Michele K McNeill

In 2010, I was disabled and no longer able to work, nor keep up with my mortgage. My former employer (King County) referred me to Michele for a complimentary consultation. I hoped to get advice on how to get a loan modification of some sort. I was immediately impressed with her. She took time to l...isten and learn about the details of my situation, explain my options to me, and to answer an extensive set of questions from me and my sister who joined me at the meeting. It was clear from the start that Michele had deep knowledge of real estate law. In my case, refinancing and loan modification were not viable options and it became clear that a short sale would be necessary. I asked Michele if I could or should hire her to help with the short sale process, and she recommended that I NOT hire her on retainer for this work. Instead, she told me to save my money and gave me step-by-step instructions on what to expect and what to do to move forward with a short sale on my own. She took a lot of time to explain the pitfalls of the short sale process and also made me aware of two critical things: 1) I needed to secure specific language from the bank in the sale documents saying that I would not owe any money after the sale closed. 2) After getting that language secured, the forgiven debt would be reported as income. However, due to an Obama administration tax break, IF my short sale closed in 2012, I would not have to pay tax on that amount. As I worked through the short sale process, everything happened exactly as she predicted. When I had questions or wanted a document reviewed, I contacted Michele via email and she always replied promptly, providing clear, concise answers and feedback, and for minimal charge. Thanks to Michele, I was aware of the urgency of closing the sale in 2012. My real estate agent pushed hard and my short sale closed just before Christmas. The bank forgave $130k and, because of meeting the tax-break deadline, I will not have to pay tax on that amount. My total consultation fees with Michele totaled just a few hundred dollars and saved me about $40,000 in taxes. If you are looking for a real estate attorney, look no further.

My husband and I consulted with Michele about our financial situation and real estate debt. She spent plenty of time with us, crunching numbers and giving us matter of fact advice for what to do. She layed the options out to help us make the decision to sell our home and move on with our lives. She k...nows her stuff (very up on the ever-changing real estate industry), is gracious and compassionate, and is very practical. I highly recommend seeing her if you need some professional direction with your real estate needs.

Like many readers who use Avvo, I contacted Michele after finding her 10 star rating on Avvo. I wanted loan modification on and Michele walked me through some options. It looked like I was in good hands... But after initial meeting, it was hard to even reach his legal assistant. I sent out my docu...ments and she and her team was supposed to send them and connect with my bank. None of my documents were sent for 2 months !!! No updates, no follow ups nothing. I called multiple times. 2 months later, I was told to resend the documents. I sent those in 2-3 days. Again no action. Actually for 6 months no followup with bank was done. Sometime Michele was out of town and sometimes her assistant. What I was constantly updated about was my bills. I don't know how my bill went upto $1000 without any action. Last week, I was told that Michele is no longer interested in my case and she has changed legal assistant. I replied back with higher fee for handling my case and resolving it successfully. She didn't accept that offer and declined to handle my case further. I am back to Square one. Michelle is all about hope and nothing about action. I wish I had other lawyer who would have helped me. Please don't get blind sided by shiny ratings !!!!