Real Estate Salesperson Licensing Exam Property Ownership, Land Characteristics, and Interests in Real Estate Syllabus

Property Ownership, Land Characteristics, and Interests in Real Estate syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Property Ownership, Land Characteristics, and Interests in Real Estate in Real Estate Salesperson Licensing Exam, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Nature and Description of Real Property

   4 topics

   • Real Property vs. Personal Property
     • Land, improvements, and the bundle of legal rights
     • Fixtures and the tests for annexation (intent, method, adaptation, agreement)
     • Trade fixtures and the rights of commercial tenants
     • Conversion: severance and accession
   • Physical and Economic Characteristics of Land
     • Physical traits: immobility, indestructibility, uniqueness (nonhomogeneity)
     • Economic traits: scarcity, improvements, permanence of investment, area preference (situs)
   • Appurtenances and Rights Attached to Land
     • Air rights and subsurface (mineral) rights
     • Water rights: riparian, littoral, prior appropriation, and accretion/erosion
   • Land Description Methods
     • Metes and bounds (monuments, points of beginning, bearings)
     • Rectangular (government) survey: principal meridians, base lines, townships, sections
     • Lot-and-block (recorded plat) system
     • Datum, bench marks, and measuring elevations
2. 2

   Estates in Land

   3 topics

   • Freehold Estates
     • Fee simple absolute
     • Defeasible fees (fee simple determinable, condition subsequent)
     • Life estates: conventional, pur autre vie, remainder and reversion
   • Leasehold (Less-than-Freehold) Estates
     • Estate for years
     • Periodic tenancy (estate from period to period)
     • Tenancy at will and tenancy at sufferance
   • Government Powers Limiting Ownership (PETE)
     • Police power, eminent domain and condemnation
     • Taxation and escheat
3. 3

   Forms of Ownership

   4 topics

   • Ownership in Severalty
   • Concurrent (Co-) Ownership
     • Tenancy in common
     • Joint tenancy and the four unities (PITT); right of survivorship
     • Tenancy by the entirety and community property
   • Ownership by Business and Trust Entities
     • Partnerships, corporations, and LLCs
     • Land trusts and living trusts
   • Common-Interest and Shared Ownership
     • Condominium ownership and common elements
     • Cooperative (stock and proprietary lease) ownership
     • Townhouses, PUDs, and timeshares
4. 4

   Encumbrances on Title

   4 topics

   • Easements
     • Appurtenant easements: dominant and servient tenements
     • Easement in gross
     • Creation: express grant/reservation, necessity, prescription, implication
     • Termination of easements
   • Licenses and Encroachments
   • Deed Restrictions and Restrictive Covenants
     • CC&Rs and HOA enforcement
   • Liens as Encumbrances
     • Voluntary vs. involuntary; general vs. specific
     • Priority of liens and subordination

Property Ownership, Land Characteristics, and Interests in Real Estate flashcards for Real Estate Salesperson Licensing Exam

21 of 66 cards from the Property Ownership, Land Characteristics, and Interests in Real Estate deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the legal definition of real property?

   Real property is land, everything permanently attached to it (improvements/fixtures), and the bundle of legal rights of ownership that go with it.

2. What is personal property (chattel)?

   Personal property is any movable item that is not permanently affixed to land. It is also called a chattel or personalty.

3. What process converts personal property into real property, and what is the reverse?

   Attachment/affixing turns personal property into real property by annexation (an item becomes a fixture); severance turns real property back into personal property by detaching it from the land.

4. What is a fixture, and what legal tests determine fixture status?

   A fixture is personal property that has become real property by attachment. Tests (M-A-R-I-A): Method of attachment, Adaptability to the land, Relationship of the parties, Intention of the annexor, and any Agreement between parties.

5. What is a trade fixture, and who owns it?

   A trade fixture is an article attached by a commercial tenant for use in their business. It remains the tenant's personal property and may be removed before the lease ends; if left behind it becomes the landlord's by accession.

6. How are growing crops classified as real vs. personal property (fructus naturales vs. fructus industriales)?

   Fructus naturales (naturally growing plants/trees) are real property; fructus industriales / emblements (annual cultivated crops requiring labor) are treated as personal property.

7. List the three PHYSICAL characteristics of land.

   Immobility (land cannot be moved), Indestructibility (land is durable/permanent), and Non-homogeneity / Uniqueness (no two parcels are exactly alike, also called heterogeneity).

8. List the four ECONOMIC characteristics of land.

   Scarcity, Improvements (modifications that affect value), Permanence of investment (fixity), and Area preference (situs - the location preference people place on a parcel).

9. What does the economic characteristic 'situs' mean?

   Situs is area/location preference - people's preference for one location over another. It is generally the most important economic factor influencing land value.

10. What is an appurtenance in real estate?

    An appurtenance is a right, privilege, or improvement that belongs to and passes with the land when ownership is transferred (e.g., easements, water rights, mineral rights).

11. What are surface rights, subsurface (mineral) rights, and air rights?

    Surface rights = ownership of the land surface; subsurface/mineral rights = rights to soil and minerals beneath the surface; air rights = rights to the space above the surface.

12. What is the doctrine of prior appropriation for water rights?

    Prior appropriation gives water-use rights based on government permit and beneficial use, independent of land location ('first in time, first in right'). It is common in arid western states.

13. What are riparian rights?

    Riparian rights are the rights of an owner whose land borders a flowing waterway (river/stream) to reasonable use of that water; if the water is navigable, ownership typically runs to the water's edge.

14. What are littoral rights?

    Littoral rights belong to owners whose land borders a stationary body of water (lake, sea, ocean). The owner has use of the water and owns land up to the mean/average high-water mark.

15. Define accretion, erosion, and avulsion.

    Accretion = gradual increase of land by waterborne deposits (alluvion); erosion = gradual loss of land by water/wind; avulsion = sudden loss or change of land caused by an abrupt natural force like a flood.

16. Name the three legal methods of land description.

    Metes and bounds; Rectangular (Government) Survey System; and Lot-and-Block (Recorded Plat / Subdivision) system.

17. How does the metes-and-bounds method describe land?

    It describes a parcel's boundaries using a point of beginning (POB), then directions (bearings/angles) and distances (metes) along monuments and boundaries (bounds), returning to the POB to close the parcel.

18. In the Rectangular Survey System, how big is a township and how is it divided?

    A township is 6 miles by 6 miles = 36 square miles, divided into 36 sections of 1 square mile each.

19. How many acres are in a section, and how many square feet are in an acre?

    A section contains 640 acres. One acre contains 43,560 square feet.

20. What are principal meridians and base lines in the Government Survey System?

    Principal meridians are the main north-south reference lines and base lines are the main east-west reference lines; townships are located by ranges (east/west of a meridian) and tiers (north/south of a base line).

21. How many acres are in the SW 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of a section?

    20 acres. 640 acres x 1/4 x 1/4 = 640 / 16 = 40... correction: multiply the fractions: 1/4 x 1/4 = 1/16; 640 / 16 = 40 acres.

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