According to the American Land Title Association, the first reported private transfer fee covenant was created to pay money to the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society in order to fund an open space preserve. Since then, developers and homeowners’ associations alike have borrowed the mechanism to generate a…
Imagine buying your dream house and everything is going swimmingly. The closing date approaches, but you notice something odd in the paperwork. A “reconveyance fee” is listed as a deed restriction and requires all future buyers over the next ninety-nine years to pay one percent of the home’s sales price…
As a Texas real estate attorney representing buyers, sellers, lenders, developers, and occasionally brokers, in Texas, I have sometimes been accused of sounding like a broken record in advising my clients. My oft-repeated mantra is: “Read the document thoroughly, and then read it again”. Even if the document is one…
One of the things I love about being a Texas real estate and development lawyer is that Texans are so open to innovative real estate developments. Practicing real estate and development law in Texas is great fun and very satisfying for this reason. A recent real estate development in Texas…
I have represented developers and investors in Texas real estate developments for over thirty years. I have been blessed with clients who are fabulous people to work with, and Texas development law is always challenging and interesting. There is one thing that is guaranteed to make both my clients and…
As a Texas real estate lawyer representing developers, builders and investors in Texas, I have found that my clients benefit from the availability of “alternate dispute resolution” remedies in their contracts. These remedies, such as mediation and arbitration, can result in satisfactory outcomes to disputes, without the cost of extended…
As a Texas attorney representing both builders and construction companies in Texas on one hand, and Texas consumers of construction services on the other, I have had occasion to litigate a number of cases in which construction defects were the central issue in the case. I learned long ago (because…
Texas attorneys representing developers, homeowners and contractors, and in fact any attorney who is drafting a contract for a client, should make note of a recent case by the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas. In the recent case of San Antonio Properties L.P. v. PSRA Investments, Inc.,…
I have served as an attorney representing both rural water companies and real estate developers in Texas for quite a few years. Very often, my representation involves negotiating “nonstandard service” contracts. These are contracts governing the conditions, terms and costs under which a rural water company will extend water service…
As a real estate and development attorney in east Texas, I have represented Texas property or homeowners associations (HOAs) on quite a number of occasions. My legal services for my homeowner association clients have ranged from preparation of corporate documents and restrictive covenants, to mediating disputes, to overseeing annual meetings,…