Crain Caton & James

Overview

Betsy Cooper is a transactional real estate attorney whose goal is to guide her clients through the deal in the most cost-effective and efficient manner possible. Clients appreciate her grasp of the big picture, attention to detail, keen sense of closure, and clear and concise communication. Whether the client is an entrepreneur or a company, Betsy’s focus is to make the transaction worry-free, accurate, and practical.

Sale and Acquisition

Betsy has extensive experience handling the sale and acquisition of commercial real estate from preparation of the contract through the closing. To that end, she negotiates and prepares sale documentation such as: purchase agreements, deeds, bills of sale, escrow agreements for post-closing matters, assignments of leases and service contracts, entity actions authorizing the sale or purchase of property, assignment of declarant’s rights, and tax proration agreements.

Betsy reviews title commitments and surveys and negotiates cure of title and survey issues with title companies, surveyors, and sellers. She analyzes the impact of REAs, CC&Rs, deed restrictions, leases, easements, and other title documents and counsels her clients on issues related thereto, keeping in mind each client’s goals for a particular project.

Commercial Leasing and Subleasing

Betsy represents a wide variety of landlords and tenants in retail, office, restaurant, and industrial leasing matters. Her leasing experience includes drafting and negotiating medical office leases and negotiating, on behalf of landlords, with national retail tenants.

Betsy advises tenants on often overlooked lease provisions such as subordination and nondisturbance clauses as well as issues unique to retail landlords and tenants such as operating covenants, percentage rent, radius restrictions, and exclusive use clauses.

General Real Estate

Betsy routinely drafts and negotiates real estate documents such as utility, sewer, access, parking, and sign easements, restrictive covenants, boundary line agreements, rights of first refusal, option agreements, termination of easements, release of liens, tenancy in common agreements, and power of attorneys for clients.

When not practicing law, Betsy enjoys spending time with her husband, son, and daughter and enjoys traveling immensely.

Experience

• Represented buyer in its acquisition of numerous shopping malls throughout the United States
• Negotiated and prepared 13 parcel exchange agreement, cure title and survey issues, and prepared all closing documents for transaction
• Drafted restrictive covenants for bare land to be subdivided into retail lots
• Negotiated revisions to multiple leases for the benefit of retail franchisee’s numerous stores in the greater Houston metropolitan area
• Acted as deal quarterback in the sale of over 1,000 acres of ranch land involving multiple co-owners including bank acting as trustee
• Prepared numerous easements and work authorization agreements for petrochemical company
• Negotiated and revised warehouse lease on behalf of UK tenant expanding in the United States
• Handled acquisition and disposition of various homes throughout the United States for a large regional bank acting as trustee of special needs trusts
• Drafted tenancy in common agreements for jointly owned vacation homes
• Prepared and negotiated three party exchange agreement and handled closing on behalf of one exchanger

Affiliations

• Houston Bar Association

Honors & Awards

• Outstanding Membership Committee Member, Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), Houston Chapter, 2014
• Oregon Super Lawyers Rising Star – Real Estate Law, Thomson Reuters, 2009-2010
• Forty Under 40 (runner up), Portland (Oregon) Business Journal, 2010