Free National / General study sheet
Property Characteristics and Legal Descriptions Texas Real Estate Exam Cheat Sheet
Quick answerThis area asks you to classify property, recognize the physical and economic characteristics of land, identify legal-description systems, and separate public controls from private restrictions.
Source-checked National / General portion
Use the national rule unless the question identifies Texas law or a TREC form. The 11-item weight belongs to the National / General portion. Texas-specific recall cards below are bridges to the separate state portion.
Classify first. Decide whether the item is real or personal property, then identify the description method or land-use control the facts point to.
Exam scope
What Pearson tests
Verified against the official content outline.
- Fixtures, trade fixtures, emblements, and what TREC Paragraph 2 conveys
- Physical and economic characteristics of land
- Metes and bounds, lot and block, government survey, surveys, and priority of calls
- Governmental powers, zoning, CC&Rs, HOAs, easements, licenses, and encroachments
Decision traps
Common traps to catch
Check the governing source material.
- A trade fixture is the tenant's, removable before the lease ends if removal does no material damage.
- Standard exam texts call situs the top ECONOMIC characteristic. Immobility, indestructibility, and uniqueness are physical.
- A street address is not a legal description.
- Texas does not use the federal township-and-range system, but Texas survey descriptions can still contain section, block, or township.
- Texas construes restrictive covenants LIBERALLY, Property Code Section 202.003(a). Strict construction is the national rule.
- A Texas variance needs a 75 percent board vote, Local Government Code Section 211.009(c). Hardship alone is not enough.
Essential vocabulary
Property Characteristics and Legal Descriptions terms to know
- Fixture
- Personal property that became real property through attachment and intent.
- Trade fixture
- A business item installed by a tenant that is generally removable within the permitted time.
- Emblements
- Annual crops produced by a tenant's labor and treated as personal property.
- Area preference (situs)
- The preference for a given location; standard exam texts commonly call it the most important economic characteristic of land.
- Metes and bounds
- A legal description using directions, distances, monuments, and a point of beginning.
- Lot and block
- A description that refers to a recorded subdivision plat.
- Government survey
- A grid description using principal meridians, baselines, townships, ranges, and sections.
- Police power
- Government authority to regulate for public health, safety, morals, and welfare.
- Variance
- Permission to depart from a zoning requirement because of a qualifying hardship.
- Nonconforming use
- A use that was lawful before the zoning changed and may continue.
- License
- Personal, generally revocable permission to use another person's land; not an interest that runs with the land.
- Encroachment
- A structure that crosses a boundary line, normally found by survey.
Check your recall
Can you answer these without notes?
Open each card only after you commit to an answer.
1TREC Paragraph 2: is a mounted garage door opener an improvement or an accessory?
Improvement (2B). The handheld control is an accessory (2C). Both convey unless excluded.
2Most important economic characteristic of land?
Area preference, or situs.
3Which description starts and ends at the point of beginning?
Metes and bounds.
4How does a Texas court read an ambiguous restrictive covenant?
Liberally, Property Code Section 202.003(a).
5What four governmental powers are commonly remembered as PETE?
Police power, eminent domain, taxation, and escheat.
6What vote grants a Texas variance?
75 percent of the board, Local Government Code Section 211.009(c).
7When is a plat NOT required for a Texas subdivision inside a city or its ETJ?
When the division creates parts greater than five acres, each with access, and nothing is dedicated to public use. Local Government Code Section 212.004(a).
8What is the Texas fixture test and which factor controls?
The three-part test from Logan v. Mullis: mode of annexation, adaptation to the realty, and intention. Intention is preeminent.
9Does a Texas city have to pay to shut down a lawful nonconforming use?
Yes. Local Government Code Section 211.019(d) covers the costs of ceasing the use and the loss in market value.
10What words identify the federal rectangular survey system?
Principal meridian, baseline, township, range, and section. Texas does not use that federal system.
11When calls in a metes and bounds description conflict, what is the priority order?
Natural monuments, then artificial monuments, then courses, then distances, then quantity. Stated acreage is the weakest call.
12When does a Texas manufactured home become real property?
Only when the owner's election is perfected: the statement is filed in the county records and the department and chief appraiser are notified. Occupations Code Section 1201.2055.
Use the sheet, then retrieve
Turn recognition into recall.
Read the full lesson when a definition is fuzzy. Then answer the topic questions without looking back at this sheet.
Primary sources
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This is exam-prep education, not legal, tax, or transaction advice. Confirm the current law, form, and official exam materials before relying on a rule in practice.