Two documents are of significance to a foreclosure.
The average residential real estate transaction creates nearly two inches of paperwork. In that stack of paper are two documents that are of significance to a foreclosure: the promissory note and the deed of trust or mortgage.
Although most people speak of mortgages, many states use don’t use mortgages at all! In California the Deed of Trust has supplanted the mortgage. Lenders prefer the Deed of Trust because the foreclosure is faster and involves very little court supervision. The differences are explained in the next chapter which covers foreclosure workout solutions.