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Showing 50 posts in Real Estate Law.
Easements Made Easy: The Basics of Easements on Real Property
Easements are one of those real estate concepts on which it’s difficult to get a consensus. To some, they are harmless items that can be ignored. To others, they are a fatal encumbrance on a piece of property, restricting its use and diminishing its value. While both opinions may be true depending on the circumstances, the fact is that easements generally fall somewhere in between those two extremes. To understand why, it is important to have a general understanding of what easements are and how they affect real property rights. More >
Planning and Zoning: 3 Things to Look for When Purchasing Property
The conventional wisdom is that real property is a solid investment – after all, they aren’t making any more of it, and it’s often billed as “one of a kind.” Of course, just because the wisdom is conventional doesn’t mean it’s correct. In reality, there are a multitude of considerations that potential real property purchasers should take into account, and a careful review of these will generally result in sounder investment decisions. The condition of any buildings, access to the property and environmental assessments all should be factors in the purchase decision, but there are additional issues from a land use planning perspective that will impact whether an investment in real estate will pay off in the long run. More >
Investing in Real Estate: Where Do You Start?
Investment in real estate, whether residential or commercial, is a great vehicle for building wealth. For many people, however, the most difficult part of building a portfolio of real estate investment is knowing just where to begin. There are more options and moving parts than may be evident at first blush, so new investors might be either hesitant to enter the field or far too brash in diving into an investment without a definitive road map. Both paths are fraught with difficulty and failure. More >
The New TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Requirements
Farewell, HUD-1, we hardly knew ye. As of October 3rd, 2015, lenders will provide two integrated forms at specified intervals surrounding the closing date to comply with the provisions of both the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (“RESPA”). The new forms are the result of provisions from Sections 1098 and 1100A of the Dodd-Frank Act meant to combine and simplify existing documents to make them easier for mortgagors to understand. More >
The Dangerous Path of Property through Intestacy: The Need for Estate Planning with Respect to Real Estate
Winding up an estate is a difficult task, one that can take a toll on a group of the decedent’s family and loved ones. This process, however, is exponentially more challenging when a person dies intestate. Real property is particularly difficult to distribute without a definitive statement of intent on the part of the deceased. The various methods of descent in intestacy create tangled estates as families grow in complexity, and so many conflicts might be resolved otherwise through the careful act of creating an estate plan. More >
The Consequences of Walking Away: Breach of Contract in Commercial Real Estate
The temptation happens often: the deal is done, the ink is dry, the contract is finalized…then someone gets cold feet. Buyers don’t want to buy, sellers don’t want to sell, money gets tight, titles can’t be delivered, etc. What makes breach of commercial real estate contracts unique as opposed to most non-real estate contracts is that every single property is unique. No two properties can share the same physical location, but most also won’t share the same size, improvements, buildings, access, resources...the list is endless. It’s not as though the buyer can just buy the same property from another seller, and the seller who loses a buyer also loses expected capital. When one party breaches its duties in a commercial real estate contract, it’s important for the non-breaching party to understand what remedies are available. We’ll explore the most common remedies and what provisions should be in commercial real estate contracts to mitigate the effects of breach. More >
“Is this the airport, Clark?” – Aunt Bethany
Your guests have arrived and you’ve just spent that last ten hours Griswolding your home and now you and your company are standing in the front yard ready to bask in the warm glow of a million tiny lights, when your neighbor strolls over and says, “I wouldn’t do that. The homeowner’s association won’t allow it. Oh, and you can’t park there.” What? But you nearly died placing those reindeer on the roof! And where are all these people supposed to park?? More >
Tenant Absence During the Lease Term: Protecting Your Property
Every landlord’s goal is to have his/her rental property under lease and occupied by tenants who will not only pay their rent on time, but who will properly use and maintain the property. After all, the property is an investment by the landlord of both time and money. While landlords typically relate property damage to tenants’ use of the property (i.e. throwing wild parties or vandalism), nonuse can also result in significant damage to the property, not only causing damage to the structure itself, but a diminution in value of the property overall. This is especially true during the winter months. For example, a tenant may take an extended vacation for the holidays or even abandon the property altogether. Any time a property is unoccupied for an extended period of time, maintenance issues may go undetected and/or other problems may arise unbeknownst to the tenant(s) or the landlord. These issues/problems may include the heat being turned off by the tenant, running water left on, a leaky faucet, a stove being left on, an electrical issue, or the shut off of one or more utilities by the respective utility company for nonpayment. Such issues can result in damage to the property, including, but not limited to, frozen/burst pipes, flooding, or fire. Moreover, the damage can extend to other units and/or affect the safety of neighboring tenants. Thus, it is important for a landlord to know when a tenant is going to be gone for an extended period of time. More >
“Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow…But Should Someone Else Be Clearing it?”
Reading The Writing On The…Yard? Regulating Political Signs
Many local governments have ordinances on the books that regulate the number, size, location, and duration of political yard signs. However, many of these regulations probably do not pass constitutional muster and are not enforced. The difficulty with enacting yard sign regulations is that the signs constitute political speech which is one of the most precious and protected forms of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Courts across the country have consistently ruled that political speech cannot be regulated more stringently than commercial speech. For example, a local ordinance that sets time limits on how long political yard signs can be placed prior to an election and a time to remove them after the election are typically invalidated because other types of signs, such as real estate signs, have no durational limits. Similarly, ordinances that limit the number of political signs to no more than two per property have been struck down. Limiting the number of signs restricts free speech because the household residents may have different political viewpoints. Further, many election seasons are to fill the seats of many different offices, thus limiting the number of signs impermissibly limits the number of candidates that a property owner can support. Regulating the size of political yard signs is problematic too if the local sign ordinance limits political signs to a smaller size than permitted for other types of signs. More >
