Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

That depends on the terms of your security instrument and the note. If you have a note and no security, then you may or may not have a vendors lien if you took the note as payment or partial payment for selling the property to the maker of the note. If the note was not for purchase and you have no security instrument, you can only take real property after suing on the note and obtaining a judgment, then recording an abstract of judgment, then seeking a writ of execution to have the property sold to pay the judgment.

You need to post with more information. It is not clear what the loan was for, and whether or not it was secured with a mortgage or deed of trust.