Property Characteristics Practice Questions
This national area is 11 scored items on the Texas Sales Agent exam. It tests what counts as real versus personal property, fixtures, the physical and economic characteristics of land, the three legal-description methods, and the public and private controls that limit how property may be used. Work the questions below, then read every explanation.
Exam prep only
These questions hand you an item or a parcel and ask you to classify it: real or personal property, which characteristic of land, which legal description, or which land-use control applies. The labels matter more than any math here.
Use the classify-then-confirm read. First name the category the facts describe, then confirm the one rule the exam is testing, such as the intent test for a fixture or the rule that the more restrictive control wins.
Quiz mode · Test yourself
Property Characteristics Practice Questions
15 scenario-based questions on property characteristics, scored, each with a full explanation after you answer. Every question is also written out below if you would rather study at your own pace.
Every question explained
Prefer to study at your own pace? Here are all 15 questions. Read each one and pick your answer, then reveal the correct answer, the reasoning, and the trap that catches most candidates.
1. A homeowner installs a built-in dishwasher, bolting it into the cabinetry and connecting it to plumbing. With no contrary agreement, this dishwasher is now
- A.personal property the seller may remove
- B.a fixture that has become part of the real property
- C.a trade fixture
- D.an emblement
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. a fixture that has become part of the real property
Why B is correct: Personal property that is permanently attached to real property becomes a fixture and passes with the real estate. A built-in, plumbed dishwasher is a fixture. Unless the contract says otherwise, it conveys with the home.
Trap: A fixture conveys with the property. Once an item is permanently attached, it is no longer movable personal property.
Source: Real property law; fixtures
2. A business tenant installs display shelving and a walk-in cooler to run a restaurant. These items are
- A.fixtures that must stay with the building
- B.trade fixtures the tenant may remove before the lease ends
- C.emblements owned by the landlord
- D.real property once installed
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. trade fixtures the tenant may remove before the lease ends
Why B is correct: Trade fixtures are items a business tenant installs to conduct business. They remain the tenant's personal property and may be removed before the lease ends, with the tenant repairing any damage caused by removal.
Trap: Trade fixtures stay personal property even when attached. The business tenant removes them before the lease term ends.
Source: Real property law; trade fixtures
3. When deciding whether an item is a fixture, courts often weigh the method of attachment, adaptability, relationship of the parties, intent, and any agreement. Which factor usually controls?
- A.Only whether the item is bolted down
- B.The intent of the party who installed it and any written agreement
- C.The cost of the item
- D.Whether the item is visible from the street
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. The intent of the party who installed it and any written agreement
Why B is correct: The intent of the annexor and any written agreement usually carry the most weight in the fixture test. The MARIA factors, Method of attachment, Adaptability, Relationship of parties, Intent, and Agreement, all matter, but intent and a written agreement typically win.
Trap: Do not decide a fixture question on attachment alone. Intent and any agreement usually control.
Source: Real property law; fixture test
4. Which is considered the most important economic characteristic of land?
- A.Indestructibility
- B.Immobility
- C.Area preference, also called situs
- D.Non-homogeneity
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. Area preference, also called situs
Why C is correct: Area preference, or situs, is the most important economic characteristic of land. It captures the value people place on a particular location. Immobility, indestructibility, and uniqueness are physical characteristics, not economic ones.
Trap: Sort the lists first. Situs is economic; immobility and indestructibility are physical characteristics.
Source: Real property characteristics
5. A legal description that starts at a defined point of beginning and traces the boundary by direction and distance, returning to the start, uses which method?
- A.Lot and block
- B.Rectangular (government) survey
- C.Metes and bounds
- D.Street address
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. Metes and bounds
Why C is correct: Metes and bounds describes a parcel by starting at a point of beginning and tracing the perimeter using courses (directions) and distances back to the start. Lot and block uses a recorded plat, and the rectangular survey uses principal meridians and base lines.
Trap: A point of beginning that traces the boundary and closes back on itself is metes and bounds, not lot and block.
Source: Legal descriptions
6. A recorded subdivision plat assigns each parcel a number within a numbered block. A deed that describes a parcel by referring to this plat uses the
- A.metes-and-bounds method
- B.rectangular survey method
- C.lot-and-block (recorded plat) method
- D.monument method
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. lot-and-block (recorded plat) method
Why C is correct: The lot-and-block method describes property by reference to a recorded subdivision plat that assigns lot and block numbers. It is common in platted subdivisions and is the simplest of the three methods to read.
Trap: Lot and block depends on a recorded plat. If the description names a lot and block in a subdivision, that is the method.
Source: Legal descriptions; recorded plats
7. Ownership of real property is best understood as a bundle of rights. Which set lists those rights?
- A.Possession, control, enjoyment, exclusion, and disposition
- B.Only the right to exclude others
- C.Only surface rights
- D.A single, indivisible right that transfers all at once
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. Possession, control, enjoyment, exclusion, and disposition
Why A is correct: The bundle of rights includes possession, control, enjoyment, exclusion, and disposition. Because the rights are separable, an owner can sell or lease one right, such as mineral rights, while keeping the others.
