REAL PROPERTY BASICS
Real property includes land, buildings and similar structures put on the land. With it goes property right to that land and structures. Personal property refers to items that are movable from location to location.
There are different types of ownership of real property. These are possessory estates. The most common type is the fee simple. A fee simple generally the holder of the property forever. The possessory estate extends to the holder’s heirs as well. The holder of title and after he dies, his heirs can deal with the property by sale, gift, will, etc. Title to real property, the right to this possessory estate is transferred by a deed from a grantor to a grantee, often a seller and a buyer. A grantor can deed to a grantee less than a fee simple absolute. For instance, he can convey a life estate. A life estate gives a grantee less than full rights to possession of then land. Such a deed would read “John Smith gives to William Johnson the real property known as Holden Farms. However, Mary Jones shall have the right to possess the land for her natural life.” Before the William Jones gets the right to own and possess the land, Mary Jones has a life estate in Holden Farms.
Often land is owned by more than one person. There are different kinds of joint ownership. The first is tenants in common. With a “tenancy in common” each owner owns a right to his percentage share to do with as he or she wants…sell, give it away, give it to someone by will. Any tenant in common has the right to sue the other for PARTITION. There is an absolute right to this. In a partition suit, the judge orders an appraisal of the property. Then a sale is ordered and the proceeds are divided among the "tenants in common" after the mortgage and other expenses are deducted and adjusted among them. Once one owner understands this legal reality, he may agree to a buy out the share of the other, instead of partition and sale.
Another type of ownership is Joint Tenants with right of survivorship. This differs significantly from the tenancy in common. When two persons own real property as joint tenants with right of survivorship, after the first dies, the survivor becomes the sole owner. Therefore, while title is held by both in this form, there is no right for just one of them dispose of his share by sale, gift, will, etc. There is also no right to sue for partition as with a tenancy in common. Finally, when joint tenancy title is conveyed to a husband and wife, it is called tenants by the entireties. The tenancy by the entireties has all the same characteristics of the joint tenancy with right of survivorship.
When a grantor coveys title to a grantee, it must be in writing to be valid. This is per the long established Statute of frauds. Moreover, the written deed required by the Statute of Frauds are generally of two types…a full warranty deed and a quitclaim deed. With the warranty deed, the grantor effectively says to the grantee: “ I am giving you good and marketable (saleable) title and if it turns out that there is any problem with the title, due to my warranty, you can look to me to resolve the problem.” A quitclaim deed is very different. When a seller or granted uses the quitclaim deed, he is saying to the buyer or grantee: “I make no representations about this title. You are taking it ‘as is’. Whatever I have…good or bad….I give to you.”