This group addresses specialized investors and investment structures. This group includes the division’’s committees that address specialized investments in real estate, including insurance company investments and foreign investment in U.S. real estate, and/or specialized structures for investment and financing, including limited liability companies, partnerships, REITs, and land trusts and also includes a committee with members whose focus is to provide real estate practitioners with information and content on federal tax issues affecting their transactions.
Special Investors and Investment Structure Group Committees
Federal Taxation of Real Estate
The purpose of this committee is to acquaint real estate practitioners with tax issues affecting their transactions, to provide practitioners with current information regarding new cases, laws and regulations, and to monitor proposed legislation and regulations with a view toward providing input in the process.
International Investment in Real Estate
This committee focuses on foreign investment in U.S. real estate and U.S. real estate investment and development in foreign countries. The committee monitors law and practice developments affecting foreign investment in U.S. real estate. The committee focuses on law and practice issues relating to U.S. involvement in foreign real estate investment and development activities. The committee encourages publication of articles authored by committee members on topics of interest in these areas. The committee regularly arranges and co-sponsors programs on structuring and implementing inbound and outbound foreign real estate transactions. Membership is encouraged from U.S. and foreign practitioners, in-house counsel, governmental and quasi-governmental agency employees, academics and other interested persons.
Land Trusts
This committee is engaged in the study of the land trust law procedures and techniques. Its goal is to provide practical and useful advice, guidance, forms and updates on matters involving land trusts to real estate practitioners. Its activities include the assembling of materials on this subject, the drafting of proposed uniform laws, the dissemination of information to members of the Section through articles on the use of land trusts, seminars concerning land trust practice and the publication of books and pamphlets on land trusts together with land trust forms.
Life Insurance Company Investments
This committee focuses on identifying and discussing the regulation of and various issues arising out of life insurance companies acquiring, holding and selling real estate interests either through direct ownership, joint ventures, mortgage lending, mortgage backed securities or other vehicles. The committee also serves as a forum for an exchange of ideas among in-house life insurance company lawyers, those who represent life insurers as outside counsel and those who represent parties on the other side of the table in life insurance company real estate transactions.
Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies
This committee explores various special legal and practical issues in the use of partnerships, limited liability companies and other business entities in real estate transactions, with the goal of disseminating useful forms and information through sponsoring continuing legal education programs and publications. Specific topics addressed by this committee have included management structures, partner defaults, special purpose entities in lending, tax treatment issues and title insurance considerations.
Real Estate Investment Trusts
This committee focuses on the real estate, tax and securities issues related to REITs including equity REITs, mortgage REITs and hybrid REITs, and provides Section members with programming and publications to understand effectively the intricacies related to the use of REITs and doing business with REITs. This committee also examines the utilization of REITs in private equity funds, foreign investment in U.S. real estate, and capital raising efforts.