As used in the Deed of Trust Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

A. "beneficiary" means the person named or otherwise designated in a deed of trust as the person for whose benefit a deed of trust is given or the person's successor in interest;

B. "contract" means an agreement between or among two or more persons, including, without limitation, a note, promissory note, guarantee or the terms of any deed of trust;

C. "credit bid" means a bid made by the beneficiary in full or partial satisfaction of the contract that is secured by the deed of trust. A credit bid may only include an amount owing on a contract with interest secured by liens, mortgages, deeds of trust or encumbrances that are superior in priority to the deed of trust and which liens, mortgages or encumbrances, whether recourse or nonrecourse, are outstanding as provided in the contract or as provided in the deed of trust, together with the amount of other obligations provided in or secured by the deed of trust and the costs of exercising the power of sale and the trustee's sale, including the fees of the trustee and reasonable attorney fees actually incurred by the trustee and the beneficiary;

D. "parent corporation" means a corporation that owns eighty percent or more of each class of the issued and outstanding stock of another corporation or, in the case of a savings and loan association, eighty percent or more of the issued and outstanding guaranty capital of the savings and loan association;

E. "person" means an individual or organization;

F. "deed of trust" means a document by way of mortgage in substance executed in conformity with the Deed of Trust Act and in conformity with Section 47-1-39 NMSA 1978 granting or mortgaging trust real estate to a trustee qualified under the Deed of Trust Act to secure the performance of a contract;

G. "junior encumbrancer" means a person holding a lien, mortgage or other encumbrance of record evidencing an interest in the trust real estate that is subordinate in priority to the deed of trust and includes a lienholder, a mortgagee, a seller and a purchaser as provided in a real estate contract and, where the context is applicable, escrow agents as provided in a real estate contract;

H. "trust real estate" means any legal, equitable, leasehold or other interest in real estate, including the term "real estate" as defined in Section 47-1-1 NMSA 1978 and any improvements and fixtures, which is capable of being transferred whether or not the interest is subject to any prior mortgages, deeds of trust, contracts for conveyance of real estate, real estate contracts or other liens or encumbrances; provided, however, trust real estate shall not include:

(1) any real estate used by the trustor for farming operations, including farming, tillage of the soil, dairy farming, ranching, production or raising of crops, poultry or livestock, and production of poultry or livestock products in an unmanufactured state; or

(2) oil and other liquid hydrocarbons, or gas, including casinghead gas, condensates and other gaseous petroleum substances, or coal or other minerals in, on or under real estate, including patented and unpatented mining claims, unless such minerals have not been severed from and are included with the surface estate.

The character of trust real estate shall be determined as of the date of the deed of trust covering the trust real estate;

I. "trustee" means a person qualified as provided in the Deed of Trust Act. The obligations of a trustee to the trustor, beneficiary and other persons are as provided in the Deed of Trust Act, together with any other obligations specified in the deed of trust. Both the beneficiary and the trustee have all the powers of a mortgagee as provided by law; and

J. "trustor" means the person or the person's successor in interest granting or mortgaging trust real estate by a deed of trust as security for the performance of a contract and is the same as a mortgagor granting or mortgaging real estate by way of mortgage as provided by law.

History: Laws 1987, ch. 61, § 3; 1993, ch. 145, § 2; 1998, ch. 63, § 5; 2006, ch. 32, § 1.

Cross references. — For Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, see 26 U.S.C. § 501.

The 2006 amendment, effective May 17, 2006, deleted former Subsection B, which defined "qualified construction project"; deleted former Subsection C, which defined "qualified nonprofit organization"; deleted the provision in Subsection F (formerly Subsection H), which provided that a deed of trust does not include a deed of trust that encumbers trust real estate located in New Mexico and in one or more other states; deleted former Subsection J, which defined "low income household"; deleted former Subsection K, which defined "low-income housing project"; deleted former Subsection L, which defined "state housing authority"; provided in Subsection H (formerly Subsection M), that real estate includes any improvements and fixtures; and deleted Paragraph (1) of Subsection H (formerly Subsection M), which provided that trust real estate did not include any dwelling and underlying real estate for occupancy by one to four families, including mobile homes and condominiums, except when occupancy is designed for low-income households.

The 1998 amendment, effective July 1, 1998, in Subsection E, substituted "attorney" for "attorneys'" near the end, added Subsection L, and redesignated the following subsections accordingly.

The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, added Subsections B, C, J, and K, redesignating other subsections accordingly; added "except when occupancy is designed for low-income households" to the end of Paragraph (1) of Subsection L; and made stylistic changes in Subsections E, F, H and I.