Chapter 4

Property is not only the item that is owned, but also a set of rights to the item enjoyed by the owner, these rights are commonly known as:

"bundle of rights"

Parcel or tract:

A portion of land delineated by boundaries is considered a parcel or tract.

How is a trade fixture different from a fixture?

A trade fixture has been temporarily affixed to a landlord's real property in order to conduct business and may be detached and removed before, or upon surrender, of the leased premises.

A court may also apply other criteria to differentiate such as:

Functionality (window-unit ac) relationship of parties (fixture used for business=trade fixture) sale or lease contract provisions (must mention exclusions in contract)

A court may apply one or more of the following criteria to determine whether an article of property is real or personal:

Intention Adaptation(house keys, a garbage compactor, and a removable door screen)

If a camper affixes a tent to the land with the intention of moving it to another camp in a week, would the tent be considered real estate?

No

Is an abandoned car, left to rust in the desert, considered property?

No, because no one claims ownership.

Is a swimming pool pumb attached to the pool real or personal property?

Real

Which right gives you the right to extract mineral and gas deposits and subsurface water from the water table?

Subsurface rights.

Land can be LATERALLY served into what 3 rights?

Surface rights, subsurface rights, and air rights.

Real property rights:

These consist of the bundle of rights associated w/ owning a parcel of real estate. Foremost of theses rights is the right of possession.

Littoral Rights

These rights concern properties abutting bodies of water that are not moving, such as lakes and seas.

Riparian Rights

These rights concern properties abutting moving water such as streams or rivers.

Land is considered to be permanent, true or false?

True

Are manufactured homes considered personal property?

Yes, because they are moveable.

Land is immobile because:

a parcel of land cannot be moved from one site to another.

What is the definition of a fixture?

a personal property item that has been converted to real property by attachment to real estate

Fixtures

a personal property item that has been converted to real property by attachment to real estate. examples: chandeliers, toilets, water pumps, septic tanks, and window shutters.

A parcel or tract of land is:

a portion of land delineated by boundaries

Intangible property

abstract, having no physical existence in itself, other than as evidence of one's ownership interest.

Land can be laterally divided into what classifications of rights?

air rights, surface rights, subsurface rights

Trade Fixtures

aka chattel fixtures, are items of a tenant's personal property that the tenant has temporarily affixed to a landlords real property in order to conduct business. exp. grocer's food freezers, a merchant's clothes racks, a tavern owner's bar, a dairy's milking machines, and a printer's printing press.

Subsurface Rights

apply to land beneath the surface, extending from its surface boundaries downward to the center of the earth.

Surface Rights

apply to the real estate contained w/in the surface boundaries of the parcel, including, the ground, all natural things affixed to the ground, all improvements, and water rights.

Air rights

apply to the space above the surface boundaries of the parcel, as delineated by imaginary vertical lines extended to infinity.

How are air rights delineated

by imaginary vertical lines that extend to infinity

Items of personal property are also called:

chattels or personalty

The classification of an item of property as real or personal is not necessarily fixed, it can be changed by the process of

conversion.

Regulation takes the form of:

federal and state laws and regulations; county and local ordinances and codes; and court decisions in the judicial system.

In Texas, to convert a manufactured home from personal to real property you must

file a "statement of ownership and location", into the real property records in the county located notify the tax-assesor/collector contact the Texas Dept. of Housing and Community affairs or treat home as real property connect to a utility permanently connect to the property

Owners of manufactured home qualify for which tax exemption regardless if the home is deemed real property or not?

homestead tax exemption

What are the three physical characteristics of land?

immobile indestructibility heterogeneity

land has 3 unique physical characteristics:

immobility, indestructibility, and heterogeneity.

Affixing, or attachment

is the act of converting personal property to real property by attaching it to the real estate, such as by assembling a pile of bricks into a barbecue pit, or constructing a boat dock from wood planks.

Real Estate

it is air, water, land, and everything affixed to the land

Chattels or Personalty

items of personal property

What does the legal concept of real estate encompass?

land all man-made structures that are "permanently" attached to the land

The legal concept of real estate encompasses:

land all man-made structures that are "permanently" attached to the land are called improvements.

Land includes:

minerals beneath the earth's surface water on or below the earths surface air above the surface all plants attached to the ground, or in the ground (trees, grass)

In a technical standpoint, property is

not only the item that is owned buy also a set of rights to the item enjoyed by the owner.

Land is non-homogenous because:

not two parcels of land are exactly the same. They may look similar, but each parcel has a unique location.

Land is indestructible because:

one would have to remove a segment of the planet all the way to the core in order to destroy it.

Personal property

ownership of anything that is not real estate, and the rights associated with owning the personal property item.

Real property

ownership of real estate and the bundle of rights

The primary criterion for distinguishing real from personal property is whether the item is

permanently attached to the land or to structures attached to the land.

Trade fixtures

personal property items temporarily attached to real estate in order to conduct business. These items are designed to be removed at some point. exp. painting on wall

Tangible property

physical, visible, and material.

Growing plants may be either real or personal property. How are they differentiated?

plants and crops that grow naturally w/o anyones labor or machinery, are considered real property plants and crops requiring human intervention and labor are called emblements which, despite their attachment to land, are considered personal property.

Emblements

plants or crops considered personal property since human intervention is necessary for planting and harvesting

What are the two classifications of property?

real property personal property

What are the four important rights associated with owning a parcel of real estate?

right to use right to transfer right to encumber right to exclude

In Texas, oil, gas, and other mineral rights are

separate estates

In common understanding, property is

something that is owned by someone

Which government entity is the primary regulatory entity of the real estate business?

state government

Real estate, other than land, includes:

such things as fences, streets, buildings, wells, sewers, sidewalks and piers. (improvements)

Conversion

the act of transforming real to personal property through severance or personal to real property through affixing

Govt entities regulate the following aspects of real property interests:

the bundle of rights;possession, usage, transfer, encumbering and exclusion legal descriptions financing insurance inheritance taxation

Severance

the conversion of real property to personal property by detaching it from the real estae, such as by cutting down a tree

permanently attached refers to:

the intention in attaching the item.

What do water rights concern?

the right to own and use water found in lakes, streams, rivers, and the ocean.

What does the legal concept of land encompass?

the surface area of the earth everything beneath the surface, extending downward to its center all natural things permanently attached to the earth the air above the surface extending outward to infinity

The legal concept of land encompasses:

the surface area of the earth, everything beneath extending downward to its center, all natural things permanently attached to the earth, the air above the surface of the earth extending outward to infinity.

If a property abuts a stream or river, the owner's riparian rights are determined by whether...

the water is navigable or not navigable. navigable=can a boat pass through

"bundle of rights" In owning property the owner has the right to:

use posses transfer encumber exclude