ONLINE COURSES

The Real Estate LL.M. can now be earned online or through a combination of on campus and online courses. Online study offers huge advantages for many students, but only if it is done right. It allows students to enroll in a program in a distant city without the cost and disruption of relocating; it allows students to study from anywhere - home, office, perhaps even Starbucks (if it's not too noisy). Even students who live near the school are finding that it makes sense to take some courses online, so they don't have to leave the office in time to get to school or they can be home with the kids before a late class starts.

Students in the Real Estate LL.M. program can take courses either on-line or on-campus. Either way, the program features small classes with constant student/faculty interactions and feedback -- the only way to do advanced training well. Our online courses use live, two-way communication in small classes to ensure that students receive the same personalized instruction available in on-campus classes.

Schedule of Online Courses
(All times are Eastern Standard Time)

SPRING 2012

Tax Issues in Real Estate Practice - Monday, 7:50 - 9:30 p.m. (2 credits). This course provides an intensive one-semester survey of major topics in the taxation of real estate, including basis calculations, cost recovery and gain on sale, development expenditures and capitalization rules, taxation of leasehold transactions, tax certiorari practice, 1031exchanges, at risk and passive activity loss rules. This is a required course for the LL.M. in Real Estate.

Ethical Issues in Transactional Practice - Tuesday, 7:50 - 9:30 p.m. (2 credits). This course examines the rules governing ethical issues that commonly arise in transactional settings, such as dual representation, representation of business entities and their principals, business transactions with clients, duties to third parties, obligations to regulatory agencies, permissible and impermissible negotiation techniques, opinion letters, client confidentiality, client funds and IOLA accounts, and ethical issues in rendering business advice.

Public/Private Joint Ventures - Thursday, 7:50 - 9:30 p.m. (2 credits). This course will discuss and evaluate the legal and business issues in keystone programs that utilize governmental assistance to develop real estate projects. Particular attention will be given to Industrial Development Agency (IDA) conduit issuer tax exempt bond financings; IDA conduit issuer taxable bond financings; IDA straight lease transactions; New Market Tax Credits; Section 42 Tax credits; Excelsior Transactions; HUD transactions; Brownfield Development; and real property tax abatements. The course will use a case study approach.

Advanced Real Estate Research Seminar - Tuesday, 6:00 - 7:40 p.m. (1 credit per semester) (A 2-credit course that meets intermittently throughout the year). The Advanced Research Seminar provides an opportunity for each student to pursue in-depth research on a topic of his or her choice. Students are be expected to research and draft papers on current topics of concern in real estate law or policy, present their research to their peers, prepare formal constructive critiques of their classmates’ work, and incorporate their classmates’ critiques into their revised papers. Prerequisites: Students must complete at least 10 credits toward the LL.M. degree before enrolling in the Advanced Research Seminar. This is a required course for the LL.M. in Real Estate.

FALL 2012

Legal Planning & Practice: Real Estate - Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. (3 credits). Examines the legal framework for the acquisition, financing, and development of commercial real estate, building on the foundation laid in Real Estate Transactions and Finance. Topics may include options, contracts to acquire land, ground leases, and handling contingencies in the acquisition of land; purchase money and groundlease financing; construction and permanent loan commitments; contracts and mortgages; securities law issues; commercial mortgage negotiation and drafting; and intercreditor agreements. Prerequisite: Real Estate Transactions. This is a required course for the LL.M. in Real Estate.

Financial & Economic Analysis of Real Estate - Monday and Wednesday, 9:00 - 10:15 p.m. (3 credits). Examines real property development finance and economics, including land and urban economics, foundational concepts for project finance and analysis of securitizations and real estate portfolios, and project feasibility studies and pro formas. This is a required course for the LL.M. in Real Estate.

Land Use Regulation - Wednesday, 6:00 - 7:40 p.m. (2 credits). Focuses on the legal regulation of land and its use, with emphasis on constitutional tensions between the public health, safety and welfare, and private rights in property. Also considers practical aspects of land use regulation, including the structure, goals, and limitations of city planning. Principal topics include common law nuisance, zoning, subdivision regulation and exactions, historic preservation, growth controls, wetlands and other environmental regulation, First Amendment free-speech conflicts, and the evolving law of unconstitutional takings. This is a required course for the LL.M. in Real Estate.

Real Estate Negotiation & Drafting - Thursday, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. (3 credits). Develops negotiation and drafting skills using a series of exercises based on sophisticated real estate transactions. The course will combine aspects of doctrinal instruction (such as the law of commitments, misrepresentation and fraud, and conditions versus covenants), readings in the psychology and techniques of negotiation, and simulation-based exercises. Pre- or co-requisite: Advanced Real Estate Transactions or Legal Planning & Practice: Real Estate.

This schedule is subject to change without notice.