Flat-fee real estate lawyer for New York and New Jersey.

Residential closings — buyers

Buying a home in New York or New Jersey is a coordination problem disguised as a real estate transaction. Your attorney's job is to negotiate the contract before you sign it, run due diligence on the property and (for co-ops) the building, communicate with your lender, coordinate with the title company, and represent you at closing. We handle all of that for a flat fee set in writing before any work begins.

For a typical NYC condo or co-op closing, the work includes: contract review and negotiation, due diligence on the offering plan or proprietary lease, review of building financials and minutes, board package preparation and submission (for co-ops), title and lien search coordination, mortgage commitment review, and closing attendance. For a NJ closing, it includes the additional 3-business-day attorney review period — when the contract can be modified or canceled — and coordination of the property inspection, mortgage commitment, and final walkthrough.

Residential closings — sellers

Sellers face less risk than buyers but more paperwork. Your attorney drafts the contract of sale, responds to the buyer's due diligence requests, prepares closing documents, coordinates the payoff of any existing mortgage, and represents you at closing. The single biggest issue most sellers don't know to ask about is the contract's contingency framework — what happens if the buyer's financing falls through, what happens if inspection finds an issue, what happens if the appraisal comes in low. We negotiate those terms before you sign.

Co-op transactions

A co-op is a corporation that owns the building. When you buy a co-op, you're buying shares in the corporation and a proprietary lease for your unit — not real property. That changes almost everything legally. There's no title insurance, no mortgage recording tax, no recorded deed. Instead, there's a board package (a comprehensive financial and personal disclosure package the building's board reviews before approving you), a stock certificate, and a proprietary lease.

The board package is where most co-op transactions stall. Boards have wide discretion to approve or reject buyers without giving reasons. We prepare board packages with a focus on what specific buildings actually look for — financial strength, employment stability, references, and clear documentation. We also review the proprietary lease and house rules so you know exactly what restrictions apply (sublet rights, pet policies, renovation approvals, flip taxes).

Condo transactions

Condos are real property — you get a deed, you can record a mortgage, you get title insurance, and the board has only limited rights to interfere with your purchase (typically a right of first refusal, rarely exercised). The legal work is closer to a single-family home purchase than to a co-op, with one important addition: review of the condo's offering plan, declaration, bylaws, and house rules. These documents control common charges, special assessments, repair responsibilities, and what you can and can't do with your unit.

We also review the condo's recent financials and meeting minutes to flag potential problems: pending litigation, planned capital projects that will trigger assessments, unusual reserve fund situations. Condo buildings can be in good or bad financial health, and the difference matters years after closing.

Multi-family closings (2–4 units)

Buying a 2–4 unit building is structurally a residential closing — same financing rules, same contract framework — but the diligence is heavier. Existing tenancies need review (rent-stabilized status, lease terms, security deposits, rent registration history). Property management arrangements need transferring or terminating. Building violations need clearing or pricing into the deal. Certificate of occupancy issues — common in NYC's older multi-family stock — need addressing before closing.

Investor-owned multi-family closings often involve a 1031 exchange (deferring capital gains by reinvesting), entity-level ownership (LLC purchases rather than personal), and lender requirements specific to investment property. We coordinate all of those alongside the standard closing work.

Commercial purchases and sales

Commercial real estate transactions are not residential closings with bigger numbers. They're a different practice. Due diligence is more intensive: environmental review (Phase I, sometimes Phase II), survey review, zoning analysis, ALTA-survey-driven title work, and tenant estoppel certificates if the building has commercial tenants. Contracts are more heavily negotiated. Closing structures are more varied (purchase entities, joint ventures, seller financing, ground leases).

For owner-user buyers (a business buying its own building), we coordinate the real estate closing with the business's financing and entity structure. For investor buyers, we structure ownership for tax efficiency and liability protection. For sellers, we negotiate representations and warranties carefully — commercial sellers can have post-closing exposure that residential sellers don't.

Commercial leases

Commercial leases are heavily negotiated documents that bind tenants and landlords for 5, 10, or 20 years. The default position drafted by landlord's counsel is almost always landlord-favorable; tenant-favorable terms come from negotiation. Common issues we focus on: rent escalation formulas (CPI vs. fixed, with caps), operating expense pass-throughs (what counts as "operating expenses"), assignment and subletting rights (who you can sell or sublet to), use restrictions, holdover provisions, and security deposit terms.

We represent both landlords and tenants. For tenants — especially small businesses signing their first commercial lease — we focus on the clauses that matter most for downside protection: termination rights, personal guaranty terms, and what happens if the business needs to relocate or close. For landlords, we draft leases that protect rent flow and asset value while remaining commercially reasonable.

1031 exchanges

A 1031 exchange lets a real estate investor sell one property and buy another without paying capital gains tax on the sale, as long as the replacement property meets specific rules. The rules are unforgiving: 45 days to identify replacement property, 180 days to close, exchange must be facilitated by a qualified intermediary, the replacement property must be "like-kind" (a broad standard for real estate), and the investor cannot touch the sale proceeds in between.

We coordinate 1031 exchanges as part of the closing work — drafting the exchange agreement, working with the qualified intermediary, ensuring identification deadlines are met, and structuring the replacement purchase to qualify. We do not act as the qualified intermediary (that requires being independent of the transaction), but we work routinely with established intermediaries and can recommend them.

Refinances

A refinance is a new mortgage replacing an existing one, often combined with a cash-out for the equity that's accumulated. Legally, it's similar to a purchase closing without the seller — you're entering into a new loan with a new lender (or sometimes the same lender), recording new documents, and getting new title insurance.

For NYC refinances, the most important question is whether to do a Consolidation, Extension, and Modification Agreement ("CEMA") or a new mortgage. A CEMA modifies your existing mortgage by combining it with new borrowing, which avoids paying mortgage recording tax on the unpaid balance — saving roughly 1.925% of that balance. Not every lender will participate, but when they do, the savings are substantial. We handle CEMA refinances and standard refinances equivalently for a flat fee.

Sponsor sales and new construction

Buying directly from a developer (a "sponsor sale") differs from a resale in a few important ways. The developer drafts the contract, which is heavily one-sided. The developer typically pushes several costs onto the buyer that would be the seller's costs in a resale (the developer's attorney fees, NYC and NYS transfer taxes, working capital contributions). Closing dates are estimated, not fixed — a unit might close on the date in the contract, or 6 months later if construction is delayed.

We negotiate sponsor contracts to push back on the most aggressive terms, especially the cost pass-throughs and the closing date flexibility. We also review the offering plan carefully — these are dense documents (often 200+ pages) that contain the actual rules of the building, the projected common charges, and any disclosed problems with the property or developer.