Land, Real Estate, and Real Property Fundamentals

These flashcards define key vocabulary terms regarding types of property, ownership rights, and legal documentation based on lecture notes.

Land

The earth's surface extending downward to the center of the earth and upward to the airspace above the land, including trees and water.

Real Estate

Land plus permanent human made additions.

Real Property

Real Estate plus the bundle of legal rights.

Bundle of legal rights

Ownership rights of real property including the right of possession, right to control the property within the framework of the law, right of enjoyment, right of exclusion, and right of disposition.

Title

The right to ownership of the land, including the bundle of rights, and the evidence of that ownership by deed.

Deed

The document by which an owner transfers title to real property.

Appurtenances

Improvements, rights, and interests that are attached to and transfer or run with the land.

Riparian

Ownership rights for land abutting flowing water, such as a river.

Littoral

Ownership rights for land abutting standing water, such as a lake, generally extending to the average high-water mark.

Doctrine of prior appropriation

A doctrine stating that the right to use water is controlled by the state rather than by the landowner adjacent to the water.

Personal Property

Also called Personalty, this includes all property that can be owned and is movable.

Chattels

Items of personal property, such as chairs, tables, and clothing.

Factory built housing

Dwellings that are built off site and trucked to a building lot where they are installed.

Fixtures

Personal property that has been affixed to the land or a building so that it becomes part of the real property, such as heating plants or kitchen cabinets.

Trade Fixtures

Also known as chattel fixtures, these are property items used in the course of business, such as chicken coops or restaurant equipment, and are considered personal property.