A reporter recently asked me why anyone outside a law school classroom should care about the difference between real and personal property. The label helps determine how an asset is taxed, how title passes, and which state's law and courts reach it. Real property passes under the law of the state where it sits; personal property passes under the law of the owner's domicile, which is why one family can end up with two probates.
The surprises are a New York co-op, which is personal property even though it feels like a home, and a rental building in an LLC, where the owner holds a membership interest rather than land. The costly shortcut is deeding a low-basis house to a child, who takes the parent's basis and faces a capital gain that an inheritance would have erased.
The full piece, including how each type is taxed and transferred, is at turnipseed.law.
