WaLaw Realty

Had an opportunity to sell my home off market, and good friends recommended using WaLaw to do the legal paperwork + escrow for a fixed price. Ended up spending $ 1500 for their services versus paying the traditional 6% I would have if I sold on market through realtors. Significant savings, and was taken care of the whole way. Recommended.
[Edit: to be fair to WaLaw, my fee was low simply due to the fact that the house sale price and purchaser was already identified, and the only work needed was sales agreement + escrow. Your mileage may vary, but will still come out *way* ahead due to the flat fee.]

I was more or less dismissed as a «customer.» Boo. They had a busy year with the hot market and all. If you want to work with WaLaw: be prepared to wait until they’re taking new clients. Also if you are a first time homebuyer, I really would not recommend them. They won’t hold your hand like a traditional Realtor. We found a traditional Realtor (via Windereme — meh) eventually, expensive? Yes. But she came with lots of valuable info to a first time buyer.

Real estate agents have a serious conflict of interest and are very expensive. In contrast, WaLaw realty will save you a lot of money and I really felt like the agents were on our side. They provide almost everything you would want that a traditional real estate agent offers. I guess the only thing missing is that they don’t drive you around and are not quite as available ²⁴⁄₇. I would say that if you were in a very hot market you might consider a traditional agent for that availability, but I really didn’t feel like we missed anything in the few houses that were «hot” — well worth it and we were very happy with the service. Contract negotiations of course were their specialty and it felt good to be represented by a lawyer. Most importantly we ended up in a great house!

We worked with Marc, Jason (who does not work there now), and Claire for purchasing our first home. As first-​time home buyers, there can be a lot of steps and sub-​processes, that can become extremely overwhelming, and expensive. If you’re the kind of person that is able to do their own research, and do it well (using online listings from Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, etc.), then WaLaw’s business model should DEFINITELY be your first choice. You pay a simple flat fee, which allows you to save the difference between the buying agent’s commission (3%) and the flat fee you pay WaLaw. This is particularly helpful to offset some of the extra costs/​charges you incur for closing on a home. At no point in dealing with Marc did we ever feel like he did not have our best interests at hand. He is extremely detail-​oriented and will be able to push back on the seller for a variety of issues (that a regular realtor may not be able to). Additionally, because of the flat-​fee model, Marc will do his best to negotiate as much as possible (realtors’ interests in doing so are not aligned with your interests of saving money — read ‘Freakonomics’ to understand this further) :)
The fact that Marc is also a real-​estate attorney, made it even more worthwhile — it was awesome to have his eyes on documentation we were signing, terms we were agreeing to, etc. Always good to understand your liabilities so this was more than worth the fee you pay WaLaw.
The only challenge you may encounter is scheduling time with WaLaw to look at homes from M-​F during business hours — but if you are flexible with your schedule during this process, and are able to shortlist the homes you wish to take a look at with WaLaw, you will find that Marc and his team are very flexible and helpful. The icing on the cake was how responsive everyone at WaLaw was to our questions/​concerns/​issues — they are easy to email, text, and call as necessary, and will help clarify all the various stages in the process.
This is certainly the future business model of home-​buying and selling, so I encourage you to at least call them and explore your options with them. Best of luck to everyone reading this, and I hope you find your dream home/​sell your home with success. Cheers!

We worked with Mark buying a house in 2011 and selling our rental house in 2014. In 2011, Mark actually talked us out of buying a house we initially fell in love with, which, in hindsight, was for the best. We saved enough money on the purchase with WALAW’s flat fee that we were able to get new appliances and flooring throughout with the money we saved. In addition, he was able to read between the lines of the local covenants for the same flat fee. In 2014 he helped us sell our rental house, which sold for well above the asking price. His quick and discerning review of the paperwork allowed the deal to go through without a hitch. Also, we saved about $ 18,000 on the sale with their flat fee. In summary, WALAW killed it on both our purchase and sale. After the two transactions with WALAW, I will never again engage a traditional brokerage firm.

