What is the exam-ready answer?
| Official syllabus topic | Land Characteristics and Legal Descriptions |
|---|---|
| Official PSI area | Property Ownership |
| Published area weight | 10% of the 100-question national portion |
| Exam portion | National salesperson portion |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes the weight for the complete content area, not a fixed question count for this lesson. Learn the rule well enough to apply it when PSI changes names, numbers, or parties in a new scenario.
The lesson
These ideas work together. On the exam, the wrong answers usually describe a nearby concept, so learn where each one stops.
Physical characteristics
Immobility fixes location, indestructibility means land remains even when improvements change, and nonhomogeneity means no two parcels are legally and physically identical.
Economic characteristics
Scarcity, improvements, permanence of investment, and preference for location affect demand and value. Situs is the economic preference for one location over another.
Adequacy
A description must allow the parcel to be located with reasonable certainty. A street address or tax account number may help, but it is not automatically a sufficient legal description.
Three national systems
Metes and bounds follows directions and distances around a parcel. Lot and block refers to a recorded plat. Government survey uses township, range, and section references.
Appurtenances
An appurtenant right belongs to the land and normally transfers with it, such as an easement benefiting the dominant parcel.
Decision rule
Georgia-specific distinction
Worked example
Scenario. A contract describes property only as 214 Oak Street, Atlanta, Georgia, although the seller owns two adjoining tracts using that mailing address.
Reason it through. The address does not show which tract is intended and may not identify one parcel with reasonable certainty.
Answer. Use the deed or recorded-plat legal description and clarify the agreement before treating the description as adequate.
Common exam traps
- Treating situs as a physical trait
- Using a postal address as conclusive
- Confusing a legal description with a survey
- Assuming size alone identifies land
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These questions were written for instruction and mapped to the current outline. They are not copied from PSI or any live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1Two otherwise similar lots sell for different prices only because buyers prefer the schools and neighborhood around one of them. Which economic characteristic of land does this show?
- A. Scarcity
- B. Area preference (situs)
- C. Permanence of investment
- D. Immobility
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. Area preference (situs)
Situs, or area preference, is the economic preference buyers have for one location over another, and it explains the price gap here. Immobility is a physical characteristic: it fixes each lot in place, but the preference for one place over another is economic.
Question 2A deed describes land as "the NE 1/4 of Section 12, Township 3 South, Range 4 West." Which description system is this?
- A. Metes and bounds
- B. Lot and block
- C. Assessor's parcel number
- D. Government survey
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. Government survey
Section, township, and range are the vocabulary of the government, or rectangular, survey system. Metes and bounds runs from a point of beginning through directions and distances, and lot and block cites a lot on a recorded plat.
Question 3A purchase contract describes the property only as "214 Oak Street, Atlanta." The seller owns two adjoining tracts that share that mailing address. What is the main problem with the description?
- A. It does not identify one parcel with reasonable certainty
- B. It leaves out the tax assessment for each tract
- C. It should be written as a government survey description
- D. It needs the square footage of the house to be complete
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. It does not identify one parcel with reasonable certainty
A legal description must let someone locate one parcel with reasonable certainty, and an address shared by two tracts cannot do that. Adding square footage does not fix it, because size alone does not locate land. The deed or recorded-plat description should be used and the agreement clarified.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Explain Land Characteristics and Legal Descriptions in one clear answer without notes.
- Separate Physical characteristics from Economic characteristics using a fresh example.
- Apply the decision rule to a new fact pattern and name the fact that controls the result.
- State the Georgia-specific point or explain why the national rule applies unchanged.
- Answer every practice question and explain the rule each rejected option misapplies.
- Revisit this topic later in mixed practice without category labels.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Metes and Bounds, Bearings, Monuments, and Point of Beginning. Next, metes and bounds takes the first of the three description systems in depth: how a deed runs from a point of beginning through bearings, distances, and monuments and must close, the form many Georgia deeds use.
Return to the Property Ownership hub to see every official branch and the complete lesson sequence for this content area.