Real Estate Owners
We provide comprehensive, 360-degree representation to clients involved in real estate transactions. Our clients include buyers and sellers, developers, lenders and investors, and any of our entrepreneur clients who need help with real estate questions from time to time. Providing answers and resolving disputes in a practical and timely manner is especially important in the real estate industry, where stakes are high and situations arise at the last minute. For that reason, we pride ourselves on providing our clients with quick, decisive, and (above all) practical representation.
Selling
Selling real estate is often a difficult decision, especially when choosing between multiple offers, or deciding when the “right time to sell” is. We help real estate sellers make decisions they feel comfortable with, and structure purchase agreements and other sale documents to reflect our clients’ preferences as well as their best interests.
We represent sellers throughout the sale process, helping them respond to title and other due diligence objections, coordinating with brokers and title agencies, and enforcing their rights in cases of dispute. We also counsel sellers on the tax consequences of their sale and help them structure 1031 like-kind exchanges to defer capital gains taxes.
Purchasing
Purchasing real estate is the largest transaction most people will make in their lifetimes. Each purchase has its own unique details and characteristics, even for seasoned real estate investors. We represent real estate purchasers of both commercial and residential properties to protect their rights and advance their interests.
We negotiate purchase agreements for our clients to make sure they get a fair deal and are protected during the purchase process. We also help purchasers do their due diligence, reviewing property financial performance, tenant documents, and financing arrangements. We draft and review closing documents and attend closings to make sure everything is finalized correctly.
Financing
When attempting to purchase real estate, your ability to buy is only as great as your ability to get financing. Often, securing financing means selling a lender, both on your creditworthiness and on the success of your new venture. We have an unparallelled ability to understand our clients’ experience, financial situations, and plans for their real estate ventures, and advocate effectively for the client to the lender.
Moreover, we have a wide range of both traditional and private lender contacts, with an excellent reputation for introducing quality borrowers, which enables us to suit the loan to the individual client. Finally, we accompany our clients through the loan process all the way to closing, effectively serving as mortgage brokers and making sure everything is taken care of to smooth and speed the loan towards the finish line.
Title Insurance
You appreciate the need to work with legal professionals to negotiate and draft the contract for your real estate transaction; it’s equally important to work with legal professionals to research and insure the title for the property and handle the closing. Our in-house, boutique commercial title insurance agency, Birmingham Title Agency, is owned and operated by our firm’s attorneys with this exact aim in mind.
Relying on our unparalleled real estate legal experience, and leveraging our unique underwriter relationships, Birmingham Title Agency protects each client’s transaction from the moment the purchase agreement is executed until long after the closing date. With decades of title insurance experience, the Birmingham Title Agency team expertly researches the title history of each property, works diligently to remove and resolve any title issues, and conducts the closing for all parties. Our attitude as a title agency goes beyond identifying problems—our agency works actively to solve title and contractual issues and get to closing.
Tax planning through 1031 Exchange
Our focus on guiding and advising clients throughout the real estate transaction doesn’t stop at closing. There can be significant tax implications from the sale of your investment property. We own and operate an in-house qualified intermediary, Birmingham Exchange Company, that facilitates 1031 like-kind exchanges which allows investors who qualify to fully defer their capital gains taxes. A 1031 exchange means that you keep more of your capital invested in your property, rather than paying it out in taxes, and the benefit compounds over time.
This is not just another service we provide–it’s a passion of ours to educate property owners and real estate professionals alike on this incredible IRS incentive program. Moreover, we take our same creative problem-solving mentality and apply it to the structuring of your 1031 like-kind exchange, including reverse, improvement, and combination exchanges.
Ownership structure
Real estate can be owned in a bewildering variety of ways—individually, under corporations and LLCs, trusts and estates, even partnerships. Each form of ownership has its pluses and minuses. Lenders, co-owners, divorcing spouses, heirs, and other interested parties add additional layers of complexity.
We advise clients on the best way to structure ownership of new real estate they’re in the process of purchasing, as well as restructuring ownership of real estate the client already owns. Ownership structure is not simply a formality, but a valuable tool in our toolbox to help our clients achieve their real estate goals.
Leasing and Management
The public often thinks of real estate as an easy, “check in the mail” form of income, but real estate owners know that it couldn’t be further from the truth. Property maintenance, relations with the local municipality, and contracts with tenants and vendors all make real estate ownership a full-time job.
As property owners and businesspeople ourselves, we intimately understand the needs and priorities of real estate owners and entrepreneurs, and advise accordingly. In particular, we represent both tenants and landlords in negotiating, interpreting, and enforcing their lease agreements fairly and practically. We also advise and represent real estate owners on matters involving construction, land use, easements, boundary disputes, tax appeals, municipal violations, and other property matters.