Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

No, like anything else, real property can be made a gift. For an enforceable contract to transfer real property to be formed there must be consideration, among other things. But there does not have to be consideration for a gratuitous transfer.

I agree with Mr. McCormick. Real property can be given to others, without consideration. That's usually how people inherit.

But beware that if you do not designate as a gift, if the IRS feels it is not an honest transfer but done to evade taxes, so not "at arm's length", it can treat it as a sale and impute income to you for the transaction. So if you give a relative some real property and claim no payment to you, the IRS can say, if they catch the transaction, that you received the full market value of the property. When title is recorded, the county Assessor's Office will insist that you pay some transfer fee for you to record and the property will be reassessed.

Note that a contract to buy or sell real property is a different kind of animal from a transfer (conveyance) of the property. Contracts require consideration, conveyances don't.

A lot of old gift deeds (1950 and before) will recite something like "in consideration of love and affection" or words to that effect, perhaps giving the impression that love and affection is valid legal consideration, or that the drafters of those old deeds thought so. Actually, the words are unnecessary, and love and affection probably aren't consideration, either.

In addition to the IRS and county transfer tax issues Mr. Shers notes, giving property as a gift during the lifetime of the donor will result in a possible gift tax and future unfavorable capital gains taxes when the donee sells. Discuss this with a tax advisor. It is usually better to inherit than receive as an inter vivos gift. Also, gifts of real property are subject to scrutiny by creditors of the grantor for whiffs of fraud.