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Foreclosure in Washington

In Washington, a trustee can sell your home without a court case. Before that, the law gives you a chance to meet your lender, a path to mediation and until 11 days before the sale to catch up.

Type: Mostly non-judicial

Last checked October 26, 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom of this page.

Type
Mostly non-judicial. Washington is a non-judicial foreclosure state: a lender can foreclose through a trustee instead of the courts. The law still lets a lender foreclose a deed of trust in court, the same way as a mortgage.
FHA time frame
HUD's time frame for FHA loans: 18 months from the first legal action to clear title and possession.
Mediation
Only by referral from a housing counselor or attorney, after the notice of default and no later than 90 days before the sale date.
After the sale
No deficiency judgment after a trustee's sale of a home loan, and no right to redeem.

How a Washington foreclosure works, step by step

  1. Generally, the legal foreclosure process can't start until you're at least 120 days behind.
  2. For a home of up to four units, your lender must first reach out to you by letter and by phone. The letter tells you that you must respond within 30 days.
  3. If you respond within 30 days, you get another 60 days to meet with your lender before a notice of default can be issued.
  4. Next comes the notice of default. It says that if you don't cure the default within 30 days, a notice of sale can be recorded and published.
  5. The trustee then records a notice of trustee's sale with the county auditor. When the lender's letter was required, this must happen at least 120 days before the sale. Otherwise, it's at least 90 days.
  6. Until the 11th day before the sale date, you can cure the default and have the sale proceedings called off.
  7. The trustee sells the home at a public auction to the highest bidder, on a Friday, or on the next Monday if that Friday is a legal holiday.
  8. The buyer at the sale is entitled to possession of the home on the 20th day after the sale.

Meeting your lender and getting to mediation

Washington's foreclosure mediation program is only for homeowners who have been referred by a housing counselor or attorney. The referral can be made any time after the notice of default is issued, but no later than 90 days before the sale date listed in the notice of trustee's sale.

  • If you're referred after the notice of sale is recorded, the sale can't happen until the trustee gets the mediator's certification that mediation is finished.
  • If the mediator certifies that the lender didn't act in good faith, that's a defense to the foreclosure.
  • If you can't reach an agreement, the lender can move ahead with the foreclosure once it gets the mediator's written certification.

In my view, the lender meeting and mediation are worth using. Call a housing counselor when the first letter arrives, so you don't miss the window for a referral.

Catching up, paying off or going to court

Until the 11th day before the sale date, you can cure the default and have the sale proceedings called off. Once you pay, the foreclosure is discontinued, your deed of trust is reinstated, and the loan stands as if it had never been called due.

After that deadline, the notice tells you that you can only end the sale by paying the total principal balance, plus interest, costs and advances, before the sale.

How long it takes

Foreclosure generally can't legally start until you're at least 120 days behind. Once it starts, how long you have until the sale depends on your state.

For FHA loans, HUD's time frame runs from the first legal action until the lender has clear title to the home and possession of it. In Washington, that's 18 months, and the first legal action is recording the notice of trustee's sale.

Before that, the notices set the pace: 30 days to answer the lender's letter, 30 days to cure after the notice of default, and then a notice of sale at least 120 days before the sale when the letter was required.

These are official markers, not a forecast. Your case can move faster or slower, so don't count on extra time.

After a trustee's sale: deficiency, surplus and redemption

After a trustee's sale, the lender can't get a deficiency judgment against you for the rest of the debt under that deed of trust. Commercial loans are the exception. That rule doesn't apply if the lender forecloses in court the way a mortgage is foreclosed.

If the sale brings in more than is owed, the trustee deposits the extra money, called the surplus, with the superior court clerk in the county where the sale took place. To get the money, you file a motion asking that court to pay it out.

After a trustee's sale, no one has a right to redeem the home.

Selling, leasing back or getting offers while you're behind

Washington's distressed home law covers you once you're at least 30 days behind on a loan secured by your home, among other cases.

  • Anyone who systematically contacts owners whose homes are in foreclosure, or in danger of it, counts as a distressed home consultant. A consultant has a fiduciary relationship with you and must meet every duty a fiduciary has under state law.
  • The law also covers deals where you transfer an interest in your home to a buyer, keep living there, and the buyer promises to sell it back, gives you an option to buy it back, or promises you part of a later resale.
  • In those deals, the buyer must verify that you can reasonably afford to buy the home back. For a lease with an option to buy, that includes making the lease payments and buying within the option term.
  • You can cancel until midnight of the fifth business day after you sign, and the buyer can't take a deed from you until that time has passed.
  • If you don't get title back, the buyer must make sure you've received at least 82 percent of the home's fair market value.
  • The buyer must also pay off or take over all the liens on the home right after the transfer.
  • Equity skimming includes buying a home on a promise to take over its loan payments, not making them within two years, and keeping the rent for themselves. A pattern of equity skimming is a class B felony.
  • Under the real estate contract law, a seller's notice of intent to forfeit must give the buyer at least 90 days after it's recorded to cure.
  • The mediation program doesn't cover a deed of trust that secures a buyer's debt to the seller in a seller-financed sale.

These rules touch how I buy in Washington. The consultant rule may reach buyers who contact owners in foreclosure. The distressed home rules touch a lease option and any deal where you stay in the home after you sell. The equity skimming rule is about taking over payments, and the last two rules touch seller financing. And don't stop talking to your lender while you weigh any offer, including mine.

Free help in Washington

Sources

Last checked October 26, 2026. Every fact on this page comes from one of these official sources.

  1. Washington Department of Commerce: Foreclosure Fairness Program (commerce.wa.gov)
  2. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.100 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  3. HUD Handbook 4000.1, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook (PDF) (hud.gov)
  4. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.163 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  5. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.050 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  6. CFPB: How long will it take before I’ll face foreclosure if I can’t make my mortgage payments? What is the foreclosure timeline? (consumerfinance.gov)
  7. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.031 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  8. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.030 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  9. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.040 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  10. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.090 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  11. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.060 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  12. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.080 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  13. Revised Code of Washington § 61.34.020 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  14. Revised Code of Washington § 61.34.060 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  15. Revised Code of Washington § 61.34.120 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  16. Revised Code of Washington § 61.34.100 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  17. Revised Code of Washington § 61.34.030 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  18. Revised Code of Washington § 61.30.070 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  19. Revised Code of Washington § 61.24.165 (app.leg.wa.gov)
  20. Washington Attorney General: steps for help with foreclosure (atg.wa.gov)

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