We bought and sold our house in Queen Anne through WALAW. That saved us over $ 18,000 when we sold our house! Marc and his team are real estate attorneys who charge clients a flat rate for their work instead of the 3% commission real estate agents charge. And because Marc and his team are experienced real estate attorneys, we thought they provided us with better and smarter service than s regular real estate agent ever could. We don’t understand why anyone would want to sell a home through a real estate broker, pay a lot more, and be represented by someone who has less experience and expertise. We highly recommend WALAW and Marc Holmes.

We worked with Jason, Caitlin, and Claire to purchase a new home. Having read all of the reviews about WaLaw’s structure, we knew what we were getting into. We did our own research and went to over 50 open houses on the weekends over a course of three months, from Seattle to Everett and even some on the east side. We ended up saving more money than we had spent hiring them because of their rebate.
This is NOT a regular real estate agency where the realtors do the leg work for you. They state their structure and fees clearly on their contract. WaLaw does not look for houses for you– you do your own homework and ask them to show you the home during their business hours. Once we narrowed down the houses we wanted to see again after going to the open houses during the weekend, we emailed Claire or Jason and would receive an answer during business hours within 30 minutes to an hour. They are professional, punctual, and very responsive via email, text, or phone call. It was somewhat challenging to schedule all the home viewings with WaLaw only during business hours but it worked out. As other reviewers pointed out, you have to have a pretty good idea about the type of home you want to buy before working with them.
One thing to note– If you are considering putting in an offer on a foreclosure you may want to discuss the process with your WaLaw agent first to ensure that the process goes smoothly.
I highly recommend WaLaw if you know what type of house you want to buy, are 95−100% sure that you will be buying, and have good access to a computer with Internet. The money you save in the end if you do it correctly makes working with them worth it.

Have (those of you who are unfortunate enough to watch live TV) noticed an increasing number of generic commercials for REEL-​TOURS? I’m sure I know the reason for that — it’s because the traditional realtor model is dying. You can point towards the likes of Redfin, but I’m quite certain WaLaw is doing their own brand of damage. After buying a home with Marc and crew, I don’t know why anyone would bother with that old fashioned institution.
Well, I guess I kinda do. I’m the kind of person that knows exactly what I want and have no problems finding it myself. All I really need in transactions like a home purchase is sound advice from someone whose knows local nuances and can act as a sounding board for my crazy ass ideas. I don’t need a secretary, a chauffeur, or someone to convince me I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life. What I do need is someone who can work around my schedule, communicate mostly through email, tell me the truth like it’s going out of style, and text me when there’s an email I need to read RIGHT NOW.
In the end, we ended up with a house we didn’t think we’d ever find in a neighborhood we didn’t think we could ever afford. All this made possible by a little diligence with Redfin (we actually found our house with the mobile app while on vacation) and a bias for action. I don’t know about you, but $ 12k is worth a little effort on my part.
I knew we made the right decision, on house and broker, when Marc was noticeably excited about the potential of our new place. Now the adventure begins…

Excellent service… even better pricing! I would highly recommended them over any standard real estate agent. We had the best experience with Marc & Jason at WaLaw. They were prompt, organized, honest, professional, and most importantly flexible in everything we did. We felt confident and assured throughout the entire process having experienced agents and attorneys representing us. On several occasions their guidance and advice helped us steer clear of pitfalls and their thoughtful approach and strategy to making bids ultimately helped us the find the home we were searching for. We saved over $ 18k in commissions with WaLaw!

