Homestead Liens

Texas has very complicated homestead laws intended to protect individuals against “accidental” homelessness. There are very few ways a lien can be placed on a homestead, and each way is spelled out in the Texas Constitution. If you are a banker, homeowner, or work at a title company, you may have heard of the twin issues of “overburdening” the homestead …

Those Darned Restrictions!

Ready for the Summer real estate selling season? Here is a frequently asked question that has risen to the top:  How do you get rid of restrictive covenants or make changes to existing restrictions against property which are detrimental to a sale?  Like all good lawyer answers, it depends! Without any statement in the restrictions themselves about how to terminate or change …

Seller Financing: An Overview

It is sometimes advantageous to finance the sale of your own residential property.  There are both Texas and Federal laws which may apply to your sale, however. The Federal Dodd-Frank Act, which requires “loan originators” to be licensed, applies only to consumer buyers, so loans secured by vacant land, commercial properties, rental properties or properties used for investment purposes are …

Corporate Structures Series, Post #2: Cost Savings of Series LLCs for Real Estate Investors

There’s a new entity structure in town taking real estate investors by storm: a Series Limited Liability Company. Series LLCs are great vehicles for real estate investments, although they may be used for other purposes too. The entity structure enables the organizers to have a single, filed LLC with the Texas Secretary of State, and also have separate, but associated, …