Buying at a foreclosure auction is a bet on price and speed. The price is fixed the moment the trustee accepts your bid. Speed depends on who is still inside and whether the first notice they receive is the right one. Every week of occupancy is a week of taxes, insurance, utilities, and financing you carry without rent or resale.
Our post-foreclosure work starts with the occupants, not the paperwork. We confirm who lives there, what rights each person holds, and which statute sets their clock, then build the notices and the unlawful detainer around those facts. Homeowners looking to stop a sale need a different kind of help; this practice is built for the buyer.
“The person inside decides the timeline, not the date on your deed.”
A former owner, a tenant with a real lease, and a stranger with a key each require different notices. Treating them all the same is the fastest way to restart the case.
Who holds possession after a sale depends on how the property was sold and who is living in it.
After a nonjudicial trustee's sale, the purchaser is entitled to possession on the 20th day following the sale as against the borrower and anyone claiming through them. Before that date, the former owner may lawfully stay.
A residential tenant in possession at the time of sale must receive at least 60 days' written notice to vacate. Federal law can extend that to 90 days, or to the end of a bona fide lease, so we check both before anything is served.
When a property is sold after a judicial foreclosure, the former owner may hold a right to redeem and to stay in possession during that period. Buyers at sheriff's sales should know this before they bid.
Title does not authorize a lockout. The purchaser recovers possession through an unlawful detainer action and a writ of restitution served by the sheriff, which protects you from wrongful eviction claims.
Former owners who refuse to leave are often out within about two months of the sale. Tenant-occupied homes take longer because the notice period does.
We pull the recorded trustee's deed and sale documents, then identify every occupant and their legal status.
We prepare the notice each occupant is owed and, when the numbers favor it, open a written cash-for-keys offer.
We file in Pierce County Superior Court, set the show cause hearing, and ask for a writ of restitution.
The sheriff executes the writ, and you receive a documented, vacant property ready for repairs, resale, or refinance.
The Deed of Trust Act applies statewide, so a buyer's path to possession follows the same rules in every county we serve.
Washington gives the purchaser the right to possession on the 20th day after a trustee's sale. If the former owner is still there, we can begin the unlawful detainer process from that point.
Send us the sale details and what you know about the people inside. We will tell you who is owed what notice, how long it should take, and whether cash for keys beats court.
