Real Property, Judicial Foreclosure, Valuing Non-Monetary Obligation Secured by Deed of Trust, 1, 12
When a beneficiary seeks to judicially foreclose a deed of trust that secures a non-monetary obligation, the court must value that obligation in monetary terms to determine the amount that the beneficiary may credit bid at the foreclosure sale. In this case, the secured obligation was to maintain a golf course in a planned development. Though the trial court incorrectly applied a tort measure of damages in valuing that obligation, the value it set also was a proper monetary measure of the value of the secured obligation under a contract measure as what it would cost to have a third party perform the secured obligations. However, the trial court also improperly included a sum for professional management of the golf course for three years. That was not an obligation that the defendant had undertaken or that was secured by the deed of trust. The trial court did not err in decreeing that if the defendant redeemed the property, it would remain subject to the obligation to maintain the golf course since redemption would not be full performance of the secured obligation but only part performance through the date of the foreclosure judgment.