Real Property and Real Estate Transactions
What this domain tests
This domain covers how title moves and how it is protected in North Carolina: deed form and delivery, recording and priority, deeds of trust and foreclosure, leases and ejectment, and the settlement process itself, which the State Bar treats as the practice of law.
Deeds, recording, and priority
- A valid deed needs a grantor, a grantee, words of grant, a sufficient description, the grantor's signature, and - for registration - an acknowledgment or proof before a notary.
- Conveyances must be registered with the Register of Deeds in the county where the land lies to be valid against later purchasers for value and creditors (G.S. 47-17 and 47-20). Recording order therefore decides priority disputes.
- North Carolina collects an excise tax on conveyances, computed per $500 of consideration, paid at registration.
- Title problems are cured or limited by the Marketable Title Act (G.S. Chapter 47B), which relies on a 30-year root of title, and by adverse possession statutes keyed to years of possession, color of title, and tax payment.
Financing, foreclosure, and leasing
- North Carolina lenders typically use a deed of trust with a trustee rather than a mortgage; default leads to a power-of-sale foreclosure heard by the clerk of superior court under G.S. Chapter 45.
- Residential eviction runs through summary ejectment in district court; nonpayment cases require a statutory notice to quit before filing.
Worked example
A sells to B but B does not record. A then deeds the same parcel to C, who pays value and records first without notice of B. C prevails under G.S. 47-20 because B's unrecorded deed is invalid against a subsequent purchaser for value.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing a quitclaim deed (no warranties) with a general warranty deed.
- Forgetting that a notary's certificate is what makes a deed registrable.
- Assuming a paralegal may advise on title or conduct a closing independently.