Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions, and Property Ownership
What Makes Real Property Different
Real property is land plus the improvements and the bundle of rights attached to it. Candidates must be able to separate physical characteristics (immobility, indestructibility, nonhomogeneity) from economic characteristics (scarcity, improvements, permanence of investment, area preference/situs). A common trap is confusing a fixture with personal property: the tests are method of attachment, adaptation/integration, and intention of the parties. Trade fixtures installed by a tenant generally remain removable if removed before lease expiration.
Legal Descriptions
Know the three accepted methods. Metes and bounds uses monuments, courses, and distances and must close; a point of beginning and references to monuments (natural, artificial, or record) are central. Lot and block references a recorded plat. Rectangular (government) survey uses principal meridians, baselines, townships (6×6 miles = 36 sections), and sections (640 acres). Traps: acreage arithmetic and the order of fractions in a description.
Ownership Forms
Distinguish severalty, tenancy in common (no right of survivorship, unequal shares allowed), joint tenancy (four unities plus survivorship; severance by conveyance), tenancy by the entirety (spouses), and community property. Also know condominium (individual unit plus undivided interest in common elements), cooperative (shares plus proprietary lease), and timeshare. Encumbrances (liens, easements, encroachments) run with the land and affect title; easements appurtenant benefit a dominant parcel, easements in gross do not.
Worked Example
A parcel described as the "N 1/2 of the SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4" of a section: SE 1/4 = 160 acres; SW 1/4 of that = 40 acres; N 1/2 of that = 20 acres. Read fractions right to left and multiply by 640.