Real Estate Practice Test

Real Estate Property Characteristics, Descriptions & Use Practice Questions

Property Characteristics, Descriptions & Use makes up 7 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest Real Estate practice test. Here are 10 of the 28 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.

Updated 2026-11-10 by the Tigertest team. Weighted to the Pearson VUE national salesperson outline (2025), which matches PSI's. Your state portion is separate.

1. 1. A seller installed a custom chandelier wired into the dining room ceiling. The purchase contract says nothing about it. The chandelier is most likely:

   • A.An emblement the seller may sever
   • B.A fixture that conveys to the buyer
   • C.Personal property the seller may remove
   • D.A trade fixture belonging to the seller

   Answer: B. Permanently wired into the structure, the chandelier meets the attachment and adaptation tests, so it is a fixture and transfers with the real property unless the contract excludes it. Trade fixtures belong only to tenants who install them for a business, not to owners.

2. 2. A restaurant tenant bolted commercial ovens to the kitchen floor for its business. Under the general rule, the ovens are:

   • A.Fixtures that automatically become the landlord's real property
   • B.Real property that conveys with any sale of the building
   • C.Emblements that the tenant may harvest after the lease ends
   • D.Trade fixtures the tenant may remove before the lease ends

   Answer: D. Items a tenant installs for a trade or business are trade fixtures, which remain the tenant's personal property and may be removed before the lease expires, with any damage repaired. Trade fixtures left behind after the lease may become the landlord's property through accession, but they do not belong to the landlord automatically.

3. 3. A tenant farmer planted soybeans, but the lease ended early when the owner died before harvest. The farmer's right to return and harvest the crop is based on:

   • A.Emblements
   • B.Severance
   • C.Prior appropriation
   • D.Accession

   Answer: A. Emblements are annual crops produced by labor, and a tenant whose lease ends through no fault of his own may return to harvest them. Accession is the opposite idea, where items added to land become the landowner's property.

4. 4. A landowner cuts down standing timber on her property and stacks the logs for sale. The logs are now:

   • A.Appurtenances that run with the land
   • B.Real property, through annexation
   • C.Personal property, through severance
   • D.Fixtures, through adaptation to the land

   Answer: C. Standing trees are real property, but cutting them severs them from the land and converts them to personal property. Annexation works in the opposite direction, turning personal property into real property.

5. 5. A buyer and seller agree that the seller's freestanding washer and dryer will be included in the sale. The document best used to transfer them is a:

   • A.General warranty deed
   • B.Abstract of title
   • C.Bill of sale
   • D.Quitclaim deed

   Answer: C. Personal property is transferred with a bill of sale, while deeds transfer real property. Freestanding appliances are not attached to the structure, so they would not pass under the deed.

6. 6. Which of the following would most likely be treated as personal property rather than real property?

   • A.A freestanding refrigerator
   • B.A built-in dishwasher
   • C.A central air conditioning unit
   • D.Wall-to-wall carpeting tacked to the floor

   Answer: A. A freestanding refrigerator can be unplugged and moved without damage, so it is ordinarily personal property. Built-in appliances, HVAC systems and installed carpeting are attached and adapted to the building, making them fixtures.

7. 7. A homeowner buys lumber and uses it to build a deck permanently attached to the house. The lumber became real property by:

   • A.Escheat
   • B.Severance
   • C.Accretion
   • D.Annexation

   Answer: D. Annexation (attachment) converts personal property into real property, as when lumber becomes part of a deck. Accretion is the gradual addition of soil by the action of water, not the attachment of building materials.

8. 8. A seller plans to take a family heirloom chandelier when she moves. To avoid a dispute with buyers, the listing agent should advise her to:

   • A.Mention it only in the agent-only MLS remarks section
   • B.Replace it before showings or exclude it in writing
   • C.Remove it after closing, since she owned it first
   • D.Tell the buyer's agent verbally at the first showing

   Answer: B. A chandelier attached to the ceiling is presumed to be a fixture, so the safest course is to replace it before marketing or exclude it in the listing and the written purchase contract. Verbal statements and private remarks do not change the written contract, which controls what conveys.

9. 9. Because no two parcels of land are exactly alike, a court may order specific performance of a real estate contract. This reflects which characteristic?

   • A.Immobility
   • B.Uniqueness (nonhomogeneity)
   • C.Indestructibility
   • D.Scarcity of supply

   Answer: B. Every parcel has a unique location, so money damages may not be adequate and courts can compel the sale through specific performance. Scarcity is an economic characteristic about limited supply, not the distinctiveness of each parcel.

10. 10. Buyers pay much more for lots in a highly rated school district than for identical lots one mile away. This illustrates:

    • A.Uniqueness
    • B.Permanence of investment
    • C.Indestructibility
    • D.Area preference (situs)

    Answer: D. Area preference, or situs, is the economic characteristic describing people's preference for particular locations, and it is often the biggest driver of value. Uniqueness is a physical characteristic, and here the lots themselves are described as identical.