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New Mexico

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New Mexico — Real Estate Contract / Installment Land Contract

Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the cited primary sources before acting. Statutes in this area are frequently amended. Last verified: 2026-06-08.

New Mexico is a common-law forfeiture state. Unlike Texas or Minnesota, the Legislature has never enacted a statutory installment-land-contract scheme: a 2011 bill that would have created a “Real Estate Installment Contract Act” — with a 20%-principal / 60-payment forfeiture bar, a 60-day cure right, mandatory disclosures, and a recording duty — died in committee (S.B. 320, 2011 Reg. Sess., action postponed indefinitely / “Died (API)”). A renewed 2023 attempt (a “Real Estate Contract Act,” S.B. 449, 2023 Reg. Sess. — 30-day recording duty, 30-day cure, mortgage-balance restrictions, recording-failure penalties) also died in committee (postponed indefinitely; no chapter assigned). Operators must not rely on either bill; neither is law. New Mexico’s real estate contract (“REC”) is instead governed by common-law contract and equity doctrine built up across six decades of Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions. The defining feature: forfeiture is a self-help remedy effected through escrow — on uncured default the seller files an affidavit of default and records the pre-signed special warranty deed held in escrow, reconveying title, with no judicial foreclosure required — but a court will refuse to enforce the forfeiture where it “shocks the conscience” of the court under a four-factor equitable test (Eiferle, Russell, Huckins, Buckingham). The seller may alternatively sue on the debt and judicially foreclose (with a deficiency), but the two paths are mutually exclusive — election of remedies bars combining them (Graham v. Stoneham; Armstrong v. Csurilla). See forfeiture-vs-foreclosure.

0. Identity & Terminology

  • In-state name(s): “real estate contract” (REC) is the dominant New Mexico term of art; also “contract for deed,” “installment land contract,” “land contract,” and (in form-book usage) “agreement or contract for deed for sale and purchase of real estate.” New Mexico courts uniformly call the instrument a “real estate contract.” See Buckingham v. Ryan, 1998-NMCA-012, ¶¶ 1–7, 124 N.M. 498, 953 P.2d 33 (buckingham-v-ryan-1998).
  • Recognition: common law (judge-made contract/equity doctrine). There is no CFD-specific statute. The buyer’s interest arises by the common-law doctrine of equitable-conversion; the proposed statutory overlay (S.B. 320, 2011) failed.
  • Statutory home: None specific to RECs. Cross-cutting statutes that bear on RECs: recording — NMSA 1978, §§ 14-9-1, 14-9-3 (Chapter 14, Art. 9, Records Affecting Real Property); judicial foreclosure & redemption — NMSA 1978, §§ 39-5-1 to 39-5-23 (esp. § 39-5-18 / § 39-5-19, redemption); usury/interest — NMSA 1978, Ch. 56, Art. 8 (§§ 56-8-1 to 56-8-30); specific performance venue — § 42-7-1. The dead bill text is at https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/11%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0320.html.
  • Remedy regime: strict_forfeiture (common-law, equity-tempered). Forfeiture clauses in this type of REC are enforceable as written, absent unfairness which shocks the conscience of the court: “The rule is well settled in New Mexico that the forfeiture provision in this type of real estate contract is enforceable …, absent unfairness which shocks the conscience of the court.” Russell v. Richards, 103 N.M. 48, 50, 702 P.2d 993, 995 (1985) (russell-v-richards-1985). New Mexico therefore has not adopted the Skendzel “treat-as-mortgage” rule (skendzel-v-marshall-1973); instead it retains forfeiture subject to a case-by-case equitable “shock the conscience” override. There is no bright-line substantial-equity bar — the equity inquiry is multifactor and discretionary. See forfeiture-vs-foreclosure.

