Practice Areas

Real Estate Transactions

We have handled the purchase and sale of both residential and commercial properties throughout New York State (and occasionally in other states as well). While the majority of our work in this area is the representation of a seller or purchaser of a residential home, condominium or cooperative apartment, our clients have also included the purchaser of strip malls in Rockland County, a seller who transferred his interest in a thirty-five (35) story commercial building in lower Manhattan pursuant to a multi-phased transaction, the seller of an auto body shop in Brooklyn and both the sellers and purchasers of a variety of multi-unit residential or mixed-use buildings in Manhattan.

Scope of Our Real Estate Expertise

When representing the purchaser of a cooperative apartment or condominium unit, a transaction lawyer will perform the required due diligence by reviewing offering plans, financial statements, bylaws, and board minutes. We also order and review lien searches and title reports to confirm that the purchaser is receiving a good title.

The diverse nature of our practice enables us to handle all aspects of a transaction that may arise, from structuring the deal through a successful closing. Our attorneys always take steps to ensure that the transaction is structured as beneficially as possible for our clients and when appropriate we work closely with tax advisors, title companies, and 1031 exchange companies.

Strategies such as transfers of partial interests, like-kind exchanges, and advanced estate planning concepts such as the estate freeze can allow buyers and sellers to reduce or defer current and future income and estate tax liabilities on account of the real property transfer. We also have experience in working with various building departments and municipal offices in order to quickly and efficiently resolve title issues, including uncured prior building code violations, open permits, and certificate of occupancy issues, which would otherwise delay or even prevent the closing.

We have resolved prior mortgages that had been paid off but remained open as a lien against the property due to the prior lender’s failure to file the proper satisfaction document. When the seller is an estate, we have experience in procuring the necessary releases of lien from the taxing authority and, when required request and obtain estate tax closing letters.

In addition to the property sales mentioned above, we have represented a number of managing agents of cooperative corporations and presently serve as a transfer agent for a Manhattan cooperative. We have also represented clients to refinance their mortgages and to make gifts of real estate for estate tax planning purposes.

As counsel for our diverse array of clients, which range from individuals to estates, to small not-for-profit groups to large corporations, our New York-based transactions lawyers have handled a variety of other types of real estate transactions, including drafting and negotiating both residential and commercial leases on behalf of both landlords and tenants; transactions involving the merger of two adjoining residential units into one unit; and successfully negotiating the succession rights of a family member of a rent-stabilized tenant in New York City.

You can also read more about our zoning, land use and real estate litigation practices.