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

Buying and Selling a Home: Contract, Financing, Inspection, Title, and Closing

A home purchase is the largest contract most people ever sign, and it is signed under time pressure with an agent explaining the paperwork. This article explains what a purchase and sale agreement actually does, why the statute of frauds means the writing is everything, how earnest money works and when it is forfeited, what each contingency protects and what happens when one is waived, the difference between caveat emptor and modern disclosure duties, how title searches and title insurance actually protect a buyer, what the different deed types warrant, what RESPA and TILA require lenders and settlement agents to disclose and when, and what remedies exist when a deal falls apart. Written for buyers, sellers, and the lawyers who close these transactions.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 19, 202429 min read

Real EstateCommercial Leasing

Commercial Leasing Toolkit: A Roadmap for Tenants and Landlords

A lease is a five- or ten-year contract that most small businesses sign in a week, using a form drafted entirely for the other side. This toolkit walks the transaction from site selection through surrender, written so that either side can use it. It covers the diligence that should happen before the letter of intent, the economics that a stated rental rate conceals, the operating expense provisions that quietly determine the real cost, the construction and delivery mechanics that decide whether the space is usable on time, and the transfer and guaranty provisions that matter years later when the business is sold or fails. Later stages cover the landlord's perspective on credit and remedies, the administration practices that catch a missed renewal window, what to do when a tenant stops paying or a landlord stops performing, and the end-of-term obligations that generate the most post-lease litigation.

Casey Scott McKayAugust 22, 202415 min read

Real EstateNatural Resources

Oil, Gas, and Mineral Rights: Ownership, Leases, Royalties, and the Rule of Capture

Under most American land, the minerals are a separate estate that can be owned, sold, leased, and inherited apart from the surface, and the mineral estate is generally dominant over the surface. This article explains that structure and what follows from it: the rule of capture and the conservation regulation that limits it, the oil and gas lease and the clauses that determine how much a landowner is actually paid, the post production cost fight that consumes a large share of royalty litigation, pooling and unitization, the implied covenants that fill the lease's silences, division orders, and the surface use and accommodation rules that govern what an operator may do to land it does not own.

Casey Scott McKayAugust 15, 202429 min read

Real EstateResidential Finance

Foreclosure and Mortgage Servicing: Default, Loss Mitigation, and the Sale

Foreclosure is a collection remedy dressed as a real estate transaction, and almost everything that decides its outcome happens before the sale date. This article explains the two foreclosure systems and why the difference between them matters more than any other fact, the servicing rules that give homeowners real procedural rights and servicers real liability, the loss mitigation options in the order they should be evaluated, and the defenses that actually work as opposed to the ones that circulate on the internet. It covers standing and chain of title, dual tracking, the bankruptcy alternatives, deficiency judgments and their limits, and what happens to a homeowner after the sale. It is written for homeowners in default, for lenders and servicers, and for counsel on either side.

Casey Scott McKayAugust 4, 202428 min read

Real EstateConstruction

Construction Contracts and Payment Disputes: Change Orders, Delay Claims, and Mechanics Liens

Construction disputes are rarely about whether work was done. They are about whether a change was authorized, whether a delay was excusable, and whether a notice was given within the time the contract required. This article explains the machinery. It covers project delivery methods and pricing structures and how each allocates risk, then the payment chain from schedule of values through payment application, retainage, and the pay-if-paid clauses that decide who bears the risk of an owner that does not pay. It works through changes and the constructive change doctrine, differing site conditions, and delay claims including critical path analysis, concurrent delay, and no-damages-for-delay clauses. Later sections cover the implied warranty of plans and specifications, completion and warranty obligations, mechanics liens and their unforgiving notice deadlines, payment bonds and the Miller Act, and dispute resolution, with a worked example, a claims checklist, and an FAQ.

Casey Scott McKayJune 17, 202425 min read

Real EstateLandlord Tenant

Landlord-Tenant Toolkit: Notices, Repairs, Deposits, and Court Filings

A working kit of landlord-tenant instruments. Section A maps remedies to conditions and shows which statutes to check. Section B holds tenant templates: a repair request, an escalation letter, a rent escrow notice, a lease addendum, a notice-defect audit, an eviction answer, and a deposit demand. Section C holds landlord templates: screening criteria, an FCRA adverse action notice, a maintenance log, a rent ledger, pay-or-quit and cure-or-quit notices, a proof of service, and a deposit itemization. Section D holds shared documents: a cash-for-keys agreement, a settlement stipulation with sealing language, and a payment plan. Section E collects the primary authorities.

