Hi, 

I recently won an auction for an occupied foreclosure in Washington State. I sent (by certified mail) a 20 day to vacate notice and left several hand written notices on the front door asking them to contact me about when they plan to move. All of which had been removed upon return but still no direct contact from the people in the home. 

This is the first owner occupied foreclosure I've tried - not a fan so far!  

Anyway, I'm very use to going the day after winning at auction to change the locks and take possession. It is after all my property - if there's a fire it's on me! Same situation here, only I can't change the locks - yet!

Does anyone on this forum know what I can do? I'd really like avoid eviction proceedings. I've offered to help pay for trucks and to hire a moving crew in my notes. Day 20 is this Friday. 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

tom

They'll know you're serious when the eviction notice is posted.

Why the fear of initiating eviction proceedings? You've already eaten three weeks of holding costs and risk. Post a notice and start the eviction. If you don't, you'll be kicking yourself three weeks from now.

On a related note, many tenants/occupants don't understand the eviction process, and they think a notice on the door means "I got evicted". For this reason, sometimes posting the initial notice is all it takes (when in reality, it's just step one in a multi-step process). Either way, the sooner you start, the sooner you can get possession of your house. 

@Tom Lowe

Best you can do is proceed with the eviction. Often when they get served it is a wakeup call. Negotiating an exit is all well and good, but keep the eviction process moving forward. All too frequently planned exits fall apart. 

Try visiting the property in the late afternoon or evening to make contact.