Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You become the owner of record when the deed is recorded. Technically you become the legal owner when the deed is delivered. I believe that delivery of the deed into escrow and all the terms of the escrow being satisfied constitutes delivery of the deed to your agent, the escrow company, for your benefit. So I would say that is when you become the owner. Generally the deed records within hours of the escrow being complete, however, so unless something extremely unlikely, such as an uninsured fire, occurred between satisfaction of all the terms of the escrow and recording of the deed, the distinction should not matter and you can treat the recording as the time you became the legal owner. Furthermore, delivery of the deed without recording, even though it completes transfer of title as between you and the grantor and anyone with actual notice that the deed was delivered, is not effective as to anyone who relies on the public record before the deed is recorded. So that few hours difference between technical delivery of the deed and recording of the deed by your escrow agent is of little relevance except in extremely unlikely circumstances.

You become the legal owner when a properly-executed deed is delivered to you (or to your agent) and accepted by you (or your agent).

California has a statute (Civil Code section 1662) covering who is responsible for losses between the time a contract of sale is executed and when the closing and transfer of ownership occurs, if this is not covered in the sale agreement itself. . This was needed because of a concept known as "equitable conversion" whereby equitable or beneficial ownership was held to vest in the vendee upon execution of an unconditional contract of sale notwithstanding that a deed hadn't yet been delivered.

If a loss issue underlies your question, review the sale agreement first, then apply CC 1662, which generally makes the party then in possession responsible for losses.

You become the owner of the property when the deed is delivered. If you are using an escrow, the deed is delivered when escrow closes. A deed deposited into escrow does not pass title until the conditions of the escrow are met. No title passes until there has been a full performance of the terms of the escrow agreement. While the escrow is pending, the grantor retains title to the deed and to the property. (Henry v. Pesoli (1895) 109 Cal. 53, 58-59.)

Recording does create a presumption of delivery, but in the case of an escrow, this item of proof is unnecessary. Recording is necessary to put the world on constructive notice.