Topic #2 - Property Rights and Legal Descriptions 9/16

What are property rights? ? How do they apply to our daily lives? Are there things to watch out for? What are legal descriptions?

This link provides some info on property rights:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_rights_(economics)

Property rights are given to the owner of a certain entity which gives them rights on how that entity is used.

They can include:
The right to use the good
The right to earn income from the good
The right to transfer the good to others
The right to enforcement of property rights.


An example of a property right would be a home owner who owns the land, as well as the air above the home. He/she may also own the mineral right underneath the home.

Property rights affect our daily lives in many ways. One being that it is illegal to be on someone else's property without permission. Unfortunetly we cannot freely roam this world. We must have permission from the owner of the entity that has the rights.

Things to watch out for when dealing with property rights include knowing all you can and reading the terms. For example, when buying a house. One may not put on the sales contract that the buyer is entitled to mineral rights. In that case, the buyer cannot object to the owner mineral rights even though they have the house above it. So it is very important to understand property rights.

Here is a link giving more detail of legal descriptions:

http://homebuying.about.com/od/glossaryl/g/Legal-Description.htm"

A legal description will define exactly where a property is located unlike a street address. Sometimes physical locations and legal descriptions dont always match up.