Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Not if you were also the trustor who was foreclosed on. A trustor who executes a deed of trust to secure a loan, and then is requested to sign a separate guarantee to evade the anti-deficiency statutes, signs a sham guarantee.

Only a true guarantor can be sued. A true guarantor is one who is not already liable on the gauranteed obligation. This is a question of fact whether a person is a "true guarantor" or a principal obligor "in a guarantor's disguise." (River Bank America v. Diller (1995) 38 Cal.App.4th 1400, 1422.)

With that said, a true guarantor cannot be sued for a deficiency after a nonjudicial foreclosure unless that guarantor signed what is known as a valid "Gradsky" waiver.

I agree with Mr. Roach. You are not a guarantor if you were the borrower. However, on the matter of the Gradsky waiver, almost any bank asking for a personal guarantee would include the waiver language in the guarantee.