REAL ESTATE DISPOSITION

Disposition is the exit, and the after-tax result is set in motion well before the sale. Deferral and characterization planning — like-kind exchange, installment sale, dealer-versus-investor positioning, and withholding management — have to be in place before a contract is signed. The firm structures the disposition for the net, not the gross.

SALES & CONTRACTS

The firm represents sellers in negotiating and drafting purchase and sale agreements and managing the closing, with any pre-sale restructuring — entity moves, basis planning, allocation among assets — completed in advance of going to market rather than scrambled at the table.

§ 1031 LIKE-KIND EXCHANGES

For the relinquished leg of a like-kind exchange, the firm coordinates with the qualified intermediary, manages the 45-day identification and 180-day exchange periods, and structures forward and reverse exchanges to defer gain into replacement property — see the § 1031 exchange tool.

INSTALLMENT SALES & OPPORTUNITY ZONES

Where an exchange is not available or not desired, the firm evaluates installment-sale treatment under § 453 to spread gain across years, and Opportunity Zone investment to defer and potentially reduce gain — with attention to the program’s current timeline and the planning windows that govern when capital must be deployed.

SUBDIVISION & BASIS ALLOCATION

Selling parcels out of a larger holding raises the dealer-versus-investor question that separates capital gain from ordinary income, and requires careful basis allocation across the subdivided lots. See subdivision and basis allocation and the Bramblett/Phelan structure that preserves capital-gain treatment on appreciation.

FIRPTA WITHHOLDING (FOREIGN SELLERS)

A foreign seller’s disposition of a U.S. real property interest triggers withholding under § 1445. The firm handles pre-disposition planning, U.S. real property holding corporation analysis, Form 8288-B withholding-certificate applications to reduce or eliminate withholding before closing, and post-closing refund claims where withholding exceeds the actual tax — see FIRPTA for foreign sellers and the FIRPTA withholding tool.

EMINENT DOMAIN & CONDEMNATION

Where a disposition is involuntary, the firm represents property owners in eminent domain matters — just-compensation valuation disputes, partial-taking analysis, and procedural challenges — including, in past work, the use of a novel jurisdictional technique to move a case to a favorable forum, resulting in a substantial settlement.