At closing, the transfer of the real estate interest, whether land or easement, is completed. This guide helps users organize and expedite the closing.

This presentation focuses on conservation efforts in urban communities

Doing Deals introduces the basic real estate, financial and strategic principles used by land trusts to purchase land for conservation. It provides basic information on how to: develop a strategy for acquiring a property, pull together all the information necessary to understand the project and players, understand the process and feel comfortable working within it, know when to seek help, and know how to effectively deploy others. The book includes strategies on how to negotiate a land conservation deal.

A donation agreement may be used to ensure that a donor’s promise can be relied upon, set the expectations of both donor and donee, and prevent misunderstandings. WeConservePA guide. 7 pages.

Landowners can convey a future interest in real property to a conservation organization or government but continue to live on or otherwise enjoy using the property during their lifetimes. If the property is a personal residence or a farm, a donation of a future interest can generate immediate tax benefits. WeConservePA guide. 8 pages.

A conservation easement may have one or more holders responsible for upholding the easement’s conservation objectives. It may have a beneficiary, an entity with some rights to manage the easement in furtherance of the conservation objectives but no responsibility to do so. It may also provide a contingency plan to replace a holder in the event the holder cannot or will not perform its duties. Effective long-term easement management requires that when more than one entity shares easement management rights, the relationship between the entities must be carefully delineated.

The seller of real estate may finance the buyer’s purchase of a property. An installment agreement requires the buyer to pay the seller the purchase price in installments over time. Both the buyer and the seller may benefit from such an agreement. Payment amounts and timing can be structured in an infinite variety of ways and tailored to best meet the needs of both parties. (Print version of WeConservePA Guide. 7 pages)

If an owner intends to accept an offer for the purchase of his or her land, the holder of a right of first refusal has the opportunity to purchase the land at the price and terms offered by the prospective buyer. If the holder of the right declines to purchase on those exact terms, the owner is then free to sell to the prospective buyer. If an owner is willing to commit to providing such a right to an organization, this model is a tool to document and ensure the enforceability of the commitment.

An option to sell may be used to assure that a property acquisition can be undone if expectations are not met. WeConservePA guide. 2 pages.

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 reviews potential customizations that may be made to these agreements to specifically address conservation matters. [Print version of ConservationTools.org guide]

A purchase option is a right to purchase or lease land or other property interests without any obligation to do so.

A landowner concerned about the future use of their land can donate or sell their land on a conditional rather than absolute basis. The deed used to convey the land can include terms that will trigger a change in ownership back to them—or some other person or entity assigned by them—if use of the land falls out of compliance with the conditions set in the conveyance.

A landowner may not be ready to sell their property but may be willing—if and when they are ready to sell—to provide an organization with the opportunity to purchase the property before it is sold to another. The opportunity more specifically may be for the organization to accept or make an offer on the property before it is placed on the market, to negotiate with the owner before it is exposed to the market, or to match the offer of a third-party buyer after the property has been on the market. To legally commit to providing one or more of these opportunities, the owner grants the organization a right of first offer or right of first refusal. WeConservePA guide. 5 pages.