Real Estate Insights

Analysis and practical guides on real estate.

42 articles, checklists, and guides on real estate law, written by the attorneys at MC Law. Every piece is general information, not legal advice — for a specific matter, contact the firm.

Real EstateResidential Leasing

Residential Landlord-Tenant Law: A Practical Guide for Small Landlords

Owning a rental property is a regulated business, and the regulations are local, unforgiving, and largely invisible until something goes wrong. This guide covers the residential landlord-tenant relationship from screening through possession. It starts with the fair housing rules that govern advertising and tenant selection, including the source-of-income and criminal-history restrictions that many landlords have never heard of, then the lease itself and the provisions that are void by statute in most states. It covers security deposits, where the penalties for a late or unitemized return frequently exceed the deposit itself, and the implied warranty of habitability and the tenant remedies that follow from a breach. Later sections address entry, retaliation, and the eviction process in detail, including the self-help prohibition that converts a rent dispute into a damages claim against the landlord.

Casey Scott McKayFebruary 1, 202527 min read

Real EstateFair Housing

Fair Housing and Lending Toolkit: Testing, Complaints, and Litigation

A working kit for fair housing practice on both sides. Section A is a protected class and coverage matrix mapping federal, common state, and common local protections against the transactions each reaches. Section B holds complainant instruments: an incident log, a tester report form, a HUD complaint narrative template, an accommodation request letter, and an appraisal reconsideration request. Section C holds provider instruments: model screening criteria, an advertising review guide, an accommodation response letter, an interactive process log, and an FCRA adverse action notice. Section D holds litigation instruments: a discovery request set, a disparate impact worksheet, a comparator chart, and a position statement outline. Section E collects the primary authorities.

Casey Scott McKayJanuary 27, 202514 min read

Real EstateLand Use

Eminent Domain and Regulatory Takings: Just Compensation, Inverse Condemnation, and Penn Central

The Fifth Amendment permits the government to take private property for public use on payment of just compensation, and almost every word in that clause has generated its own body of law. Direct condemnation is a procedure — the government files, deposits an estimate, takes title, and litigates value. Regulatory takings are harder, because a regulation that destroys value is sometimes compensable and usually is not, and the line between them runs through a multi-factor test the Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to make more predictable. This article covers the public use requirement after Kelo, the categorical rules for physical occupations and total economic wipeouts, the Penn Central balancing test, the exaction cases, the mechanics of a condemnation action, and how just compensation is actually measured.

Casey Scott McKayJanuary 23, 202525 min read

Real EstateCommercial Ownership

Buying Commercial Real Estate: Contract, Diligence, Title, and Closing

Buying a commercial building is a diligence exercise with a contract wrapped around it, and the contract exists mainly to define how long you have to discover problems and what happens when you do. This article walks the transaction in order. It covers the letter of intent and the purchase and sale agreement, the deposit structure and the difference between refundable and hard money, and the due diligence period that is the single most negotiated term. It then covers title review in detail, including how to read a commitment and its exceptions, what an ALTA survey shows that a title report does not, and the endorsements worth buying. Later sections address environmental assessment and the innocent landowner defense, zoning and land use verification, tenant estoppels and lender documents for leased property, financing, entity and tax structuring including 1031 exchanges, and the closing itself, with a worked example, a diligence checklist, and an FAQ.

Casey Scott McKayJanuary 21, 202525 min read

Real EstateFair Housing

Fair Housing Compliance and Complaint Checklist: A Practical Checklist

A two-sided checklist. The complainant sequence covers what to document in the first week, what not to do, choosing among the four enforcement paths and their differing deadlines, filing with HUD or a local agency, and building the damages record. The compliance sequence covers written screening criteria, individualized criminal and eviction assessment, advertising review, occupancy standards, the reasonable accommodation process, assistance animals, the seven design and construction requirements for post 1991 multifamily housing, algorithmic screening and pricing audits, training, and records retention. A response sequence covers the first forty eight hours after a complaint arrives.

Casey Scott McKayJanuary 13, 20258 min read

Real EstateResidential Finance

Defending a Foreclosure: A Practical Guide for Homeowners

This guide is a step-by-step defense plan for a homeowner facing foreclosure, written to be used rather than admired. It starts with the four facts you must establish in the first week, then moves through the free administrative tools that produce the loan file and stop the clock, the loss mitigation application that must be complete to trigger federal protection, the audit of the reinstatement quote that removes improper fees, and the litigation options in judicial and nonjudicial states. It explains what a defense realistically accomplishes, which arguments courts reject and why pursuing them is dangerous, when bankruptcy is the right tool, and how to exit with dignity and money when keeping the house is not possible.

