Tamaron Houston
Partner – Real Estate – Seyfarth Shaw

Description of field of expertise

Commercial real estate transactions require responsive and agile counsel. As partner in one of the top 5 real estate practices in the US, clients turn to Tamaron to help them navigate complex transactions and decisions efficiently, across offices and practices. She partners with them on a wide range of matters, including commercial mortgage loan originations, securitizations, acquisitions, and dispositions of commercial real estate, hotels, and multifamily real property.

Tamaron represents clients including (but not limited to) banks, life companies, developers, national retailers, special servicers, lenders, borrowers, and others.

She represents lenders in connection with CMBS financings, mortgage loan portfolios, and master and special servicers on distressed assets, remedies, and workouts. In defaulted loans and workouts, she advises servicers and borrowers on forbearance and settlement agreements, loan modifications, restructuring, foreclosures, and deed-in-lieu agreements.

Clients engaged in secured transactions and credit financings—including loan restructuring, mezzanine transactions, and subordinate financings—turn to Tamaron for guidance. She counsels lenders with multistate and multiple-property portfolios, including hotels, independent and assisted living facilities, gas stations, office complexes, shopping centers, and industrial parks.

While still in law school at the University of Virginia, Tamaron clerked for the NAACP legal department in Houston during Hurricane Katrina, helping evacuees with landlord and tenant disputes, wrongful evictions, and foreclosure matters.

Having started her career in Texas, a major Energy hub, Tamaron has and continues to represent clients in energy related industries, including the acquisition and disposition of oil and gas facilities and dealings with regulatory agencies related to entity acquisitions, and advises clients on lien and security matters common to oil and gas properties and investments.

What advice would you offer to new attorneys interested in your field?

Never be too proud to ask questions. When you’re just starting out you truly don’t know what you don’t know so ask questions. Find someone who will explain real estate transactions to you and ask them the “why” behind the “what. There are things that you can do on your own, like understanding market trends; reading articles on new developments going up in your area and who is doing the development; and going to CLEs and networking. But when it comes to learning the ropes—you have to be OK being the new kid on the block and asking questions about things you don’t understand.