We are extremely glad that we decided to use WaLaw. We initially chose WaLaw solely because of the lower fee structure compared to other realtors, but we were very happily surprised by the great advice we got from Marc. On home tours, he was quite knowledgeable about details of construction and comparative market value of property. He was very analytical and gave us much more detail than we were used to hearing from realtors. Rather than pressuring us to buy, on one occasion Marc dissuaded us when we were close to making an offer, even though this ultimately meant more work for him as he then had to go on other home tours with us.
Once we selected a property, WaLaw was again very helpful in the purchasing process. It was a contested auction, but WaLaw helped us convince the sellers to go with our bid rather than another, based on our ability to close more rapidly. Then, in the inspection process, WaLaw helped us save a lot of money (more than the fee we paid them!) by identifying what needed to be fixed.
Throughout the process, Marc and Claire were very responsive. Especially in the final stages, when things became time-​critical, they were always available when needed. Having a lawyer on your side is great too, as they made sure that we got the best possible wording on the deed. In the end, we got a much nicer house than we hoped, for less money than we planned to spend.

My wife and I worked with Marc and his associate Claire to purchase a new home. New to the Seattle area, the duo initially helped us peruse the very limited selection of resales on the Eastside. I checked the MLS listings every day but we were frustrated by what was available in our target municipalities. Claire took point in this phase, joining us on these listing tours.
We ultimately went with the new construction route after three months of almost weekly open houses and tours. Once two promising listing was found, Marc helped us negotiate /​evaluate with the two builders in the Sammamish area who happened to place listings on the MLS. (I believe this is key, as WaLR needs to earn the agent commission that they then rebate to *you*). He correctly pointed out the potential pitfalls in new construction and structuring the commission rebates so it would still pass muster with our mortgage lender.
As other reviews have noted, Marc’s fee structures are much lower than Redfin’s or RE agents that will rebate some of their commissions. This is possible because Marc runs an über-​lean operation and he expects you to do a lot of the home-​search legwork.
I definitely recommend these guys without reservation — in fact, we hope to use Marc again someday!

We were extremely happy and satisfied working with Walaw. Both Marc & Claire are very professional, efficient and provided us with a highest level of service. We would never consider using any other real estate service after this experience. Thanks again for helping us find our new home Walaw!

My wife and I had used traditional agents before – once to buy a house, and once to sell that same house. We just couldn’t see the value, especially on the buying end. If you are prepared to browse MLS listings on your own (like we did anyway with our traditional buyers agent), you can save a boatload of money going with a flat-​fee agent like Walaw. They charge about $ 5,000, which includes attorney fees. Their fees are significantly lower than Redfin, so we went with them. Though we were paying less with Walaw, they were better in every way than our previous buyers’ agent: they were more experienced, more honest, and smarter.
I’ve been recommending Walaw (and more generally, the flat-​fee model) to everyone I know. It’s a no-​brainer. We ended up saving $ 17,125 with Walaw when compared to a traditional agent. I just can’t see how home buyers are leaving that kind of money on the table. Go with Walaw, people!

I can’t say enough about the amazing team at WaLaw. I’ve been working with Marc, Claire, and Jason for quite some time, and they’ve proven to be an excellent team. As many others have stated, the model at WaLaw for buying a home works perfectly for the buyer who plans on doing a majority of the leg work. The upside is that this can save you a ton of money at closing. Once you’ve identified a property you would like to pursue, they’re extremely responsive, and incredibly knowledgeable in walking you through the process.

We had a wonderful experience working with Marc at WaLaw buying our home in Brier. If you’re comfortable using the internet to find houses to look at, WaLaw is the way to go.
Other reviewers have noted the pricing structure — you need to be really sure you are going to buy, since you pay some money upfront to prove you are serious. Also, don’t expect them to do all the legwork for you — you need to find houses you like and ask to see them. Going to lots of open houses helps too (that’s how we found the house we ended up choosing).
With our first house, we used a conventional real-​estate agent, which was fine, but we ended up finding the house we wanted without that agent’s help. Really all we needed was someone to let us in for tours, and someone to do the heavy lifting when it comes time for all the paperwork. If that’s all YOU need, you should check out WaLaw.
With our second house, we were going to use Redfin, but my friend who used WaLaw to purchase his house recommended that we check them out. I’m so glad we did!
On the paperwork side, WaLaw is absolutely ideal, because they are lawyers too! They aren’t just pushing papers around that somebody else wrote — they can make changes on your behalf, and they can explain things to you as a lawyer.
Marc and Claire were great from start to finish. I would highly recommend them to anybody. Plus, you save money — even more than you would save by using Redfin!