Casey Scott McKayDecember 18, 202427 min read

Real EstateFair Housing

Bringing and Defending a Fair Housing Claim: A Practical Guide

This guide runs a fair housing matter from both sides. The complainant track covers recognizing what happened, the documentation to create in the first week, working with a fair housing organization and its testing program, choosing among the four enforcement paths and their different deadlines and remedies, filing with HUD without a lawyer, the investigation and conciliation process, when to elect federal court, and how to plead and prove a private action. The respondent track covers the first forty-eight hours after a complaint arrives, preserving records, drafting a position statement that does not create new problems, the defenses that actually work, when to conciliate, and how to build the compliance program that prevents the next one.

Casey Scott McKayDecember 16, 202427 min read

Real EstateFair Housing

Fair Housing and Lending Discrimination: Disparate Treatment, Disparate Impact, and Enforcement

Housing discrimination is rarely announced. It happens through a returned call that never comes, a quoted rent that is higher for one caller than another, a neighborhood suggestion framed as helpfulness, an algorithm that scores an applicant, and an appraisal that reads the neighborhood rather than the house. This article explains what the Fair Housing Act prohibits and who it covers, how disparate treatment and disparate impact claims are actually proved, why tester standing exists, what reasonable accommodations and modifications require, the accessible design requirements that apply to newer multifamily housing, how lending discrimination is regulated under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and surfaced through HMDA data, and the four enforcement paths available to a person who has been discriminated against.

Casey Scott McKayDecember 3, 202429 min read

Real EstateResidential

Residential Real Estate Toolkit: Offers, Contingencies, Disclosures, and Closing

A working kit for residential transactions. Section A compares deed types, title policies, and loan products in tables built for decisions. Section B is a contingency clause library with strong and weak versions of each provision side by side. Section C holds letters and forms: an inspection response, a title objection, a repair credit amendment, an appraisal reconsideration request, an escrow release demand, a walkthrough form, and a post closing occupancy agreement. Section D holds a wire fraud verification protocol and a Closing Disclosure comparison worksheet. Section E holds a co ownership agreement term sheet. Section F collects the primary authorities.

Casey Scott McKayNovember 11, 202414 min read

Real EstateResidential

Home Purchase and Sale Checklist: A Practical Checklist

A deadline-driven checklist for a residential closing, run from both sides. The buyer sequence covers budget and pre-approval, the eight negotiable offer terms, the first seventy-two hours after acceptance, the inspection set to order, the written response that preserves the contingency, reading the title commitment where the surprises live, appraisal gaps, underwriting discipline, the three-day Closing Disclosure comparison, the walkthrough, and post-closing confirmation. The seller sequence covers the pre-listing title search and permit history, the listing agreement terms to negotiate, honest disclosure, evaluating offers on more than price, and escrow management. A shared section covers wire fraud prevention and deal failure.

Casey Scott McKayOctober 24, 20249 min read

Real EstateLand Use

Zoning, Land Use, and Entitlements: How Local Government Decides What You Can Build

Whether you can build something is decided by a local body applying a local ordinance, and the process is more political than most business owners expect and more procedural than most political actors expect. This article explains how it works. It covers the comprehensive plan and the zoning ordinance it authorizes, the difference between uses permitted by right and those requiring discretionary approval, and the four principal entitlement paths: conditional use permits, variances, rezonings, and planned unit developments. It then covers site plan and subdivision review, nonconforming uses and when they are lost, and vested rights and development agreements. A long section addresses exactions and impact fees under the Nollan, Dolan, Koontz, and Sheetz line of cases, regulatory takings under Penn Central and Lucas, and the ripeness rules that changed with Knick. Later sections cover constitutional and statutory constraints including RLUIPA and fair housing, historic preservation, and environmental review, with a worked example, a strategy checklist, and an FAQ.

Casey Scott McKayOctober 9, 202426 min read

Real EstateResidential

Buying or Selling a Home: A Practical Guide from Offer to Keys

This guide runs a residential transaction in order, from both chairs. The buyer track covers setting a real budget, getting a commitment rather than a pre-qualification, writing an offer whose contingencies actually protect you, the first-week tasks that decide the deal, inspecting properly and negotiating the response, reading the title commitment where the surprises live, surviving underwriting, using the three-day Closing Disclosure window, the final walkthrough, and the closing table. The seller track covers pre-listing repairs and title clearing, the listing agreement, honest disclosure, evaluating competing offers on more than price, and managing escrow. A shared section covers costs, what to do when a deal breaks, and where to get help.

Casey Scott McKayOctober 7, 202428 min read