Casey Scott McKayApril 8, 202415 min read

Real EstateLandlord Tenant

Lease Review and Eviction Response Checklist: A Practical Checklist

A two-sided checklist for residential tenancies. The tenant side runs lease review clause by clause, the move-in documentation that decides deposit disputes, the written repair request sequence, the remedy decision, notice review for defects, the answer and hearing preparation, and deposit recovery. The landlord side runs lawful screening and FCRA compliance, a compliant lease, repair response that defeats a habitability defense, the notice audit that prevents the most common fatal defect, filing prerequisites, and deposit itemization. A shared section covers settlement terms worth trading and record sealing.

Casey Scott McKayMarch 21, 20249 min read

Real EstateConstruction

Managing a Construction Project from the Owner's Side

An owner building a project is buying a promise about the future from parties whose interests diverge from the owner's the moment anything goes wrong. Almost every construction dispute traces to a decision made before the first shovel — the delivery method, the allocation of design responsibility, the way the price was structured, and what the contract said about time. This guide covers the owner's side in sequence: selecting a delivery method and understanding what each one does to risk, engaging the design professional, structuring the price, the contract provisions that decide claims, running the payment and lien waiver process, handling changes and delay, closing out the project, and resolving disputes. It is written for owners who build occasionally rather than continuously.

Casey Scott McKayMarch 18, 202425 min read

Real EstateCommercial Ownership

Title Review and Real Estate Closing Checklist: A Practical Checklist

Real estate closings fail on items that were disclosed weeks earlier in a document nobody read line by line. The title commitment's Schedule B-I is a task list with owners and dates, and its Schedule B-II is a set of risks that must each be classified as acceptable, requiring information, requiring cure, or deal-affecting. This checklist converts both into a working process, adds the survey ordering and Table A selections that reveal the problems a title search cannot, sets out the endorsements worth buying in a commercial transaction, and runs the closing itself — including the wire verification step that prevents the most common uninsured loss in the industry. It ends with the funding, recording, and policy review that confirm the cure actually happened.

Casey Scott McKayMarch 14, 20249 min read

Real EstateLandlord Tenant

Handling a Landlord-Tenant Dispute: A Practical Guide for Tenants and Landlords

This guide runs a landlord-tenant dispute from both chairs, in the order events actually happen. The tenant track covers reading a lease before signing, documenting move-in, making a repair request that creates a usable record, choosing among repair remedies without defaulting, responding to a notice, filing an answer, preparing for a hearing that will last ten minutes, and recovering a deposit. The landlord track covers lawful screening, a compliant lease, repair response that defeats a habitability defense, serving notices that survive scrutiny, proving a case, and executing a writ without committing a lockout. A shared section covers negotiation, mediation, rental assistance, and where to find free help.

Casey Scott McKayMarch 4, 202428 min read

Real EstateCommercial Leasing

Commercial Leases for Small Businesses: What to Negotiate Before You Sign

A commercial lease is usually the largest fixed obligation a small business signs and the one it understands least. It is not governed by the consumer protections that apply to apartments, the landlord's form is written entirely for the landlord, and the terms that determine whether the deal is affordable are rarely the rent number everyone negotiates. This article explains what actually matters. It covers the letter of intent and why the real negotiation happens there, the difference between gross and net structures and how common area maintenance charges become uncapped exposure, the rentable versus usable square footage measurement that silently raises the effective rent, and the personal guaranty that turns a corporate obligation into a family one. It then works through the operational clauses: use and exclusivity, assignment and subletting and why they decide whether the business can ever be sold, tenant improvement allowances and who owns what at the end, repair and maintenance allocation, casualty and condemnation, holdover penalties, and the subordination and estoppel provisions the tenant signs without reading. It closes with a negotiation priority list, a due diligence checklist, a worked example, an FAQ, and related reading.

Casey Scott McKayFebruary 14, 202424 min read

Real EstateTax

Structuring a 1031 Like-Kind Exchange: A Practical Guide

A like-kind exchange defers the gain on the sale of investment real estate if the transaction is structured before the sale closes and every deadline is met. The rules are unforgiving in a specific way: the taxpayer may never have the right to receive the proceeds, the replacement property must be identified within forty-five days, and the exchange must close within one hundred eighty days, with no extensions available for a missed identification. This guide covers what qualifies after the 2017 restriction to real property, how the qualified intermediary safe harbor works and what destroys it, the identification and timing rules with their exact arithmetic, how boot and debt relief create taxable income even in a completed exchange, and the reverse and improvement structures for situations where the replacement comes first. It closes with related-party traps and state-level clawbacks.

Casey Scott McKayFebruary 13, 202426 min read