Questions We Get Asked

On most improved residential property, yes. Washington requires it under RCW 64.06 and it records what you actually know at the time you sign. Limited exemptions exist, including some estate and foreclosure transfers, and they are narrow.

Three business days from delivery of the disclosure statement, at their sole discretion, by delivering a separately signed written rescission. Earnest money is returned immediately and the agreement becomes void.

You must amend the disclosure and deliver the amendment, and the buyer gets a fresh three business day right to rescind from receiving it. On a fire file that can happen more than once, which is why finding out early matters.

Yes. No amendment is required where you take corrective action that restores the accuracy of the disclosure, or corrects the adverse change, at least three business days before the closing date.

Under RCW 64.06.050 a seller is not liable for an error, inaccuracy or omission where the seller had no actual knowledge of it. The duty attaches to knowledge rather than to what an inspection might have found.

Not necessarily. Washington's Insurance Fair Conduct Act gives a first party claimant unreasonably denied coverage a cause of action, and on a finding that the insurer acted unreasonably a court may award up to three times actual damages plus attorney's fees and litigation costs.

Twenty days before filing, give written notice of the basis for the cause of action to both the insurer and the Insurance Commissioner. It is mandatory, it is easy to miss, and skipping it is fatal to the claim. Serving it also tolls the limitation period for those twenty days.

Completing its investigation within thirty days of notification unless it reasonably cannot, and where more time is needed, notifying you within forty-five days of the initial notice and every thirty days after that explaining why the claim is unresolved.

Yes. Who keeps the proceeds is a negotiated term rather than a legal barrier. Tell any buyer at the outset; one who suggests concealing it from your carrier is telling you something useful.

Because on steep or slide-prone parcels a rebuild draws in geotechnical investigation, engineered foundations and drainage that flat-lot estimates omit. It is frequently the largest cost nobody has priced.

Form 17 covers the property rather than only the house, and soil, drainage and slope matters fall within it. Where post-fire earthwork changes conditions, that can be an adverse change requiring an amendment.

Both. Older dimensional framing can sometimes be repaired in sections where engineered assemblies cannot, which helps. Older houses also hold more undocumented surprises, which generates amendments, which hurts.

On some Seattle parcels, yes, where zoning now permits substantially more than what burned. It is worth establishing before pricing anything, because it turns a repair file into a land file with a different set of buyers.

Nothing. No fee, no commission, no repair spend and no obligation if you decline.

Washington charges a real estate excise tax, customarily the seller's, with a state component graduated by price and a local component on top. Your closing agent will quote the combined figure for your price.

Before, on anything more than cosmetic damage. It removes the discount buyers apply to unknown damage and it stabilises your disclosure so the rescission clock does not restart mid-escrow.

The estate has to be able to convey. It is a common cause of delay, and it may also affect whether a Form 17 exemption applies, which is worth confirming.

Common on inherited property. Remote signing through escrow is routine.