45 topics · Updated 2026-09-17
Personal property is any property that is not real property. It includes money, movable goods or chattels, evidences of debt, and choses (things) in action.
Personal property is any property that is not real property. It includes money, movable goods or chattels, evidences of debt, and choses (things) in action.
A 'chose in action' is the right to recover money or other personal property through a judicial proceeding. It includes the right to recover under a contract (e.g., money owed on a note) and the right to recover damages for a tort or private wrong.
The loan servicer acts as an agent and fiduciary of the creditor/lender. A written servicing agreement should describe responsibilities and compensation. Written agreements are recommended in every situation, and are REQUIRED by law when loan servicing under a real estate broker's license.
A major loan servicing problem is the flood of payments in the first ten days of each month, solved by computerized processing or staggering payment schedules. Loan servicing software identifies delinquencies and delivers notices including pre-notice of default, notice of default, and notice of trustee's sale. California amendments require software alterations and understanding of loan modifications, forbearances, and foreclosures.
Local governments assign planning responsibility by ordinance. Planning commissions develop and maintain the general plan and make recommendations to the legislative body on development matters.
Subdivision regulation and zoning implement the general plan. Maps and zoning ordinances must be consistent with the adopted general plan, which must include seven required elements.
After land acquisition, the title company issues preliminary guaranties, provides preliminary reports required by DRE, and may process subdivision documentation.
After adopting a general plan, a municipality may prepare specific plans to implement it systematically. Specific plans pertain to a particular site or sub-area and contain text and diagrams detailing land use and infrastructure specifications, plus implementation measures.
Specific plans are increasingly popular though expensive to prepare. They fall in the hierarchy between the general plan and zoning/design guidelines and offer distinct advantages over other implementation tools.
A small office succeeds only if the broker is both a good salesperson and manager. A medium-sized firm is typically run by a 'sales manager broker.' In a large office, the broker generally has only executive and administrative duties, employing one or more sales managers and office staff. Regardless of size, a broker must maintain proper records and documents and keep the office well organized.
Amortization tables show the monthly payment required to fully amortize a $1,000 loan over a given number of years at a given interest rate. Payments decrease as the term lengthens and increase as the interest rate rises.
To find the payment for any loan, multiply the table factor by the number of thousands in the loan. For example, at 6.0% over 30 years the factor is 6.00 per $1,000, so a $100,000 loan requires $600 per month.
The Department of Real Estate publishes the Real Estate Law, a book that includes the many Business and Professions Code sections that regulate real estate licensees.
Legal and tax considerations enter into a buyer's decision regarding the legal form of business organization, which includes sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, syndicate, and franchise. About 75% of American businesses are sole proprietorships and about 16% are corporations, though corporate enterprises earn over 70% of total income.
Fixtures are items of personal property attached to land in such a manner as to be considered part of the real property. Once personal property becomes a fixture, it is treated as real property.
Courts use five tests to determine if personal property is a fixture: (1) Method of attachment/degree of permanence; (2) Adaptability for ordinary use with the land; (3) Relationship of the parties (e.g., buyer/seller, landlord/tenant); (4) Intention of the person incorporating it; (5) Agreement between the parties. If attached by cement/plaster, likely a fixture; if well adapted to the land, probably a fixture.
Fixtures are items of personal property attached to land so as to be considered part of the real property. Courts use five general tests to determine fixture status: intention, method of attachment, adaptability, agreement, and relationship of the parties.
Buyers and lenders inspecting property for purchase or loan are justified in assuming that whatever is attached and essential to the property's use will be part of the conveyance or security. Any exceptions must be clearly stated in the contract.
A tenant may, during the tenancy term, remove anything affixed for purposes of trade, manufacture, ornament, or domestic use, provided removal causes no damage to the premises. This exception does not apply if the item has become an integral part of the premises.
Buyers and lenders inspecting property for purchase or loan may assume that whatever is attached to the land or building and essential for its use is part of the conveyance/security. The contract should clearly state any desired exceptions.
A tenant may, during the tenancy, remove anything affixed for purposes of trade, manufacture, ornament, or domestic use, provided removal causes no damage to the premises. This exception does not apply if the item has become an integral part of the premises.
An applicant for an original broker license must be at least 18, have required experience and education, be honest and truthful, and pass the qualifying examination. The applicant must have two years full-time salesperson experience within the past five years (or equivalent), and complete eight statutory college-level courses.
Broker applicants must complete five specific courses: Real Estate Practice, Legal Aspects of Real Estate, Real Estate Finance, Real Estate Appraisal, and Accounting or Real Estate Economics; plus three courses from a listed group. If both Accounting and Economics are completed, only two additional courses are required.
As an alternative to the experience requirement, applicants may submit evidence of graduation from a four-year college accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (or similar recognized agency) plus completion of the required real estate courses.
Salesperson experience must be verified by the employing broker using Employment Verification (RE 226). If unavailable, experience may be corroborated on Employment Certification (RE 228) by at least two individuals in a related real estate field. Equivalent experience is verified with RE 227. All experience claims are individually evaluated by the Commissioner.
Broker exam applicants submit RE 400B with education/experience evidence. Applications are valid for two years. Individuals may combine exam and license using RE 436, submitting both fees; the exam must be passed within two years or the application lapses. Fees are not refundable or transferable.
