California’s home-buying process runs on the same broad framework as most states — offer, inspection, financing, title, closing — but two things distinguish it sharply from a lot of the country: closings go through escrow rather than an attorney, and the disclosure regime sellers operate under is genuinely one of the most detailed in the country, written directly into the Civil Code rather than left to custom.
Closings run through escrow, not an attorney
California doesn’t require a real estate attorney at closing. A licensed escrow officer — frequently part of the same title company handling your title search and insurance — holds the earnest money and closing funds neutrally, coordinates document signing between buyer and seller, and manages the recording once every condition in the purchase agreement is satisfied. This is standard practice statewide and covers the overwhelming majority of California residential sales.
Escrow officers are legally required to stay strictly neutral: they can’t advise you on whether to accept an offer, negotiate repairs, or interpret ambiguous contract language — that’s legal work, outside what escrow is licensed to do. For a routine purchase that rarely matters; for a trust or estate sale, a dispute over contract terms, or anything off-market, it’s worth bringing in a real estate attorney even though California doesn’t require one.
The title search and California’s county offices
A title search gets run against the county’s recorded records before closing, confirming the seller holds clear title. California’s structure is conventional: a County Assessor values property, and a County Recorder records deeds and other real-property documents in every county. RefPages’ County Records directory links directly to your specific county’s Assessor and Recorder search tools.
The documentary transfer tax — county, and often city too
California charges a documentary transfer tax on the deed at closing. The base county rate, set by state law, is $0.55 per $500 of the sale price (about 0.11%) — but that’s only the floor. Many California cities impose an additional city transfer tax on top of the county rate, and in some cities (San Francisco and Los Angeles among the most notable) that additional layer is far larger than the base county rate, especially on higher-value sales. Always check both your county’s and your specific city’s rate before assuming the base figure applies. By custom, not by statute, the seller typically pays the transfer tax, though this varies by county and remains negotiable in the purchase contract.
What sellers have to tell you — and it’s a lot, by statute
California’s disclosure regime is genuinely more extensive than most states’, and it’s written into law rather than left to industry custom:
- Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS) — required under Civil Code § 1102 for most residential sales of 1-4 units. The seller has to disclose known facts about the property’s physical condition: its systems, structural issues, known defects, unpermitted work, and other material facts, filled out in the seller’s own knowledge (not an inspector’s).
- Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement (NHD) — required separately under Civil Code § 1103, and specifically maps the property against state and local hazard data: whether it sits in a FEMA flood hazard zone, an Alquist-Priolo earthquake fault zone, a seismic hazard zone, a state-mapped fire hazard severity zone (moderate, high, or very high), or a dam inundation area. This is a real, checkable determination against official hazard maps, not a self-assessment.
Both forms are legally required, not optional customs, and both have to be delivered to the buyer as soon as practicable, which in practice usually means early in escrow alongside the rest of the disclosure package.
Wildfire and earthquake exposure — the risks the NHD is built around
California’s Natural Hazard Disclosure exists precisely because these risks are common enough here to warrant a statewide mapping system most states don’t have. Fire hazard severity zones, mapped by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, directly affect insurance availability and cost — a property in a “Very High” zone can face real difficulty finding standard homeowners coverage. Earthquake fault zones (Alquist-Priolo) and seismic hazard zones similarly affect both insurability and, for some lenders, whether certain structural retrofits or additional insurance are effectively expected. Because the NHD reflects a specific hazard-zone determination as of the report date, it’s worth confirming the report is current and, for anything near a mapped zone boundary, checking the state’s fire hazard severity zone data directly rather than relying solely on the seller’s form.
Permits and follow-up work
If an inspection turns up something needing a permit — an addition, electrical or plumbing work, a retrofit — RefPages’ Building Permit Departments directory links to the relevant city or county permitting office. An unpermitted addition or open permit is also worth asking about directly, since it can affect both the TDS disclosure and future insurability.