Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I assume you are the lender and beneficiary of a deed of trust containing a power of sale on this property. You would start by determining whether the entity named as trustee is the right one to do the foreclosure for you. Often, when a loan is made, the lender and the borrower stick in the name of any old title company whose form they happen to be using, or who is handling escrow, as the trustee for the deed of trust. Often, these companies are not your first choice when it comes to lowering the boom on a defaulting trustor/borrower. If not, you would substitute as trustee a company that specializes in foreclosures.

Once you have a suitable trustee in place, one with foreclosure experience, the next steps should be handled by, or in coordination with, the trustee........it is, after all, the trustee who has the legal right, and the practical experience, to file and serve the requisite notices of default and of sale, and to carry out the sale and distribute the proceeds.

So, the first step is to pull out your documentation on the loan, see who the current trustee is, and determine whether it is the one you want to handle this........and you might want to contact it directly to see if they want to do the dirty work for you or would recommend you substitute in a foreclosure specialist.

Whipple gives a good answer. I would just add that you should shop around for a good foreclosure trustee. Ask about rates, but also their record on having to reschedule sales due to errors or irregularities, and if an how many times they have been named in lawsuits to overturn their trustees sales. Don't balk if they have a record. Reschedulings and lawsuits in this area are not uncommon, but if they are not forthcoming about it, you might want to go elsewhere.