Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

It depends

You could owe what is called a deficiency balance in the following situations:

You have more than one loan secured by your house and the at least one loan was not obtained at the time of purchase.

Your house has been refinanced.

The house is investment property

Often, a homeowner will not be liable for an amount due after the foreclosure sale of his or her home. However, there are important exceptions to this rule. If a second loan secured by the property was obtained at a date after the original purchase, the homeowner could be liable to the holder of the second note. Also, if a homeowner has refinanced his or her home, the homeowner could be liable for a partial deficiency. Likewise, if the property is not the residence of the borrower, then the borrower could be liable to a non-foreclosing note-holder after the foreclosure sale.