Dan J. Harkey

Master Educator | Business & Finance Consultant | Mentor

Real Estate-Technical

Technical Real Estate Insight on the Issues that Move Value—Legally, Operationally, and Financially

Legal issues, valuation realities, operational pitfalls, and market shifts—explained in plain English.

Real estate isn’t just “location, location, location.” It’s contracts, compliance, conditions, valuation, and the little details that turn good deals into expensive lessons. My articles cover technical and legal issues, ownership and operations across residential and commercial property, and the market trends reshaping what works (and what doesn’t). If it affects risk, value, or performance, it belongs here.

Most deals don’t fail on the headline numbers—they fail in the details: condition, documentation, liability, tenant/legal exposure, and assumptions that don’t survive due diligence. I write about real estate the way it behaves, benefits, detriments, valuation methods, and the shifting landscape that changes your risk overnight.

Search Results

Mechanics’ Lien Laws: California

California’s Mechanics Lien Law provides a legal remedy for contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, laborers, and certain design professionals to secure payment for work or materials provided on construction projects. Here’s a comprehensive overview based on the latest 2025 guidance:

Trust-Owned Property: A Strategic Lending Opportunity for Real Estate Professionals

Please note that, as a matter of law, the trustee of the family trust owns the property on behalf of the trust. The trust is not a standalone entity and cannot act without a trustee.

Owner-Occupied Commercial Buildings- Ownership of Two Different Entities of the Same Principal- The Business and The Real Estate

Financing owner-occupied commercial buildings presents unique challenges and opportunities, especially when the ownership and operating structures involve entities like S-Corporations and a trustee of a revocable family trust

Strategic Investment Opportunities:

How Private Money Lenders Enable Success Where Banks Hesitate

Investing in Value-added Real Estate with Private Money Fnancing can be Highly Profitable

A profit potential will be calculated on the front end, including developing a plan, obtaining bids, the outlay of capital for fix-up costs, re-rent, and stabilization.

California’s Centralized Development Approval Process: A Shift in Power

A state-level bureaucracy has taken over the development approval process, leaving local municipalities with only ministerial approval rights, subject to the state standards.

Can You Acquire Property Subject to a Seller’s 3% Loan Without Notifying the Lender?

Most trust deeds and mortgage documents have an alienation clause, referred to as a due-on-sale clause, providing for an acceleration of the debt on the transfer of ownership

A Few Borrowers’ Withheld Material Facts Which Complicate the Loan Underwriting Process

Lenders rely on receiving all material facts available to make their credit assessment of the collateral property and the borrower. When information arrives in sketchy or inconsistent forms, it complicates the process.

AB-3108-Makes it a felony for any mortgage broker or loan originator to knowingly misrepresent the purpose of a loan.

This law, which focuses on making loans to single-family owners of occupied properties, tightens accusations of fraud by a mortgage broker while simultaneously inviting borrowers and hungry lawyers to sue the lender and mortgage broker for fraud. This recent law was signed by Governor Newsom in California, amends Section 4973 of the Financial Code.

Clear and Present Danger: When He Tried to “F” Over His Soon-To-Be Ex-Wife

Honey, I Didn’t Think You’d Mind!

Skin in the Game: Does the Principal Have Motivation to Perform?

Why It’s Essential in Real Estate Lending

What Condo and Multifamily Property Owners Need to Know in 2025

California’s SB-326 and SB-721:

The Illusion of a Down Payment in the Mind of a Fool

A borrower is attempting to rationalize the fact that the tenant is paying off the owner of the property to cancel the lease and vacate the property, which belongs to him as a financial asset. He suggested that the amount of the lessee’s payment to the property owner as consideration for cancelling the lease should be considered his down payment because he is getting such a good deal on the vacant commercial property.

Honey, I handle the Business in the Family: I didn’t think it made any Difference.

Silence is not always golden when the consequence is alienation from your spouse; lonely days and lonely nights are forthcoming. Distrust and hostilities in future dealings are a sure thing.

Appraisers' Opinions of Values: All Are Not Equal

Some Appraisal Reports Are Useless

Note Hypothecations: A Key Concept in Real Estate Finance

Note hypothecations involve understanding two separate and distinct loan transactions. The first part involves how someone ends up owning a note and a deed of trust as a financial asset, and the second part describes how that person willingly conveys the legal title of those documents to another party as collateral for a loan.

Real Property Liens and Encumbrances: Recorded Claims Against Properties

Affecting Real Property Ownership

Make Profits Purchasing Promissory Notes Secured by Real Estate

Note purchases are a large, sophisticated industry designed for sophisticated investors, typically those who are accredited.

Private Money: Procedures and Strategies for Loan Originations

How do brokers and lenders locate hard money loans?

The California Shifting Real Estate Landscape: High-Density Housing on Steroids

The California Legislature has passed laws that significantly alter the development approval process, shifting it from local municipal jurisdiction to the state level.