Selling Property/Real Estate

The first thing you have to know before becoming a Real Estate agent is know what Real Estate actually is.

The term Real Estate evolved from "Royal Estates", during a time when a small group of royalty held the Allodium of their collective countries and partitioned it off in return for loyalty and monetary tribute.

In the world of Real Estate there are two forms of Property, "Real Property" (things owned that are attached to the ground or attached to something in a static state) and "Personal Property" (things owned that are not attached to the ground)

You, as a Real Estate agent, are there to help those looking to buy or sell their Real Property in exchange for a portion of profits gained from the transaction of that property. You can do the same thing with Personal Property, but there is no stated fiduciary and legal responsibility in doing this for others with Personal Property where usually there is for Real Property.

When Real Property becomes Personal Property(ripping it out of the ground or whatever it's attached to), this process is called severance. The opposite, when Personal Property becomes Real Property, is called annexation.

When property is in the vague middle ground between Personal and Real Property, it is commonly known as a "fixture", such as a lightbulb, shelves, a basketball hoop in a driveway, etc.

The inclusion or exclusion of fixtures can be part of the sale of the property as a whole per the agreement of both parties within the transference of the property (the seller and the buyer).

Types of Real Property
Since we're looking to become Real Estate Agents, people who help others buy and sell Real Property, your focus will largely be on Real Property rather than Personal Property.

The forms of Real Property vary from area to area, largely under the authority of local zoning boards of adjustment, but there are generally a few broad categories that are consistent everywhere.

Residential
These are Real Properties that are used for the purpose of shelter. Residential Properties can be owned outright or through a varied number of joint or partial ownership/usership forms we'll discuss later.

Commercial
These are Real Properties that are used for the purpose of selling goods and services to others. Transactions regarding Commercial Properties have different criteria that determine its value to buyers and sellers than Residential Properties, and usually transactions regarding Commercial Properties take much longer than with Residential Properties.

Industrial
These are Real Properties that are used for the production or creation of something, such as a farm or a factory. Methods used to buy and sell Commercial and Industrial properties are similar in comparison to Residential Properties.

Special Use
Sometimes termed differently, these are Real Properties that do not fit into the above three categories, and are usually seen as properties that are there for the good of the community such as parks, churches, government buildings, and so on.

Mixed Use
These are Real Properties that combine one or more of the above kinds of Real Property, and often require a variance, or permission from a local zoning board of adjustment to change the primary use of the property that is normally prohibited under local zoning law, due to the effects of that use on the property towards adjacent properties.

The Township Range System
When the United States was just entering the 19th Century, the Government decided that the country's new settlements to the west needed another ownership cataloging system because the Metes and Bounds system just wasn't working out.

Usually deeds to properties under Metes and Bounds would be a fancier version of something like...

 Jim owns the land from the big rock to the tree with three branches to the river and back to the big rock 

But what if somebody moved the rock? Or cut down the tree? Or the river changed its course? Jim would be screwed, that's what.

So, all states except for the original colonies, Maine, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, and the District of Columbia use the Township Range System, also known as the Public Land Survey System. If you are going to be an agent in one of the states that doesn't use the Township Range System, you'll never need to know it again after you have learn it for the test, unless the government decides to go nuts and implement the Township Range System on those states too, which is about as likely as the Moon colliding into one of those states.