When a written instrument affecting title to real property is entered into the book of public records in the county where the real property is located. Instruments that may be recorded against real property can include:

Each county has a public recorder's office. However, the recorder's office may be referred to by different names depending on the particular county. For example, the county recording office can be known as one of the following:

To record an instrument, it must be drafted and executed in conformity with the recording statutes of the state where the real estate is located. Recording provides constructive notice to third parties of all the various interests affecting title to the real property. However, not all parties with interests in real property record their interests. For example, a tenant with a lease in a multi-tenant building is most likely expressly prohibited from recording its memorandum of lease.

Recording statutes also give legal priority to those interests that are recorded first. Generally, recording creates a hierarchy of interests against the real property with priority determined by the order in which the instruments creating the interest are recorded. Except for certain super liens, which automatically take first priority, the order of recorded priority is not disturbed unless there is an instrument that expressly subordinates or releases the instrument and the interest created by the previously recorded instrument.