Foreclosure in Pierce County: Selling Before the Trustee Sale (Tacoma, Puyallup, Lakewood, Spanaway, Edgewood, Milton)

RCW 61.24.040 records the notice of sale with the auditor where the deed of trust is recorded. For these houses, that is the Pierce County Auditor. Tacoma, Puyallup, and Lakewood are cities in that county. Spanaway is unincorporated Pierce County. Edgewood is entirely in Pierce County. Milton is split with King County, and a slice of southern Auburn can be Pierce even when the mailing city says Auburn. The caption on the notice is the fact.

Guides on this site cover Edgewood and Milton, and Tacoma and Puyallup have foreclosure pages. Lakewood and Spanaway do not have their own pages here. KindKey can still look at the house. The auction is held where the notice says. A case to restrain the sale under RCW 61.24.130 is filed with the Pierce County Superior Court clerk in Tacoma. KindKey will not draft it.

Unless you were served with a summons, this is nonjudicial foreclosure under chapter 61.24 RCW, not chapter 61.12 RCW. A notice of default goes out at least 30 days before the notice of sale, for the loans RCW 61.24.030(8) covers. The form says silence can bring a sale notice in about 30 days, and that the sale notice gives a minimum of 120 days’ notice. A contact letter under RCW 61.24.031 often comes first. Your paper shows the stage you are in.

The roughly 120-day timeline is RCW 61.24.040: record at least 120 days before the sale if that letter was required, or at least 90 days if it was not. The printed date can be later, and a trustee may postpone. RCW 61.24.090 lets you cure until the eleventh day before the sale, or before a continued sale, by paying the trustee. A 190-day floor runs from the date of default. Do not count either number from memory.

Foreclosure Fairness Act mediation is RCW 61.24.163. A housing counselor or a Washington attorney refers you after the notice of default, and no later than 90 days before the sale date. You do not refer yourself. Coverage is generally a house of up to four units, with exclusions, and some smaller banks can certify out. A proper referral can hold the notice of sale, or the sale, until mediation is done. It does not guarantee you keep the house.

Commerce publishes a free counseling line at 1-877-894-HOME (4663). Use that line or the hotline on your notice. Bring the sale date and the eleventh-day cure date. KindKey does not attend mediation or call your servicer for you. If you still want to keep the house, the counselor is the first call.

A direct sale can pay the mortgage and other required liens if the price covers them and the date is still open. If the payoff is higher, the lender has to agree, and there may be no equity check. KindKey will make an as-is offer in Tacoma, Puyallup, Lakewood, Spanaway, Edgewood, or Pierce County Milton without repairs and without you catching up first. We do not charge an agent commission or a separate assignment fee.

People sell before the auction to pay the loan, try to avoid a foreclosure on their credit, and keep equity when the math leaves some. We work fast to close before the sale date. We do not promise a particular day, and an offer does not postpone the trustee. RCW 61.34 is your attorney’s statute. Do not deed the house away outside escrow. If the notice is actually King County, use that guide instead.