Member Updates

Spring Conference Registration is Filling Up!

Don't miss your chance to join us April 23-25, 2025, at Tulalip Resort Casino for the 2025 Spring Conference! This event is designed to keep you ahead of the curve. With networking opportunities, meetings, and engaging events like the Awards Luncheon and Candidate Forum Luncheon, you’ll walk away with fresh perspectives and stronger connections.

Register before April 7th to secure early bird pricing!

Register Here→

FREE VIRTUAL CLASS

Bias Override: Overcoming Barriers to Fair Housing

Honor Fair Housing Month by joining us on April 14th for the Bias Override: Overcoming Barriers to Fair Housing course with Mark Kitabayashi! This course helps REALTORS® recognize and interrupt implicit bias, ensuring fair and equal service for all clients. This is a perfect opportunity for WR members looking for free CE!

Register Here→

Register to Attend the 2025 Washington REALTORS® Mongolia Tour

Would you like to experience the culture, real estate industry, and scenic beauty of Mongolia this June? You're in luck! Sign up to attend the 2025 Washington REALTORS® Mongolia Tour!

You can learn more about this opportunity and register here. Please direct any questions to Mark Kitabayashi at mark@windermere.com. Registration deadline is April 15th!

Learn More & Register→

VOTING OPENS APRIL 2ND!

Get Ready to Vote for Your Favorite 30 Under 30 Finalist!

We are beyond excited to celebrate Bella Chaffey Lakic with the Seattle King-County REALTORS®, Haydn Halsted with Spokane REALTORS®, Kyle Maple with the Snohomish County REALTORS®, and Olivia Statham of the Whatcom County REALTORS® as some of this year’s NAR 30 Under 30 finalists! These REALTORS® have thrived through housing shortages, a pandemic, and industry shifts—all while putting their clients and communities first.

Your Vote Matters!
Starting April 2nd, you can vote for your favorite finalist, the finalist with the most votes secures a guaranteed spot in the 30 Under 30 class of 2025! Voting closes April 9th, so don’t miss your chance to make an impact!

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ICYMI!

New NAR Consumer Guide: Homeowners Associations

In many markets, HOAs and other community associations can be part of the homebuying (and owning) experience. Understanding the ins and outs of HOAs is important. This new consumer guide breaks down what buyers should know about HOA fees, rules, and governance, helping them make informed decisions about HOA communities.

Read More→

Did You Know?

You Can Take the Legal Hotline with You Wherever You Go!

That's right, your favorite Legal Hotline videos are available as podcasts! Whether you're on the road, in the air, or navigating a jam-packed schedule, we've got you covered! Tune in effortlessly today...

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Legal Hotline Q&A of the Week

Question

I have a residential home listed along with an adjacent vacant lot. They are on separate parcels. A buyer would like to purchase both. The buyer broker is asking me how to write an offer, wondering if she needs to make two separate offers since one is bare land and the other is not. Since there are differing stipulations in an unimproved land PSA and a residential PSA, I'm thinking that there would need to be two separate offers. Please inform on how to best proceed.

Answer

The answer to this question depends upon the terms agreed upon by buyer and seller. If buyer wants all the protections that typically accompany a vacant land purchase agreement, such as the feasibility provision, then broker should write the buyer's offer for the land only on a Form 25 and the offer for the home on a Form 21. However, if buyer includes an inspection contingency in the purchase of the home and believes that the inspection contingency will be sufficient to allow full investigation of the land also, then broker could write the buyer's offer for both tax parcels on a single Form 21, attaching a legal description for both the improved property and the unimproved property. There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Each broker must analyze the client's goals and draft the client's offer or counteroffer in light of those goals.

For example, is it critical to the client (buyer or seller) that if title conveys to one parcel, it must convey to the other? If so, it will be important to create a condition for closing that title to both properties conveys simultaneously. If both parcels are included on one PSA, that is an easier outcome to achieve. If two different purchase agreements are used, the brokers will have to draft language making the closing of one a condition for closing the other. Conversely, is it important to either party that one of the parcels conveys even if the other does not? If so, then using two different purchase agreements would be simpler.

As is typically the case when it comes to drafting, there is no answer to this question that is universally correct in all cases. Instead, broker must know the forms so well that broker can utilize the statewide forms to create the outcome desired by broker's client. Sufficient knowledge of the forms also requires knowledge of the limitations imposed by the forms and broker's drafting authority so that broker can advise the client to seek legal counsel if the terms needed by the client exceed the scope of the statewide forms or broker's drafting authority. Brokers should consult their managing broker whenever a client needs a contract provision that is unfamiliar to broker. Brokers should also, always, be prepared to advise a client to seek the assistance of client's lawyer if the forms provision needed by the client exceeds the scope of broker's drafting authority.

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