Guides
The deadline mechanics, written out
How the C.A.R. Residential Purchase Agreement actually counts time — what is due when, what happens when a date passes, and why nothing in California removes itself.
Start here
The pillar
The California RPA contingency timeline, day by day
Every contingency deadline in one place — day 3 deposit, day 7 disclosures, the four separate items that all land on day 17, and the loan contingency on 21. Includes a calculator that turns an acceptance date into real dates.
3 · 7 · 17 · 17 · 17 · 17 · 21The California escrow timeline, step by step
Acceptance to recording in about thirty days. Every phase of the transaction, marked by whether the contract governs the date or nothing does — because deals fail more often on the second kind.
~30 days, acceptance to recordingBy contingency
What actually happens if you miss a loan contingency deadline
Less than it feels like. The contingency survives the date, the seller's only move is a notice to perform, and the deposit is not exposed until removal. Includes what the 3% liquidated damages figure really means.
Nothing automatic · NBP gives 2 daysInspection contingency removal, and the clock that keeps running
Removal is active, written, and item by item. The repair negotiation everyone is watching has no response deadline at all — and it does not pause the seventeen days.
Repair requests do not extend anythingHow many days is the appraisal contingency in California?
Seventeen, and separate from the twenty-one-day loan contingency since the 2021 rewrite. What a low appraisal costs, whether to waive, and a calculator for the gap.
17 days · separate from loanThe earnest money deposit timeline
Three days to escrow, measured by funds received. When the deposit is refundable, when it becomes exposed, and why escrow generally cannot release it without both signatures.
3 days · refundable until removalOn accuracy. C.A.R. revises its standard forms twice a year, in June and December, and paragraph numbering moves between revisions. These guides are reviewed against the current form each cycle, and each carries the date it was last checked.
Closight provides deadline reminders, not legal advice. The contract governs, and the dates written into your executed agreement override every default described in these guides.