Trap: Ownership is not all or nothing. Individual rights in the bundle can be sold or leased separately.
Source: Real property law; bundle of rights
8. A city adopts a zoning ordinance limiting an area to single-family homes, with no payment to affected owners. This exercise of government authority is
- A.eminent domain, which requires just compensation
- B.police power, which does not require compensation
- C.escheat
- D.a private deed restriction
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. police power, which does not require compensation
Why B is correct: Zoning is an exercise of police power, the government's authority to regulate for the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Police power does not require compensation. Eminent domain, the power to take property for public use, does require just compensation.
Trap: Police power regulates without paying; eminent domain takes and must pay. Zoning is police power.
Source: Public land-use controls; police power
9. Movable items of personal property, such as furniture, are called
- A.fixtures
- B.chattels (personal property)
- C.appurtenances
- D.improvements
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. chattels (personal property)
Why B is correct: Movable items not permanently attached to real property are chattels, or personal property. When personal property is permanently affixed to real estate, it can become a fixture and part of the real property.
Trap: Personal property is movable (chattel). It becomes a fixture only when permanently attached with the intent to stay.
Source: Property law; real vs personal property
10. An easement that benefits one parcel (the dominant estate) and burdens an adjoining parcel (the servient estate) is an easement that
- A.ends when the property is sold
- B.runs with the land and transfers with ownership
- C.applies only to the original owner
- D.must be renewed each year
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. runs with the land and transfers with ownership
Why B is correct: An easement appurtenant runs with the land. It benefits the dominant estate and burdens the servient estate, and it passes to new owners when either parcel is sold unless properly terminated.
Trap: An easement appurtenant transfers with the land, not just with the original owner.
Source: Property law; easements appurtenant
11. Which set lists the physical characteristics of land?
- A.Scarcity, improvements, and permanence
- B.Immobility, indestructibility, and uniqueness (nonhomogeneity)
- C.Demand, utility, and transferability
- D.Location, location, and location
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Immobility, indestructibility, and uniqueness (nonhomogeneity)
Why B is correct: The physical characteristics of land are immobility (it cannot be moved), indestructibility (it endures), and uniqueness or nonhomogeneity (no two parcels are exactly alike). Scarcity and permanence are economic characteristics.
Trap: Do not mix the physical characteristics (immobility, indestructibility, uniqueness) with the economic ones (scarcity, improvements, permanence, area preference).
Source: Real property characteristics
12. In the government rectangular (section and township) survey system, one section contains
- A.160 acres
- B.640 acres
- C.1 acre
- D.5,280 acres
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. 640 acres
Why B is correct: A section is one square mile and contains 640 acres. A township is six miles square and contains 36 sections. A quarter-section is 160 acres.
Trap: A section is 640 acres; a quarter-section is 160 acres. Do not confuse the two.
Source: Legal descriptions; rectangular survey system
13. An owner of land along a flowing river or stream holds water rights known as
- A.littoral rights
- B.riparian rights
- C.prior appropriation only
- D.mineral rights
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. riparian rights
Why B is correct: Riparian rights belong to owners of land along flowing water such as a river or stream. Littoral rights belong to owners of land bordering a stationary body of water such as a lake, sea, or ocean.
Trap: Riparian = flowing water (river); littoral = stationary water (lake or sea). Match the term to the water body.
Source: Water rights; riparian and littoral
14. Soil gradually deposited along a riverbank that increases an owner's land is acquired by
- A.avulsion
- B.accretion
- C.erosion
- D.condemnation
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. accretion
Why B is correct: Accretion is the gradual addition of land by the slow deposit of soil (alluvion). Avulsion is the sudden loss or addition of land, and erosion is the gradual wearing away of land.
Trap: Accretion is slow gain; avulsion is sudden change; erosion is slow loss. The speed and direction matter.
Source: Property law; accretion and avulsion
15. A person gains an easement across a neighbor's land by using it openly, notoriously, and continuously for the required statutory period. This is an easement by
- A.prescription
- B.necessity
- C.express grant
- D.estoppel
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. prescription
Why A is correct: An easement by prescription is acquired through open, notorious, continuous, and adverse use of another's land for the statutory period, similar to adverse possession but creating a use right rather than ownership.
Trap: Prescription creates a use right through long adverse use; an easement by necessity arises from landlocked access, not from use over time.
Source: Property law; easement by prescription
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Get the full question bankFrequently asked questions
How many property characteristics questions are on the Texas exam?+
Real Property Characteristics, Legal Descriptions and Property Use is 11 scored items on the national portion of the Texas Sales Agent exam. Expect questions on real versus personal property, fixtures, the characteristics of land, the three legal-description methods, and public and private land-use controls.
What is the difference between police power and eminent domain?+
Police power is the government's authority to regulate land use for public health, safety, and welfare, such as zoning, and it requires no compensation. Eminent domain is the power to take private property for public use, and it requires just compensation to the owner.
What are the three legal-description methods?+
Real estate is described by metes and bounds (tracing the boundary by direction and distance from a point of beginning), the rectangular or government survey system (meridians and base lines), or lot and block (referring to a recorded subdivision plat).