Real Estate Exam Prep
101 flashcards by MentisLibrary
The topics the licensing exam covers: estates and ownership forms, agency duties, contracts, financing, fair housing, appraisal, and closing math. Written for the national portion, with exam tips on the traps that catch people.
- What is real property?
- Land, everything permanently attached to it, and the bundle of rights that goes with ownership
- What are the rights in the bundle of rights?
- Possession, control, enjoyment, exclusion, and disposition
- What is a fixture, and what test determines it?
- Personal property that has become part of the real property, judged by method of attachment, adaptability to the property, and the intent of the parties
- What is a trade fixture?
- An item a commercial tenant installs to conduct business, which remains the tenant's personal property and may be removed before the lease ends
- What is a fee simple absolute?
- The highest and most complete form of ownership, of indefinite duration and freely inheritable and transferable
- What is a life estate?
- An ownership interest measured by someone's lifetime, which ends at death and passes to a remainderman or reverts to the grantor
- What is a leasehold estate?
- A tenant's possessory interest in real property for a period of time, which is personal property rather than real property
- What is the difference between an estate for years and a periodic tenancy?
- An estate for years has a definite beginning and ending date and needs no notice to terminate; a periodic tenancy renews automatically until proper notice is given
- What is joint tenancy?
- Co-ownership with the right of survivorship, created by the four unities of time, title, interest, and possession
- What is tenancy in common?
- Co-ownership in which each owner holds an undivided fractional interest with no right of survivorship, so a share passes by will or intestacy
- What is tenancy by the entirety?
- A form of joint ownership available only to married couples, with right of survivorship, in which neither spouse may convey their interest alone
- What is community property?
- A system in which most property acquired during marriage is owned equally by both spouses regardless of who earned it
- What is a condominium?
- Ownership in fee simple of an individual unit plus an undivided interest in the common elements shared with other owners
- What is a cooperative?
- Ownership of shares in a corporation that owns the building, with a proprietary lease giving the right to occupy a unit
- What is a planned unit development?
- A development combining residential, and sometimes commercial, uses with common areas owned by a homeowners association
- What is an easement?
- A nonpossessory right to use another person's land for a specific purpose
- What is the difference between an easement appurtenant and an easement in gross?
- An easement appurtenant benefits a neighboring parcel and transfers with it; an easement in gross benefits a person or company rather than a parcel
- What is an easement by necessity?
- An easement created by a court when a parcel would otherwise be landlocked with no access to a public road
- What is an encroachment?
- An unauthorized physical intrusion of a structure onto a neighboring property
- What is a lien?
- A financial claim against property that serves as security for a debt
- Which liens generally take priority over all others?
- Real property tax liens and special assessment liens, regardless of when they were recorded
- What is a mechanic's lien?
- A statutory lien filed by a contractor, subcontractor, or supplier who has not been paid for labor or materials that improved the property
- What is a deed restriction or restrictive covenant?
- A private limitation on land use written into the deed or a recorded declaration
- What are the four government powers that limit private ownership?
- Police power, eminent domain, taxation, and escheat
- What is eminent domain, and what is condemnation?
- Eminent domain is the government's power to take private property for public use with just compensation; condemnation is the legal process used to exercise it
- What is a nonconforming use?
- A use that was lawful before a zoning change and is allowed to continue afterward
- What is the difference between a variance and a special use permit?
- A variance permits a deviation from a zoning requirement because of hardship; a special use permit allows a use the ordinance already contemplates for that district subject to conditions
- What is a general warranty deed?
- A deed in which the grantor makes the fullest covenants of title, warranting against all defects arising at any time, including before the grantor owned the property
- What is a special warranty deed?
- A deed in which the grantor warrants only against title defects arising during the grantor's own period of ownership
- What is a quitclaim deed?
- A deed that transfers whatever interest the grantor may have, with no warranties of title at all