Structure before the transaction
Ownership questions are cheaper to settle when no deal is live. We put the structure in place before a sale, refinance, or estate forces it.
PRACTICE · REAL ESTATE
Real Estate Consulting
Attorney-guided advice about property you already own or plan to hold — no live closing on the table. Owners and investors ask how to title a deed, whether to hold a building in an LLC, how a portfolio should be structured, and what to settle before a future transaction. We answer those questions and put the structure in place, so the ownership is clean before any deal begins.
- Discipline
- Real Estate
- Engagement
- Advisory, no closing
- Counsel
- Christopher Moye
REAL ESTATE
Structure before the transaction
Ownership questions are cheaper to settle when no deal is live.
The problem
Ownership questions are easy to defer — until a sale, a refinance, or an estate forces them, and the structure you needed should have been in place years earlier.
Property held in a personal name, a deed never updated after a marriage or inheritance, a portfolio assembled one building at a time with no structure — each is quiet until a transaction or a death exposes it. In New York, transferring a deed or moving property into an LLC carries its own tax and title consequences, and the time to address them is before a deal is live, not during one. The work here is the planning a closing assumes was already done.
Principles · 01
How we draft the matter.
Every engagement is composed against these commitments. They shape the protections we add, the questions we ask, and the document that leaves the file.
Title and tax move together
A deed change or transfer into an entity carries transfer-tax, mortgage, and title consequences. We review them before anything is recorded.
Hold it the way it should transfer
How property is titled today shapes how it sells, refinances, and passes. We align the structure with how you intend it to move.
What we watch · 02
What can break the matter.
These are the terms, structures, and practical risks that usually decide whether the work holds when the file is tested.
OWNERSTEWARD
Deeds and transfers
Preparing and recording deeds — adding a spouse, moving property to an LLC or a trust, or correcting title — with the transfer-tax and mortgage issues addressed first.
INVESTOROWNER
Entity structuring and portfolios
Holding property in LLCs or a holding structure, and organizing a portfolio across entities to align liability, cost, and how it transfers.
OWNERINVESTOR
Pre-transaction and ownership review
Confirming how title is held, clearing old liens or a clouded chain, and settling ownership questions before a future deal makes them urgent.
The work · 03
Four steps. One engagement.
Each step is concrete; each step has a deliverable. The scope is defined, the matter moves, and the file closes.
- 01
Ownership review
We review what you own and how it is titled — deeds, entities, liens, and the chain — to see where the structure stands today.
- 02
Structure and options
We lay out the options — entities, deed changes, transfers — and explain the liability, cost, tax, and title trade-offs in plain terms.
- 03
Documents and transfers
We prepare the deeds, entity formations, and transfers, addressing the transfer-tax and mortgage consequences before anything is recorded.
- 04
Coordination and follow-through
We record what needs recording, complete the required filings, and align the result with your estate plan or a planned future transaction.
Proof
What stands behind the work.
What stands behind the work — credentials and representative engagements, stated plainly.
Consulting matters are handled by Christopher Moyé, Esq., who authors the firm's published writing on New York property ownership and structure.
Deed preparation and transfers, entity structuring for holding property, title and ownership review, portfolio structuring, and pre-transaction planning — advisory work without a live closing.
We start from what you own and how it is titled, review the documents and the tax exposure, and recommend a structure before any transfer is executed.
Common questions
Questions clients ask.
Plain answers to the questions that come up most. If yours is not here, send the facts — we answer in writing.
- Should I hold investment property in an LLC?
- Often it is worth considering. Holding a building in a limited liability company can separate the property's liabilities from your personal assets and from your other holdings, and it can make a future sale or transfer of interests cleaner. It also carries costs — formation, filings, and the New York LLC publication requirement — and a transfer into an entity can have transfer-tax and mortgage consequences. We weigh those against your situation rather than assume an LLC is always the answer.
- How do I change or transfer a deed in New York?
- A deed is changed by preparing and recording a new deed in the correct form, with the required transfer-tax filings, in the county where the property sits. The right type of deed and the consequences differ by purpose — adding a spouse, moving property to a trust or an LLC, or correcting how title is held. Because a transfer can affect transfer tax, an existing mortgage, and title insurance, we review those before anything is recorded. We do not promise a particular tax treatment, since that turns on the facts and the filing.
- What does pre-transaction planning involve if I am not buying or selling yet?
- It is the work that makes a later deal cleaner: confirming how title is held, clearing old liens or a clouded chain, deciding whether to restructure ownership, and organizing the documents a buyer or lender will eventually ask for. Settling these while no transaction is pending means you negotiate from a sound position rather than scrambling to fix the ownership during a live closing.
- How should I structure a portfolio of several properties?
- There is no single right structure. Depending on the holdings and your goals, properties might sit in separate entities to isolate liability, under a holding company, or aligned with an estate plan so they transfer the way you intend. The trade-offs involve liability, cost, tax, financing, and administration. We map the options to your portfolio rather than apply a template, and we coordinate with your estate plan where the two meet.
- Can you help if I already own property but never had it structured?
- Yes. A common engagement is reviewing property held in a personal name or under an outdated deed and putting the right structure in place — an entity, a corrected or updated deed, or a transfer into a trust. We identify the transfer-tax, mortgage, and title issues each move raises and sequence the steps so the ownership ends up clean. What is achievable depends on your documents and circumstances, which we review before recommending anything.
OWNERSHIP, STRUCTURED FIRST
Structure what you own before the next deal.
Bring the property you hold or plan to acquire. We review the deeds, the ownership, and the structure, and put the entities and transfers in place so the foundation is sound.
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