Selling Before the Trustee Sale (Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, Renton, Seattle Area)

RCW 61.24.040 records the notice of sale where the deed of trust is of record. For a King County deed, that is the King County Recorder. Kent, Federal Way, Renton, and Seattle are King County. Most of Auburn is too. Part of southern Auburn is Pierce County, and Milton can fall in either county. The notice names the county. Do not guess from the neighborhood, and do not search the Pierce County Auditor just because Tacoma is nearby.

Closer guides on this site cover Auburn, Federal Way, and Kent. Renton and Seattle do not have separate foreclosure pages here. The statute does not change at the city line, and KindKey buys in those cities from Auburn. The auction is held at the time and place on the notice. A lawsuit to restrain a sale under RCW 61.24.130 is filed in superior court. KindKey will not prepare it.

Unless you were served with a lawsuit, this is nonjudicial foreclosure under chapter 61.24 RCW, not chapter 61.12 RCW. RCW 61.24.030(8) requires a notice of default at least 30 days before the notice of sale, for the loans it covers. The form says silence can bring a notice of sale in about 30 days, and that the sale notice gives a minimum of 120 days’ notice of the auction. Many loans also get a contact letter under RCW 61.24.031 first. KindKey will not tell you that step is finished.

The roughly 120-day timeline is the recording rule: at least 90 days before the sale, or at least 120 days if the 61.24.031 letter was required. The printed date controls, and a trustee can postpone. RCW 61.24.090 lets you cure until the eleventh day before the sale, or the eleventh day before a continued sale, by paying the trustee. There is also a 190-day floor from the date of default. Do not count that from a missed payment.

Foreclosure Fairness Act mediation, RCW 61.24.163, starts with a referral from a housing counselor or a Washington attorney after the notice of default, and no later than 90 days before the sale date. You do not refer yourself. Some loans and some smaller banks are outside it. A proper referral can hold the notice of sale, or the sale itself, until mediation finishes. The meeting is about a workout. It does not guarantee you keep the house, and KindKey does not attend.

Commerce publishes a free counseling line at 1-877-894-HOME (4663). Use that number, the hotline on your notice, or another HUD-approved counselor. Bring the sale date and the eleventh-day cure date. A restraining case would be filed in King County Superior Court, in Seattle or at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. KindKey will not coach you on how to file.

You can ask for an as-is offer in Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, Renton, or the Seattle area without catching up or repairing. If you accept, the closing agent orders the payoff. Proceeds can pay the loan and other required liens when the price covers them. If not, the lender has to agree. Equity is the remainder, and it is not guaranteed. KindKey does not charge an agent commission or a separate assignment fee. An offer does not stop the trustee.

Owners sell before the auction to pay the loan, try to avoid a foreclosure entry on a credit report, and keep equity when the numbers leave some. Missed payments may already show. We cannot promise a score or a closing on a named day. We work fast to close before the sale date when title and the payoff allow it. RCW 61.34 is your attorney’s statute. Do not deed the house away outside escrow.