Massachusetts Real Estate Exam CORRECT 100%
Bundle of Rights - ANSWER An ownership concept describing all the legal rights that attach to the
ownership of real property. ( posession, control, enjoyment, exclusion, disposition)
Personal Property - ANSWER Chattel; movable/ portable; everything that "falls out" of a house that is
turned upside down
Riparian Rights - ANSWER "R" ivers; rights along flowing waters such as rivers and streams; navigable ( to
waters edge) non-navigable ( to middle)
Literal Rights - ANSWER "L" ake ; ownership rights along lakes and oceans; mA Law intertidal zone...all
people have the right to fish, navigate (walk), and faul(birdwatch through intertidal zone
Real Estate - ANSWER Anything man or nature has put on earth; includes bundle of legal rights, air,
water, and mineral rights; edge of property to center of earth and up to infinity (air rights) anything
attached or put into the ground ( not on blocks)
Three Legal Descriptions Used in America - ANSWER Metes and Bounds, Rectangular Survey, Subdivision
Lot and Block
Metes and Bounds - ANSWER A system of land surveying that used natural features t mark irregular
parcels of land; Used in MA; oldest method used; always uses a POB (point of beginning); uses distances
and compass directions to describe using N,S!E!W
Rectangular Survey - ANSWER Uses ranges, sections, and townships to describe, everything is
rectangular shapes, FL not MA
Subdivision Lot and Block - ANSWER AKA: Subdivision Plan; uses subdivision Lot # and street name to
describe; used in ALL states
Personal Property - ANSWER Chattels; movable ( furniture, lawn mower, fire wood, deck furniture, cows)
, Fixtures - ANSWER An item that was personal property that is now affixed to the real Estate and has
become permanent; ex. Wall/wall carpet; a hutch noted to wall; a new light by the front door
Severance - ANSWER Converting real property to personal property (ex. Cutting down a tree severing it
from the land)
Accession - ANSWER Trade fixtures not removed by the end of the lease become the landlords by
accession
Trade Fixtures - ANSWER Considered personal property; can be removed before the lease ends; must fish
holes in wall and take signs
Emblements (fractus industriales) - ANSWER
Governmental Powers (PETE) - ANSWER Police Power, Eminent Domain, Taxation, Escheat
Police Power - ANSWER Governments right to regulate property use ( building codes, property laws,
zoning, town bylaws)
Eminent Domain - ANSWER Governments right to seize property; must be for public use and the owner
paid a fair price
Codemnation Lawsuit - ANSWER State filed action
Taxation - ANSWER To support government operations
Escheat - ANSWER When an owner abandons or dies with no heirs the state claims the property through
the power of " escheat"
Freehold Estate - ANSWER You actually own it; the degree and extent of ones ownership
, Free Simple Absolute - ANSWER A type of freehold Estate, a type of ownership; highest and most
common; can last forever; is inheritable; realtor asks for a copy of deed and grants you the "fee simple
title", even if you have a mortagage
No Money Encumbrances ( easements, easement in gross) - ANSWER A type of encumbrance offers a
legal right to use; has no ownership interest
Easement - ANSWER A right acquired by one party to use the land of another party; must be recorded in
the last 50 years
Easement in Gross - ANSWER Utility company interest, electric, water, gas, town sewer
Easement by prescription - ANSWER MA LAW: 20 year requirement; path/osprey story; openly and.
Continuously using the path for 20+ years; prescriptive period 20+ years
CC&R Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions - ANSWER AKA: Restrictive Covenants; private land
controls; must be on the public record to be enforceable; ex. No clotheslines, no doghouses, no
commercial vehicles
Licenses - ANSWER Licensed letter; offers temporary permission to use; no automatic transfer to a new
owner
Encroachments - ANSWER Invading a neighbors property; may be at ground level, at or below the earth;
limbs going into yard, drainage, leach fields, dog kennel
Grantor - ANSWER Signs deed
Deed - ANSWER Written instrument; grantOR conveys the rights of ownership to grantEE, all deeds must
be recorded in the county where the property lies; name and date are the only things that will change
