Recording Day in SF: When You Actually Get the Keys

You get the keys when the SF Assessor-Recorder records your grant deed and escrow confirms it, not when you sign. In California those are different days: you sign with a notary, the lender funds a day or so later, and the deed records the business day after funding, usually in the afternoon. Here is the sequence, what can push it a day, how possession works in your contract, and what to do in the first 48 hours.

Signing, funding, recording: three different days

A California escrow closes by recording, not at a closing table. The three events, in order:

Close of escrow is the recording date. That is the date on your deed, the date property taxes prorate to, and the date that starts a seller rent-back. Final walkthrough, signing and funding covers the days before this; this article starts the moment the lender wires.

The sequence on recording day

Once the lender funds, escrow balances the file and authorizes title to release the documents. Title delivers them to the Assessor-Recorder at City Hall in a batch with its other closings. The Recorder examines each document, assigns a document number and records it. Confirmation goes back to title, then escrow, then both agents, and your agent releases the keys.

The Recorder only records on business days during its recording hours; as of 2026-10-25 in-person recording runs 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and documents left in its drop box are recorded within about 24 hours if acceptable, so check current hours. Documents that miss the day's cutoff record the next business day, which is why a Friday funding often means Monday keys and why a mid-week city holiday matters. Ask your escrow officer on signing day for the expected recording window.

Why SF closings are afternoon, and why movers at 9 a.m. is a mistake

Every step above is a handoff between offices each processing many files. Confirmation commonly reaches your agent early to mid-afternoon, later at month-end. A truck booked for 9 a.m. on recording day sits on the curb at your expense, or worse, the seller's belongings are still inside because the seller planned around the same afternoon.

Book movers for the day after recording. If you must move on recording day, book an afternoon slot, confirm at the walkthrough that the seller is out, and have a plan for a one-day slip.

Possession terms in your contract

Your purchase agreement sets when you may take possession. The standard C.A.R. purchase agreement and its addenda handle it in broadly three ways; read your form's possession paragraph for the exact wording:

• At close of escrow. The default. Possession is due the day the deed records, at the hour printed in your contract's possession paragraph, so read the exact time rather than assuming midnight or noon.
• A fixed number of days after close. Sometimes negotiated to give the seller a weekend, usually free. Everything about a rent-back applies to these days too, including insurance and risk of loss.
• A seller rent-back. The seller stays for an agreed period after recording under the Seller in Possession addendum, which C.A.R. intends for occupancy of less than 30 days, or the Residential Lease After Sale form for 30 days or longer. Seller rent-backs in SF covers the terms you need.

If the seller is not out at the hour your contract names and there is no rent-back, the seller is in breach. Call your agent, document it, and do not hand over anything or sign anything new until a written agreement with a daily charge and a deposit exists.

What can slip the day

• Prior-to-funding conditions. The lender re-verifies employment by phone within 10 business days before the note date, refreshes credit, and checks the insurance binder and HOA letter. An unanswered HR line or a binder naming the wrong lender address pushes funding a day.
• Wire timing. Your closing funds must be in escrow before the lender funds, and wires sent after your bank's cutoff land the next day. Send the day before signing if escrow allows, and verify instructions by phone on a number you found yourself; reread the CFPB's closing-scam guidance that week.
• Recorder cutoff. Funding late in the day means the deed misses that day's run and records the next business day.
• Holidays and month-end. City holidays close the Recorder. The last business days of a month are the busiest, so confirmations come later.
• A document problem. A misspelled name or a missing notary acknowledgment gets rejected by the Recorder and re-signed. Check names and vesting at signing.

Key handoff and documenting condition

Agree the handoff in advance: a lockbox code by text, keys at the listing office, or the listing agent at the door. Collect everything the walkthrough identified and get a written list:

• Every door key, including the mailbox, garage side door, storage locker and any interior locks
• Garage remotes and the opener's reset instructions
• HOA fobs, gate cards, parking assignment and bike-room access, in writing from the HOA or management company
• Alarm codes, Wi-Fi equipment that stays, thermostat and appliance manuals, warranty paperwork
• Paint cans, spare tile and any contractor contacts the seller offers

Walk the empty home before anything comes in. Photograph every room, floors, walls and cabinet interiors, and note anything that differs from the walkthrough. If the seller left debris, took a fixture or caused damage moving out, your agent raises it with the listing agent the same day; a holdback or credit is far easier to get in the first 24 hours than a month later.

The first 48 hours

• Locks and codes. Rekey every exterior cylinder, change garage, gate and alarm codes, and ask the HOA to deactivate unreturned fobs. See the shop note below.
• Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Test them. California requires carbon monoxide devices in homes with fuel-burning appliances, fireplaces or attached garages, and the seller's disclosure of compliance is not the same as a working battery.
• Shutoffs. Find and label the main water shutoff, the gas valve and the electrical panel; in an old SF house the water shutoff may be in the garage or under the front stairs.
• Meters. Photograph the gas, electric and water meter readings on day one so any dispute about a final or first bill is easy. Setting up PG&E, water and garbage explains which accounts start on which date.
• Photos. Keep the empty-house photos with your closing package.
• Listen and look. Run every faucet and appliance once and check under sinks after an hour; a leak found on day two is easier to attribute than one found after the kitchen is unpacked.

What to shop for right now

A rekey is the only purchase on recording day. Quotes are similar from one locksmith to the next, and as of 2026-10-24 rekeying a few exterior doors is a modest cost compared with replacing hardware. Call two locksmiths before closing so one can come the day you get keys; smart-lock installs vary more and can wait a week. The saving is low; the value is not sleeping behind locks a dozen strangers have keys to.

First payment, impounds and when the deed arrives

Your first mortgage payment is normally due on the first of the second month after funding. Interest is paid in arrears, and the prepaid interest on your Closing Disclosure covered the rest of the funding month, so a late-October funding puts the first payment on December 1. The exact date is on the first payment letter in your signing package. If you have an impound account, federal rules cap the cushion at two months and your taxes and insurance are paid from it; the supplemental property tax bill that follows a sale is not, so set that money aside. SF's secured installments are due November 1 and February 1, and the Assessor's supplemental notice usually arrives months after recording.

The Recorder returns the original recorded deed by mail to the address on the document, generally several weeks after closing, and the title company mails your owner's policy separately. Both go in the home file described in what to keep forever and who to notify, and ignore the official-looking letters offering to sell you a copy of your own deed.