California’s chattel mortgage law is such that at least on most purchase money first and seconds, there is no recourse. The lender does not need to go to court to foreclose, and cannot seize any property other than the real property secured by the trust deed. The exception is fraud.
If the borrower lied, deceived etc, the lender may come after personal assets. Plus many non-purchase money seconds, HELOC etc. do carry the risk of recourse beyond the underlying asset. Although these are secured by property, they also carry a personal liability on the part of the borrower. The loan was for a car or boat and for tax purposes was secured by real property and carries additional liability.
