Public Restrictions on Ownership

Limitations that the government creates on the ownership of real estate are public restrictions. Four powers that the government has over real property are:

~Eminent Domain: The government can acquire property for public use as long as the owner receives just compensation. This is a video about citizens fighting against eminent domain.

~Police Power: Governments have the power of regulation, which gives them the ability to protect the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare. An example is that the land next to a residential area cannot be used for industrial uses.

~Escheat: In the event that the landowner dies without leaving either a will or living relatives, the state government becomes the new owner of the property.

~Taxation: Property tax, or ad valorem tax, is levied as a percentage of value of the property. The value is not based on market value but based on its assessed value. Taxation causes a lot of controversy around the nation.  Here is an article about Texas property taxes. I agree with this article because even though Texas has higher property taxes, we also do not have personal income taxes. This subject will always controversy attached to it.

Not just taxation is a controversial issue, all of these powers are controversial around the country. Zoning, which is the dividing of a community's land into districts in which certain uses of land are allowed, is also a big controversial issue in each city. 

This is a zoning map of College Station

Real Estate owners need to pay attention to their property taxes and make sure they pay them.  They need to educate themselves about eminent domain and the other two government powers because they could affect them in the future.

Private Restriction on Ownership

Private restrictions on ownership, known collectively as encumbrances, are binding on anyone who gains interest in the property.  Following are examples of private encumbrances:

~Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCRs): limit the way the property owner can use the property. An example is Deed Restrictions created by the developer of the neighborhood saying that you can have no more than two dogs living on the property.

~Liens: claim on the property as security for a debt or for a fulfillment of monetary charge or obligation. An example of a voluntary lien is a mortgage.

~Easements: right given to one party by a landowner to use the land for a specified use. An example is giving an oil company the right to drive across your land for them to get to their pump on the property. Here is a great article talking about conservation easements in Texas. A lot of Texas land owners may have to deal with this situation and it is good to be informed about easements before they come to play.

~Profit a Prendre: nonpossessory interest in property that permits the holder to remove part of the soil or produce of the land. An example is the holder being able to remove certain wild animals off of the land.

~Adverse Possession: allows individuals to acquire title to land they do not own because they have openly possessed it for a statutory period of time (usually 7 to 20 years). An example is someone moving in to an abandoned house and claiming it as their own after at least 7 years. Here are the main Texas rules and limitations for adverse possession.

~Encroachments: unauthorized invasion or intrusion of a fixture, a building, or other improvement onto another person's property. An example is your neighbor building a fence that crosses onto your property.


Every real estate owner needs to pay close attention to each of these restrictions or else they can lose part or all of their title on the property that they own.

Property Rights and Legal Descriptions

Property Rights can be split up in multiple ways.  Four ways to split up property rights are, surface of the land, mineral rights, water rights, and air rights.  All four of these have different, specific rights and are mostly self explanatory. During our daily lives we mostly use our rights to the surface of the land because that is where houses are built.  In Texas, air rights are the least important, and mineral rights can be extremely important depending on where you live in Texas and if you have any oil or gas on your land.  When purchasing land you need to be very careful on what you are actually buying and what rights are coming with the property.  


Now, what is a legal description? It is the specification of the exact boundaries of the land being purchased.  An exact legal description is required to be in the documents when transferring title of the property.  There are three common used ways to obtain legal descriptions of land:

~Rectangular survey system: Based on principle meridians that run north and south and base lines that run east and west.

This is how a rectangular survey is split up.

~Metes-and-bounds: Distances and directions of the boundaries that enclose a piece of land.

~Recorded Plats: Engineers' drawings of parcels of real estate.

This is a recorded plat from The Barracks Townhomes, where I live.  This plat also has the metes-and-bounds underneath the actual plat.

The Importance of Real Estate

What is Real Estate and how does it have an impact on our economy?

Here are some kids describing what they think Real Estate is... unique definitions.

Although this video shows how children and what some people around the country think real estate is defined as, it does not grasp the whole meaning.  Real Estate's actual definition is land and anything reasonably affixed to the land. This may include commercial buildings, hotels, single family homes, apartments, industrial buildings, plots of land, and many other property types, not just family homes.

Real Estate has a huge impact on our economy.  It makes up a majority of wealth in the United States. Individuals and families need a place to live, whether they own their home or they are renting.  If they own the home, they most likely will have a mortgage, which is a huge sector in the economy, and if they are renting they are sending income to the owners of the place they are staying. This also works for businesses owning or renting out office space.

My sister and I own the townhouse that we are living in currently and we are renting out the two extra rooms in the house.  The rent that we have coming in easily covers the bills for the house, so we have a steady income coming in.  In the near future we plan on investing this money in another piece of rental property which will increase our income as well.  We are very fortunate to be on the investing side of real estate, but there are many other sectors to it, such as, appraisal, consulting, development, and brokerage. This Master's of Real Estate page at Texas A&M University, which I am thinking about pursuing, lists many different opportunities and placements throughout the Real Estate market. Career Options & Placement at Tamu

About Me

Howdy! My name is Briana Joiner and I am a Senior at Texas A&M University.  I will be graduating in May 2013 with a degree in Finance. I am originally from Houston, Texas, and I lived with my mom, dad, and sister. When I am not going to class or working my two jobs, I like to catch up on sleep, go shopping, and go to the pool. On the weekends, I like to do more outdoor activities, such as, hunting, fishing, and taking my dog to the park.  Speaking of my dog, I have a red dapple dachshund who is two years old and is the best dog ever. His name is Dino (pronounced like Dee-no) and he is my pride and joy.  I race him, in Wiener Dog Races, at different festivals around Texas and it is a sight to see. Family is a huge part of my life.  I see them and or talk to them as often as I can. I currently live with my sister and two other girls in a townhouse that my family owns in College Station.