Rochford Resources Blog

Rochford Law & Real Estate Title, a long-standing member of the Nashville legal community, has released a new resource for investors and developers to help them better understand and navigate the complexities of the commercial real estate closing process.

A “Like-Kind Exchange,” also known as a 1031 Exchange or a Starker Exchange, allows investors to defer paying capital gains taxes on investment properties when they are sold, as long as another “like-kind” property is purchased with the profits of the sale. Congress enacted the like-kind exchange statue nearly 100 years ago, in 1921, to help investors avoid unfair taxation of ongoing investments in property and to encourage active reinvestment (Federation of Exchange Accommodators).

As a buyer, after shopping around for the best interest rates, a competent lender , a realtor you trust, and searching for the ideal home, it’s hard to believe that you still need to shop around for your settlement services. And for sellers, the anxiety, uncertainty of the process, and maintenance of your property may be enough to keep you awake at night. With so many moving pieces, it’s tempting to sit back and let someone else dictate who handles your settlement and title services.

What is Adverse Possession?

In the simplest of terms, adverse possession is a legal concept allowing individuals to acquire the title to a piece of land that they do not own because they have openly trespassed, inhabited, possessed, or used the property for an extended period of time. In Tennessee, neighbors or adjoining landowners can wind up in court over imprecise descriptions in deeds; fences that have marked boundaries for years, but are misplaced; outbuildings that straddle property lines; community gardens that have taken root on “vacant” lots; or deed overlaps where there’s not enough land to fulfill the descriptions for two adjoining parcels.

HPR stands for Horizontal Property Regime. In case you missed our last article on HPRs, we’ll fill you in before continuing onwards.

A Horizontal Property Regime is a legal way to divide a single property into two different properties, which is something that comes into play quite often in cities like Nashville. With Nashville’s economic boom, it has been estimated that as many as 100 people move here every single day.

Working in the field of real estate law, much of what we do is preventative. To people who are careful, hire a real estate lawyer, and get everything right the first time around, the dangers involved in real estate transactions might feel very abstract. Make no mistake: the dangers are very real.

A first glance, real estate law might seem like a very specific niche in the legal world. Well, it shouldn’t take much exploration to begin to understand just how much is encompassed by the term “real estate law.” Indeed, real estate law is a world unto itself, and one that often must be extended to include adjacent areas of practice. Indeed, real estate lawyers are forced to wear many hats!

Today we’ll be talking about one such instance of real estate law overlapping with other fields of practice. We often handle matters that blur lines between different areas of law, and the following matter is a perfect example of this.

Today we’re going to circle back to revisit topics that we’ve talked about in the past, and give you some insight into how these issues can play out in real life.

We’ve published articles talking about the intricacies of deeds. We explained the differences between different types of deeds, as well as the practical implications of those differences. We’ve also spent time talking about how title insurance works, and why you need it. Now, it’s time to bring all 3 of these discussions together, and examine how these dynamics can play out in real life. The following is a real scenario that we’ve had to dealt with in the past…

If you own a house, the fundamental piece of evidence that proves your ownership to the rest of the world is the deed to that house, also called a ‘title.’ Deeds come in the form of legal documents, but not all deeds are created equal. There are different types of deeds, each with its own unique set of implications.

So you’ve toured the builder’s flawless and fully-furnished model home and you’re in love. Buying a newly-constructed home is an exciting and optimistic time, but before rushing headlong into an agreement you may regret, there are a few things you should know before signing on the dotted line.

Nashville real estate attorney, John Rochford notes, “I often get calls from people who are in the process of buying a new home and who have some reservations about the contract their builder has presented to them. Needless to say, their instincts are often correct and the contract is totally one-sided. I help buyers examine their contract and negotiate the best terms for their new home.”