Real estate as a business problem.
Most real estate transactions fail for reasons the parties could have anticipated but didn't. A title defect surfaces two days before closing. A commercial lease permits something the landlord thought was prohibited. A partnership operating agreement didn't account for how an exit actually happens. A 1031 exchange misses a deadline by a day. The contracts existed; they simply did not contemplate the circumstance that arose.
This practice approaches real estate work as operational. Every document is drafted with specific attention to what happens when something unusual occurs — because in real estate, something unusual always occurs. The value of good counsel is not in the typical deal that closes smoothly. It is in the atypical deal where a provision negotiated two months ago turns out to matter.
What this practice covers.
Commercial real estate transactions
Acquisitions and dispositions of office, retail, industrial, multifamily, and mixed-use properties. Letters of intent, purchase and sale agreements, due diligence management, title and survey review, closing statement review, and post-closing integration. This practice has particular experience with larger and more structured transactions — including those involving complex capital stacks, New Markets Tax Credit allocations, and multi-party closings.
Residential purchase and sale contracts
Texas Real Estate Commission promulgated forms where appropriate; custom agreements for transactions outside the promulgated-form universe. Attention to contingencies, financing provisions, special warranty deed issues, and HOA-related complexities that generic contracts frequently mishandle.
Title review
Schedule B and Schedule C exceptions, easement and restriction analysis, survey exception review, and curative work when defects must be cleared before closing. Many title issues are identified too late, with closing pressure already bearing down; the right time to review title is when the commitment is first issued, not 72 hours before close.
Commercial and residential leasing
Landlord-side and tenant-side representation. Commercial leases are among the most consequential contracts a business signs — second only to the entity documents themselves. Good leases survive changes in market conditions, tenant growth, landlord ownership transitions, and disputes that neither party anticipated at signing. Bad leases create recurring friction for ten or twenty years.
Landlord-tenant disputes
Lease enforcement, eviction procedures, early termination negotiations, security deposit disputes, and counterclaims. Texas has specific procedural requirements for residential eviction that must be followed precisely — procedural errors at this stage are the most common reason for otherwise-winnable cases to fail.
1031 like-kind exchanges
Structuring the exchange to qualify under IRC §1031, coordinating with the qualified intermediary, managing the 45-day identification window and 180-day exchange period, and structuring the replacement property acquisition. A 1031 exchange is entirely a creature of deadlines — missing either window by a single day collapses the deferral. Planning is not optional.
Real estate partnerships and joint ventures
Formation, capital structure, waterfall provisions, promote structures, decision-making authority, exit mechanics, and drag-along / tag-along rights. Real estate partnerships fail in predictable ways: disagreements about capital calls, exits at different times by different partners, and decisions about major issues where no tiebreaker exists. The work is in anticipating those moments in the operating documents.
Development matters
Land acquisition for development, zoning and entitlement coordination, development agreements with municipalities, construction contracts, and coordination with lenders on construction loan structures.