580b. No deficiency judgment shall lie in any event after a sale ofreal property or an estate for years therein for failure of thepurchaser to complete his or her contract of sale, or under a deed oftrust or mortgage given to the vendor to secure payment of thebalance of the purchase price of that real property or estate foryears therein, or under a deed of trust or mortgage on a dwelling fornot more than four families given to a lender to secure repayment of a loan which was in fact used to pay all or part of the purchase price of that dwelling occupied, entirely or in part, by thepurchaser. Where both a chattel mortgage and a deed of trust or mortgage havebeen given to secure payment of the balance of the combined purchaseprice of both real and personal property, no deficiency judgmentshall lie at any time under any one thereof if no deficiency judgmentwould lie under the deed of trust or mortgage on the real propertyor estate for years therein.
I am not a lawyer but here is what I beleive this means (disclaimer out of the way). The lender has 2 choices of foreclosing. A trustee sale which is their one action and takes away their right to pursue a deficiency judgement. A judicial foreclosure which retains their right to pursue a deficiency judgement but takes much longer, creates a long right of redemption (i.e. they have to give the former owner at least one year to buy it back), is expensive and still leaves the uncertainty of ever collecting the debt. Judicial foreclosures are exceeding rare in CA.
So all 1st mortgages are essentially non-recourse in CA whether they are purchase money or cash out refi’s. The junior lienholders (2nds, 3rds etc.) who are sold out (i.e. receive nothing on foreclosure) have a right to pursue if its not purchase money.
