The term "real estate" that we use today, is a throw back to Europe and medieval times. The notion of estates in land goes back to feudal times, and an entire body of English law grew around what constituted an estate. A "fee simple" interest is the best possible form of land ownership and that term is still alive and well today. These days, we use the term "real estate" to mean a home or a commercial property. The definition is often blurred, however, by the different types of real property and various forms of real estate ownership.

The easiest way to define real estate is to show what it is not. Anything that can be picked up and be moved is personal property, not real estate. In other words, your front lawn and your backyard would be considered real property, but the above ground pool in your backyard is personal property. Technically, your in-ground pool started out as personal property but became part of the real estate after installation. The rock outcropping on the side of your property is real estate. But if the rain erodes a large slab of stone, it becomes personal property once it is separated. The house is not real property, but the parcel of land it is built on, is. The house and the pool are appurtenances attached to the land, and Browsergames online are made a part of every real estate sales contract, unless specifically excluded. Thus when we think of "real estate" we mean real property and its appurtenances.

Other things also come under the category of real estate. A condominium is real estate, whether it is a townhouse or a penthouse apartment, since it is an interest in land. A purchaser of a condominium is issued a deed and the deed will include a legal description of the unit and a recitation that a fractional percentage in the common areas of the development is also included. A cooperative apartment is not real estate, in the technical sense, since a cooperator does not own his or her apartment. When you purchase a coop, you are purchasing shares of stock in a corporation and you are issued a proprietary lease that corresponds with your shares. The same could be said of a timeshare, although in some timeshares, the owner is actually deeded a fractional percentage of land, as well.