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Its pretty easy.

All second loans are recourse.

The first loan is only recourse if you ever refinanced after the initial purchase. If it is the original loan it is non-recourse and you only pay income taxes on the money you are not repaying.

You should check your loan docs you signed at closing. I don't think these loan docs mention recourse or non recourse loans on your residential mortgage. These terms normally have no meaning or relevance in residential mortgage loans.

Recourse and non recourse loans are normally made in commercial transactions.

Say a partnership or corporation would want to purchase an office building. The corporation or partnership is the signer of the mortgage loan. The corporation or partnership would want to have a non recourse commercial mortgage loan.

If for some reason the corporation or partnership failed to make the mortgage payments, then the lender would not be able to attach the assets of the shareholders of the corporation or the partners in a partnership, thus their personal property, cars and homes could not be attached because the corporation or partnership failed in it's obligation.

A recourse loan under the same circumstances the lender would be able to not only go after the collateral signed for in the commercial loan docs, but also the personal property of the partnership or shareholders of the corporation, thus the cars, homes and other personal property would be at risk.

I hope this has been of some benefit to you,good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

The Recourse or Non-Recourse stature of you loan can only be determined by reviewing your mortgage documents. In the state of California the lender is allowed recourse but they must also file a separate complaint in court to sue for the deficiency. Even though California follows the Non-Judicial Process (out-of-court), the right to sue for deficiency is determined by court decision only. 2nd loans are automatically recourse but can be dismissed and the borrower allowed to walk away from the debt if they follow certain steps. If you need any additional information please contact me directly through Yahoo Answers

I've never heard of non-recourse. I think you are asking whether or not your loan would be considered Cash-out or Rate-and-term. If your second was used to buy the house, you can roll both loans into one as a Rate-and-term mortgage. You will be allowed to roll in the closing costs and get up to $1,999 cash back. There is a section on page one of the 1003 (application) that asks "purpose of refinance". It will be stated there.