Real Estate Fundamentals

This guide, created by the Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board (WV), explores the basics of conservation easements, including many of the restrictions an easement places on real property. The intended audience is real estate professionals and lawyers who oversee land sales.

Conservation attorney Steve Swartz and conservation director Dan Roix, Columbia Land Trust (accredited), will cover basic real estate concepts, legal elements of real estate transactions and the acquisition process from property identification through title searches and related due diligence to closing.

Land conservation projects are, at their core, sophisticated real estate transactions, which often involve intense and lengthy exchanges between landowner/donors and land trust staff. Specifically intended for non-attorneys, this two-part webinar is ideal for new staff or those wishing a refresher.

Agreements related to the transfer of real property must meet the basic requirements of a contract to be enforceable. This document lays out the basic requirements for the most common types of real estate contracts land trusts encounter.

Acquisitions of land and easements for conservation purposes can involve issues different from other real estate transactions. This guide looks at purchase and sale agreements in general and then potential customizations that may be made to these agreements to address conservation matters.