Joseph Cobert

Joe Cobert is teaching Real Estate Finance at UCLA Extension for the thirty-third consecutive year, helping to educate and prepare real estate professionals and investors for a wide variety of real property investment and other finance decisions. Joe received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Yale University in 1969 and his Juris Doctorate from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law (Order of the Coif).  He has been a licensed real estate broker in California since 1979 and, in the same year, began a continuous program of investing in real estate. Joe is known for his expertise in both transactional matters and a wide variety of litigation, all pertaining to real property issues.  He represents investors and entrepreneurs, landlords, tenants, brokers and other real estate professionals, lenders, borrowers, developers, construction companies, homeowner associations and families on real property concerns.  Representative services Joe provides are: • Advice and consultation regarding, plus negotiation and drafting of, real estate contracts, leases, financing, title, construction and other documents. • Due diligence/factual and legal research/interfacing with experts to evaluate opportunities/risks on real property acquisition, operation, development and disposition. • Vigorous and thorough representation in, as well as creativity to resolve, real property litigation and arbitration matters. • Advising real estate clients as to the choice of entity (both to comply with lender requirements and to achieve the maximum benefit from tax, liability protection and other perspectives). • Review of insurance policies to determine the scope and details of existing coverage for casualty and liability claims as well as the changes needed to improve such policies. • Review of transactional documents prepared by others in order to identify issues and solutions as well as to limit risk and maximize reward/return on investment. Joe is a sought-after speaker on legal and property matters.  He has served as a panelist and/or moderator for the Urban Land Institute, the Beverly Hills and Los Angeles broker and bar associations, Dynamics Capital Group and many other privately sponsored programs. Joe served three terms as president and for more than 25 years as a board member of the Apartment Association of the San Fernando Valley - Ventura County and served on the Association’s Political Action Committee.  In addition, he has logged many hours at statewide caucuses and conferences, from Sacramento to San Diego, communicating political positions and learning from others about possible legislation.  As such, he has valuable contacts with esteemed members of Congress, the State Legislature, local politicians and their staff, plus influential decision-makers in multi-family residential and commercial real property areas.  His efforts have generated commendations from City, State and Federal leaders.  For the past five years, Joe has written “The Joe Cobert Report,” a monthly newsletter/blog on timely topics for the real estate community.  He has also acted as an expert witness on several real estate and legal issues. Joe is an avid networker and encourages his students to make and utilize contacts effectively in the real estate community.  To assist, Joe brings many guest speakers to talk to his class about opportunities in real estate plus practical applications of the principles and details studied in the course.  With his contacts and reputation, Joe has been able to help some students obtain employment in real estate professional positions they desired.