-
Washington State shorts sellers: an obvious problem with short sales, excise tax & Washington State’s position
January 11, 2009 /UPDATE: If you're looking for information on the short sale process in regards to real estate transactions in Washington State, you might want to read "The Anatomy of a Short Sale" instead. The post below is a response to a policy from the Washington State Department of Revenue on short sales that has since changed. To tell this story effectively, I'm going to have to explain a few things - assuming that not all of you are up on the real estate vernacular of the day. Excise tax: In the sale of real estate, Washington State charges a tax in the amount of 1.78% of the home's value (to be paid by the seller). One would think that the easiest way to determine value on a property that recently sold would be to...I don't know...maybe...look at the sales price?!?! But we'll get to that in a minute. Short sale:I would think that most of you would be familiar with this term, but in talking with friends and clients, I think that many are unclear of its true meaning. A "short sale" is different from a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure sale, in that the seller may be absolutely current on all of their…Read more