Real estate law is strictly state law based, and the law in one state may not be the law in a neighboring state. It is also important to remember that there is no such thing as federal real estate law. So our real property law here in the US dates back to before the revolution and independence. When the United States became independent, the states adopted the common law that was in effect in England at the time. So, most of our law dealing with real estate comes from old decisions in old lawsuits, much of it from merry old England. It is important to understand that real property law is really old, and is a creature of law and equity, not statute.

If all of these deed requirements are met, and consideration has been paid and received, then title will be considered transferred to the grantee. Recordation of the deed in the land records is generally presumed to satisfy this requirement And there must be delivery of the deed to the grantee, and acceptance.While this part is not necessary to actually pass the title, it is necessary in order for the deed to be recorded in the land records There must be an acknowledgement by a notary.There must be an execution clause, containing the date, the signature of the grantor, and in some states, the signature of witnesses.There must be words of delivery, such as “to have and to hold”, which describes the estate that is being taken by the grantee.There must be operative words of conveyance, such as “grant, bargain and sell”.There must be some sort of consideration stated.The deed must describe the property to be conveyed, i.e., the legal description.First, the deed must identify the grantor (Seller) and the grantee (Buyer).Most state laws provide that the deed must have the following parts for it to be valid:

Under modern law, the voluntary conveyance of real estate during one’s lifetime must be done by deed, or else the conveyance is void.

Conveyance of real property definition