Most associations operate a multiple listing service (MLS) as a marketing tool. The MLS provides a means for authorized broker participants to establish legal relationships by making a blanket unilateral contractual offer of compensation and cooperation to other broker participants. It accumulates and disseminates listing information so participants can prepare valuations and serve clients.
California Civil Code Section 1087 defines an MLS as a facility of cooperation of agents and appraisers, operating through an intermediary which does not itself act as an agent or appraiser, through which agents establish legal relationships to listed properties or prepare market evaluations. Qualified real estate brokers and certified/licensed appraisers are eligible participants; a salesperson obtains access through his/her broker.
Tenancy in common exists when two or more persons own undivided interests in title. It is created if a conveyance to multiple persons does not specify joint tenancy, partnership, or community property. Interests may be unequal; if unspecified they are presumed equal. There is unity of possession. No right of survivorship—a deceased cotenant's interest passes to heirs/devisees.
Joint tenancy requires the fourfold unity of interest, title, time, and possession—same interest, same conveyance, same time, same possession (Civil Code 683). Its key feature is the right of survivorship: on death the surviving joint tenant(s) take the whole, free of the deceased's heirs and free of liens against the deceased's interest.
A joint tenancy may be created by statute (e.g., sole owner to self and others; tenants in common to themselves and others; to executors/trustees). A joint tenant may sever by conveying their interest to a third party or cotenant, creating a tenancy in common as to that interest. Creditors of a LIVING joint tenant may force an execution sale, severing the tenancy.
Community property is generally all property acquired by spouses during a valid marriage, other than separate property. Separate property includes property owned before marriage, acquired by gift or inheritance, rents/profits of separate property, earnings while living separate/apart, and property conveyed between spouses intending it be separate. Separate property must be kept clearly identifiable and not commingled.
Each spouse has equal management and control of community property. Neither may gift community property without consent, and both must join in any sale, conveyance, encumbrance, or lease of community real property. Each spouse may will their half; absent a will, the decedent's half passes to the surviving spouse.
Sole (several) ownership means ownership by one person, who enjoys all benefits and bears all burdens such as taxes. Subject to law, a sole owner may freely dispose of the property, and typically only the sole owner's signature is required on the deed of conveyance (Civil Code 681).
On death of a joint tenant, the joint tenancy is automatically terminated, but for record title purposes documents such as a certified death certificate or court decree (usually with an affidavit identifying the deceased as a joint tenant) must be recorded in the county where the property is located.
Advantages: simplicity of vesting title in survivor, avoids probate delay (up to six months or more), avoids executor/attorney fees, survivor takes free of deceased's debts/liens. Disadvantages: possible added taxes, loss of ability to devise by will, possible injustice to creditors. Giving advice on how to hold title is the unauthorized practice of law if by non-attorneys.
Spouses may buy a home with community funds yet take title 'as joint tenants,' creating ambiguity because consequences differ. California courts hold the true intent of the spouses prevails over record title. Community property allows no separate interest for encumbrancing—both signatures required. A joint tenant may mortgage only their interest but a foreclosure while alive severs the tenancy.
An acknowledgment is a formal declaration before a duly authorized officer (such as a notary public) by a person who executed an instrument that such execution is his or her act and deed. The officer creates a Certificate of Acknowledgment. Acknowledgment proves signing, safeguards against forgery and false impersonation, and allows the document into evidence without further proof of execution.
Many instruments cannot be recorded unless acknowledged. Unless a statute makes acknowledgment essential, the instrument is valid between the parties and persons with actual notice even without acknowledgment. The time of acknowledgment is generally immaterial unless the rights of innocent third parties intervene.
Anywhere in the state, acknowledgment may be made before a justice, retired justice, or clerk of the Supreme Court or District Court of Appeal, a superior court judge or retired judge, or (after September 17, 1959) a notary public. Within a designated jurisdiction, other officials such as court clerks, county clerks, commissioners, and local judges may take acknowledgments. Deputies and certain military officers are also authorized. (Civil Code Sections 1181, 1183.5)
An acknowledgment taken outside California must comply with California forms and laws, or have attached a certificate from a court clerk, U.S. consul, or foreign judge stating it complies with applicable law and the officer was authorized. An 'Apostille' may be used in California to authenticate a certificate of acknowledgment drafted in a foreign country.
A sufficient certificate of acknowledgment is not invalidated by a date mistake or absence of a date if the date appears elsewhere in the instrument. Absent contrary proof, the acknowledgment is presumed taken on the execution date or at least before recordation. Where the deed date is later than the acknowledgment, the later date may be the true deed date. The certificate must be authenticated by the officer's signature and office name, with an official seal if required.
Escrow instructions accompany the conditional delivery and authorize the escrow holder to deliver instruments, funds, and documents upon specified events or conditions. California uses two forms: bilateral (executed by and binding on both buyer and seller) and unilateral (separate instructions executed by buyer and seller, binding on each). Instructions implement and supplement the original contract, and both are interpreted together. If instructions conflict with the original contract, the later contract (instructions) usually controls. Once joint/bilateral instructions are signed, neither principal may unilaterally change them; changes require mutual agreement, and one principal may waive conditions if not detrimental to the other.
A neutral escrow holder can be held liable for violating written instructions, including breaches of fiduciary duty within the scope of the instructions. However, the escrow holder is only a neutral stakeholder not concerned with controversies among principals. It may file an action of interpleader and for declaratory relief to ask a court to resolve controversies and direct how to proceed.
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