Our home purchase had some very unusual legal complications (our mortgage broker said it’s the only case he’s seen in 15+ years!), which made it even more beneficial to have an agent who is also an attorney on our side. Craig did an excellent job closing a very complicated deal, and saved us money to boot! As first time buyers we also a many questions and Craig was always patient, prompt and knowledgeable in answering us.
We’ve also worked with Marc (1^st unaccepted offer) and Claire (for some showings), and everyone at WaLaw was a pleasure to deal with.
If you are serious about buying a house, and understand fully the value proposition provided by WaLaw, this is a great way to go. I hope new real estate business models like this one will continue to drive quality of service up and costs to consumers down.

WaLaw is fantastic! We saved five figures on our home purchase and they were great to work with. Highly recommended if you’re a local buyer who doesn’t need a ton of hand-​holding.

For anyone who is certain of buying a home and can find their own house without a realtor’s assistance, I could not recommend WaLaw Realty more highly. They offer a great fee arrangement. The drawback is that the fee applies regardless of whether a transaction is completed, but the fee is fixed and is much lower than a standard realtor’s fee.
Craig Blackmom was outstanding when we purchased our home. He outlined the purchase process and our options, timely completed all necessary documents for us and made sure we did not miss any deadlines. He was very responsive to our e-​mails, proactive in protecting our interests and helpful in suggesting negotiation strategies. He steered us expertly through our somewhat complicated transaction.

I can’t recommend WaLaw highly enough as a buyer’s agency, as long as all of the below are true for you:
1.) You know the area where you want to buy a home fairly well. You know the pros and cons of the various neighboroods, you know the schools, you know the roads and traffic patterns.
2.) You know what kind of house you want, and in what price range. You’re familiar with the various house styles in your neighborhood choices, you’re familiar with what features you want.
3.) You’re comfortable finding your own house choices on Redfin and similar sites.
4.) You’re comfortable choosing a house after using a relatively low number of in-​person property tours (less than 10 ideally).
5.) You’re 99% sure that you’re going to buy a house in the Puget Sound area in the next couple of years (because you pay WaLaw a flat fee whether you buy or not).
These were all true for my husband and me, and WaLaw made our first-​time home buying experience far smoother than we thought possible. Saving over $ 8000 on the commission at closing didn’t hurt either!
I would not use WaLaw if I was relocating into the Seattle area and needed to buy something that would suit my needs quickly, nor if I needed a great deal of hand-​holding to figure out what I wanted in house and location.
WaLaw WILL:
* give you the abilty to tour houses on the MLS (some # of initial tour-​hours are free, after which you pay them by the hour)
* guide you through the intricacies of the buying process after you’ve chosen a house
* represent you effectively in negotiations
* provide legal review of all contracts involved before you sign your life away
* consistently and professionally communicate with you, the listing agent, the mortgage broker, and escrow
* provide expert comparative market analysis to keep you from overpaying
WaLaw WILL NOT:
* buy you lunches
* interrogate you at length about your hopes and dreams
* call you up with houses they found for you
* drive you around to tour houses
* tour houses forever «for free» (in exchange for an enormous payday at the end)
* pressure you to close on a house — they get paid either way, so they have no incentive to sell you anything.
For this package of services, WaLaw charges a flat fee 40−90% less than a traditional real estate agent (depending on property price).
We would use WaLaw again in a heartbeat.
–Olivia & David Aldridge

This is how real estate transactions should be done!
I’ve worked with Mark and Craig on two different occasions, and both times I’ve had great experiences. The truth is I generally complain about lawyers, but this firm is different. I highly recommend them. Every penny I’ve spent has been worth it.
So if you’re looking for someone to help you buy or sell a home, look no further. These guys know the business and will only have your best interests in mind. Of course, the commission rebate at closing only sweetens the deal!