Real Estate

Front 1

What is real property?

Back 1

The land and anything permanently affixed to it; includes the interests, benefits, and rights inherent in the ownership of real estate.

Front 2

What is personal property?

Back 2

Movable objects (chattels) that do not fit into the definition of real property; conveyed by bill of sale.

Front 3

What is a fixture?

Back 3

An item of personal property that has been converted to real property by being permanently affixed to the land or building.

Front 4

What is severance?

Back 4

A fixture that is permitted to be and is detached from the land or the building would revert to personal property.

Front 5

What is a trade fixture?

Back 5

An item installed by a commercial tenant according to the terms of a lease and removable by the tenant before the expiration of the lease - personal property.

Front 6

What happens if the trade fixture is not removed?

Back 6

It becomes real property of the building owner by accession.

Front 7

What does immobile mean?

Back 7

It is the geographic location of a parcel of land is fixed - it can never be changed.

Front 8

What does indestructible mean?

Back 8

The long-term nature of improvements plus permanence of land tends to create stability in land development.

Front 9

What does unique or non-homogeneous mean?

Back 9

All parcels differ geographically and each parcel has its own land.

Front 10

What does scarcity mean?

Back 10

Supply in a given location or of a specific quality can be limited.

Front 11

What does improvements mean?

Back 11

Placement of an improvement on a parcel of land affects value and use of neighboring parcels of land.

Front 12

What is permanence of investment?

Back 12

Improvements represent a large fixed investment; some, such as drainage and sewerage, cannot be dismantled or removed economically.

Front 13

What is area preference or situs?

Back 13

Refers to people's choices and desires for a given area.

Front 14

What is metes and bounds?

Back 14

Boundaries established on basis of actual distance between monuments.

Front 15

What is a rectangular survey?

Back 15

Based on measurements from base lines and principal meridians. Runs east and west/north and south.

Front 16

What are subdivision plats?

Back 16

Referred to a lot, block, subdivision name, city, and state.

Front 17

What is a street address?

Back 17

An informal reference, too unreliable for a legal description because you cannot walk the boundaries.

Front 18

Encumbrances

Back 18

A charge, claim, or liability that attaches to and is binding on real estate.

Front 19

Lien

Back 19

Affect the title. A charge against property that provides security for a debt or obligation of the property owner.

Front 20

Deed Restriction
(Restrictive Covenant)

Back 20

A private limitation on the use of property. Developers use it to make their new neighborhoods appealing to certain buyers. Can be enforced by court junction.

Front 21

Easement

Back 21

A right acquired by one party to use the land of another party for a specific purpose.

Front 22

Easement Appurtenant

Back 22

An easement annexed to ownership for the benefit of such parcel of land.
Requires two tracts of land, either contiguous or noncontiguous, owned by different parties. Run with the land and not terminated by the sale of either servient or dominant tenement.

Front 23

What is the tract over the easement known as?

Back 23

The Servient Tenement

Front 24

What is the tract that benefits from the easement known as?

Back 24

The Dominant Tenement

Front 25

What is easement in gross?

Back 25

A personal interest in or right to use the land of another, servient tenement.
i.e. Right of way for a pipeline.

Front 26

What is easement by necessity?

Back 26

When there is no other access to a property by a street or public way. Required by necessity rather than for convenience.

Front 27

What is easement by prescription?

Back 27

When the claimant has made use of another's land for the prescriptive period, generally 5 to 20 years. use must be continuous w/out owner's approval, visible, open, and notorious.

Front 28

License

Back 28

Permission to enter the land of another for a specific purpose. Differs from easement in that it can be canceled or terminated by licensor at any time.

Front 29

What is an encroachment?

Back 29

Illegal extension of a building or some other improvement, such as wall or fence, beyond the boundaries of the land of its owner and onto the land of an adjoining owner.