The difference in real estate and real property is as follows; Real Estate is property in land and buildings. It consists of the physical land and structures. Real Property consists of the legal interests associated with ownership of the physical real estate.

For example, in 2004, Private property owners Ford and Christina Huntington learned that in 1996 they had built their dream home, located in Skamania County, on their neighbor's property. Their neighbor then proceeded to sue the Huntingtons in hopes of gaining his land back along with his property. However, the case made its way to the Washington Supreme Court, and after a 5-4 vote it was decided that the huntingtons would gain an acre of the neighbor's land. In essence, they were given the better end of the deal. The Supreme Court's logic was to try and ease away from a rigid injunction rule to a more flexible approach of property law.

Private restrictions on ownership can be Covenants, conditions, and restrictions that are encumbrances, which limit the way a property owner can use a property.  They are promises made by a landowner about how the property will or will not be used that are enforceable through a court system.

Quite recently, new California laws were enacted to restrict groundwater use on private land. They passed this new legislation to allow the state to control and regulate the use of water on privately owned land. Citizens, feeling undermined by government control, are ready to take this matter under control to gain back their private property rights.

Public property restrictions stem from the fact that governments create limitations on the ownership of real estate, rising from their powers of taxation, eminent domain, police power, and escheat.

One news article is centered around the topic of eminent domain. UNT is prepared to exercise these powers as it is prepared to take over a local Sack N' Save in Denton, TX.  The UNT board of regents voted to acquire the property to make room for it's growing student housing. A problem arose when the board was willing to offer Fair market value to the owner, however he argued that the property was worth much more. It is safe to say these situations occur many times as the government prepares to exercise this power.

Hello! As per my first blog post,  I would like to welcome you to my blog. Hopefully it is not too boring, however I can't make any guarantees that it won't be!

First and foremost, my name is Elena Pappas and I am a senior finance major (class of 15') from Houston, TX. Apart from spending half of my time here at A&M playing on the women's club soccer team and practicing more than my body can handle, I enjoy a variety of things, one including beating UT at club soccer regionals for the first time in 5 years. For time's sake, however, I will revert back to what I was talking about.

I am extremely competitive when it comes to athletics. Not only do I enjoy soccer, but I love playing basketball as well as swimming. Since my father never had any boys to raise, my sisters and I were practically forced to learn how to shoot the basketball correctly. Sporting events are always fun for me. Nothing is better than watching a tied college basketball game in the fourth quarter with 20 seconds on the clock, especially when the seats are first row.
In addition to athletics, I have a deep connection to my Greek roots. If you ever meet someone who is 100 percent Greek they will tell you, nothing is better than embracing your culture. I take pride in  dancing in the Greek Festival in Houston with my friends, no matter how foolish it may sound!
I love movies, especially quoting them. My friends can vouch for me on that one. I am always the one to remember the most random move lines and insert them into everyday life scenarios. No matter how disappointing it is when the other person doesn't know the quote, I still get a kick out of doing it.

Just from being in this class a week now, I can already tell that I am going to learn a lot of information totally foreign to anything I have learned in the past, something I deem as very vital to courses taken in college. I genuinely hope to get a good knowledge of the practical aspects that are associated with real estate and use that knowledge to help me make better decisions now and later in life. I plan to attend law school after graduation, so I also feel as if this information is applicable in some ways to things I am going to learn in graduate school!

As of now, my mind will not be at ease until the LSAT is over on September 27th. Getting in to law school is everything to me right now, and I can only hope that the test goes well.  My short term goal would definitely have to be to get the highest score that I can. I hope to be transactional attorney in the future once I am done with school.

I can speak Greek! My family and I travel to Greece every other summer to stay at the summer house we have next to the Ocean. Last summer we went on a weeklong sailing trip around the Ionian Sea, which was amazing to be given the opportunity to not only learn how to sail, but also view some breathtaking scenery. On one of the islands we made port at was the Island of Scorpios, which is Onasis's island, one of the wealthiest men in the world at a point in time. Not to mention he also was married to Jackie Kennedy.

My bucket list gets longer everyday. Off the top of my head though, I'd love to be given the opportunity to attend the Olympics and the Fifa world cup. I hope to have traveled to every state. I would kill to see the grand canyon. I want to vacation in florence and eat enough spaghetti to last me a lifetime.

Here are links to some of my favorite sites!

http://www.ebaumsworld.com
http://www.buzzfeed.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com


This architectural structure is one of my favorites. The Parthenon, one of the seven wonders of the world, is a temple that sits majestically atop the Athenian Acropolis. Devoted to the Goddess Athena (the patron Saint of Athens), the parthenon is the most important surviving building from Classical Greece and also a symbol of Ancient Democracy. It gathers tourists worldwide that come see the ancient structure built around 447 BC. It's ornate Doric columns are sheer architectural beauty. That being said, my absolute favorite part of the Parthenon has to be the the view atop the hill, where you can gaze out and see the whole city of Athens sprawled out in front of you..



From left to right:
My god sister Noelle, my sister Lexi, Me, and my sister Demi