Homebuilder & Residential Development

 

We help homebuilders and residential developers secure land and finished lots, allocate development risk and structure transactions around approvals, infrastructure, financing and delivery schedules.

 

Practice Contacts
Ryan C. Day · Anthony J. Clark · Douglas M. Irvin

 

We represent national and regional homebuilders, and the developers who sell finished lots to them, from site control through the last settlement.

 

We have worked the other side of the table

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Six of our nine attorneys have worked in-house. That experience informs our approach to contract terms, development obligations and the practical demands of bringing lots to settlement.

 

Site control and contract

 

• Letters of intent and term sheets

• Option agreements, rolling options and staged purchase agreements

• Feasibility and study periods, extension rights and deposit structures

• Seller-performed development and finishing obligations

• Right of first offer and right of first refusal arrangements

• Assignment rights, including assignment to a land bank

 

Land banking and lot takedowns

 

We advise builders on the option purchase agreement, takedown calendar and development agreement in a land-bank structure, including delivery requirements, financing arrangements and the allocation of risk between the parties.

 

Land banking and lot takedown structures →

 

Entitlement risk

 

• Approval contingencies and what counts as a satisfactory approval

• Zoning due diligence and entitlement review before you are committed

• Rezoning, site plan and subdivision conditions, and who bears their cost

• Adequate public facilities and school capacity testing

• Extension mechanics when an approval slips

 

Development and infrastructure

 

• Development agreements and lot finishing specifications

• Shared infrastructure, cost-sharing and reimbursement agreements

• Offsite improvements and dedications

• Bonds, letters of credit and public works agreements — including reduction and release

• Stormwater, forest conservation and sewer allocation obligations as they land in the contract

• Easements, encroachments, plat review and title clearance

 

For land developers and sellers

 

We also act on the other side of these transactions — for the developers, landowners and partnerships selling land and finished lots to builders. That work runs from the purchase agreement through the lot development and finishing agreements that govern what the seller must deliver, the escrows and letters of credit that secure it, and the phased settlements that follow.

 

• Lot development and lot finishing agreements, and what counts as a delivered lot

• Phased and rolling settlement structures, and deferred consideration secured by letter of credit

• Seller-completed infrastructure, bonds and public works obligations

• Outsale contracts, builder tie-in arrangements and bulk lot sales

• Section 1031 exchange structuring on the sell side

 

Community documents

 

We advise builders acting as declarants and participating builders on community formation and governing documents. Our work includes association declarations, condominium documents, phasing and annexation rights, declarant control and turnover, and applicable disclosure and sales packages.

 

• Declarations, public offering statements and registration

• Condominium regimes, including land condominiums and townhouse condominiums

• Homeowners association formation, phasing and annexation rights

• Declarant control periods, budgets, reserves and turnover

• Design guidelines and architectural review

• Negotiating a land banker's consent and control rights out of the governing documents

 

Model homes and finance

 

• Model home sale-leaseback and model home financing

• Sales office and trailer leases

• Acquisition and development loans, revolvers, guaranties and subordination

 

Representative Matters

 

• Represented a national homebuilder in a three-stage acquisition exceeding $47.5 million for 310 residential units in Loudoun County, Virginia.

   

• Represented a national homebuilder in connection with a $27.56 million acquisition involving 112 finished homesites in Ashburn, Virginia.

   

• Represented a national homebuilder in connection with a $26.6 million acquisition involving 126 townhouse condominium units in Manassas, Virginia.

   

• Represented a national homebuilder on community association documents for a 651-lot master-planned resort community in Dorchester County, Maryland.

   

View more representative experience →

 

Who we work with

 

National public homebuilders and regional private builders. Land developers who entitle and finish lots for sale to builders. Lenders financing acquisition and development.

 

Where

 

Maryland — Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, Howard, Prince George's, Frederick, Washington, Wicomico, Charles, Calvert and Queen Anne's counties, and the Cities of Annapolis and Salisbury. Virginia — Loudoun, Fauquier, Prince William, Frederick, Chesterfield, Henrico, Albemarle, Stafford and Prince George counties, and the Cities of Fredericksburg, Richmond and Hopewell. New Jersey. The District of Columbia.

 

Individual attorney admissions vary. We provide services only as permitted by applicable law and work with locally admitted counsel where required.

 

To talk through a land deal, a takedown structure or an entitlement problem, get in touch.

 

Learn more about our land banking and lot takedown services.