Comments on: Home Owner Quicksand

By: Who Needs to Register as a Contractor? | Rain City Guide | A Seattle Real Estate Blog...

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:42:26 +0000

[...] Russ Cofano posted about the changes in “Are YOU a Contractor? “on October 3rd, and Eileen Tefft posted another in “Home Owner Quicksand “ on October 10th, both sparked comments and questions. [...]

By: Gene Quinney

Gene Quinney — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 01:05:25 +0000

Fixed the link…Oh…Hi!

By: Gene Quinney

Gene Quinney — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 01:01:39 +0000

This new law has absolutely nothing to do with joe blow homeowner or someone independantly flipping homes in general. Check out RCW 18.27. It’s clear as day. There are many exceptions to this RCW as well here’s one.

“(6) Any construction, alteration, improvement, or repair of personal property performed by the registered or legal owner,…”

Gene

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:47:10 +0000

Can you give me their names and numbers?

By: Nate Scott

Nate Scott — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:54:23 +0000

Eileen,

I do have a couple of people I asked about this, all top in the political arm of WR (we’ve dropped the A – sounded to military), though they are waiting to have final word from L&I beofre they go on record. I asked the question of them because as a member, and a contributor to RPAC I would have expected them to oppose this and am kind of shocked they didn’t.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:15:08 +0000

That’s good to know. Nate, do you have a point person at WAR? I know alot of investors that are moving to a hold position until there is some clarity.

By: Nate Scott

Nate Scott — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:23:31 +0000

My understanding from the political arm of the Washington Realtors Association is that they were indeed taking a no opposition stand to this bill because they were under the impression that it was directed at flippers, not everyday homeowners. Had they understood (and this may be their fault for not adequately reviewing the bill) that it would affect us all, they would have fought it tooth and nail. I am told that both L&I and BIAW agree that the intention was to address flippers, not mom & pop homeowner and they will work to correct this ramification of what is essentially a poorly written piece of legislation.

Washington Realtors are currently addressing this with L&I and will see if they can correct this by clarification via letter, rulemaking or if additional legislation is necessary.

By: John

John — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:30:40 +0000

Hello,

Trying to flip houses is one of the reasons why the Real Estate bubble has increased. I think that you should consider that there are many people who need homes that aren’t filthy rich and cannot help you make a million dollars in one year.

Sorry to be so critical but we need to think about these things.

John
http://www.listpropertiesnow.com

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:43:36 +0000

Well, therein lies the rub. It’s totally impractical, but the attorneys and others at the REIA meeting did assume that it could be interpreted that way. Shirley and Fox Henderson fro REIA are trying to get a meeting with L&I next week to find out for sure.

By: fooman

fooman — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:30:51 +0000

You wrote:

“In fact, ALL real estate owners, including owners of only a primary residence, should be equally as shocked as this definition appears to affect all property owners and not just investors.”

I took the words “in the pursuit of an independent business” to mean that this dos NOT apply to a homeowner fixing up a home to sell. How can a guy remodeling a bathroom before he sells his house be considered “in the pursuit of an independent business”???