1. Formation & Mandatory Disclosures

  • Statute of frauds: Writing required. A contract for the sale of an interest in land must be in writing to be enforceable; New Mexico follows the general statute of frauds for real property. (No CFD-specific writing statute; see also the parol/oral- modification discussion in In re McCune citing Medina v. Sunstate Realty and Cheng v. Rabey, 2023-NMCA-013.) (Exact NMSA statute-of-frauds section flagged in needs_verification — primary text not retrieved this run.)
  • Mandatory disclosures: NONE statutorily required for an REC as such. New Mexico has no installment-contract disclosure statute. The disclosure package proposed by S.B. 320 (survey/plat, services availability, assessor valuation, insurance evidence, 7-day pre-signing delivery) never became law (https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/11%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0320.html). The general real-estate disclosure article (NMSA 1978, Ch. 47, Art. 13, “Real Estate Disclosure”) is captioned § 47-13-2 — “Disclosure of information not required in real estate transactions” (verified): a seller, lessor, landlord, or agent generally has no duty to disclose and is not liable for failure to disclose to a person who acquires an interest in the property, except for the narrow categories where § 47-13-4 affirmatively requires disclosure. There is no installment-contract- specific disclosure statute. Common-law fraud/misrepresentation and the Unfair Practices Act (NMSA 1978, §§ 57-12-1 et seq.) remain available to a defrauded buyer (the buyer in Buckingham pleaded UPA and unconscionable-trade-practice theories). Penalty for omission: there is no per-statute REC disclosure penalty; remedies are common-law rescission/damages or UPA relief. (Exact verbatim § 47-13-2 / § 47-13-4 / UPA § 57-12- body text flagged in needs_verification — titles and substance verified via the NM statutes index; full verbatim text not separately fetched this run.)*
  • Recording requirement: permissive, NO deadline. New Mexico imposes no statutory deadline to record an REC (the 30-day recording duty existed only in the dead bills S.B. 320 (2011) and S.B. 449 (2023), both of which failed). Recording is governed by the general notice recording act: instruments affecting title are recorded in the county clerk’s office to impart constructive notice (§ 14-9-2), and an unrecorded instrument does not affect the rights of a “purchaser, mortgagee in good faith or judgment lien creditor, without knowledge of the existence of such unrecorded instruments” — and, notably, possession under an unrecorded executory real estate contract does not by itself impute knowledge to such a party. NMSA 1978, § 14-9-1 (instruments affecting real estate; recording), § 14-9-2 (constructive notice of contents), and § 14-9-3 (effect of unrecorded instruments) (verified). Who records: either party may; in practice the buyer records the REC (or a memorandum/notice of interest) to protect priority.
  • Annual accounting statement: NOT required by statute. No New Mexico statute compels a periodic REC accounting (the S.B. 320 accounting-statement duty failed). Accounting is contract-governed; the escrow agent typically tracks the running balance.
  • Prepayment: Contract-governed; no statutory prepayment-penalty bar for RECs (the S.B. 320 prohibition on prepayment penalties failed). A prepayment penalty is enforceable only if the contract provides for one.
  • Usury / interest cap applicable to RECs: New Mexico’s general interest/usury law is NMSA 1978, Ch. 56, Art. 8. The statutory rate “in the absence of a written contract fixing a different rate” is not more than fifteen percent annually, and parties may set a different rate by written contract — NMSA 1978, § 56-8-3 (verified). A written REC’s stated rate therefore generally controls. The maximum-rate framework of §§ 56-8-1 through 56-8-21 still applies as a backstop (§ 56-8-9, “excessive charges prohibited; applicability of maximum rates,” with exceptions for business-entity debtors and large commercial loans; § 56-8-13 usury penalty), so a written REC rate is not literally unlimited. (Former § 56-8-11 — once an agreed-rate provision — was repealed, Laws 1981, ch. 263, § 4; it is no longer authority.) (Precise current agreed-rate ceiling applicable to seller-carried residential paper — i.e., whether any maximum survives § 56-8-3’s written-rate carve-out — flagged in needs_verification.)

2. Buyer’s Equitable Interest

  • Equitable title passes — yes. “Under New Mexico law, the buyer of real property under a real estate contract acquires an equitable interest in the property and is treated as the owner of the property with equitable title while the real estate contract is in place, while the seller maintains bare legal title.” In re McCune, No. 20-12326-j7, Mem. Op. at 25 (Bankr. D.N.M. Apr. 5, 2024) (in-re-mccune-2024), quoting State v. Earp, 2014-NMCA-059, ¶ 6, 326 P.3d 491, 493 (“It has long been established by New Mexico courts that, under a real estate contract, a purchaser acquires an equitable interest in the property and is treated as the owner of the land.”). State v. Earp, 2014-NMCA-059, 326 P.3d 491, was independently verified (Ct. App. — REC buyer holds equitable title and is an “owner,” so cannot be charged with embezzling or criminally damaging the property). This is classic equitable conversion — see equitable-conversion.
  • Risk of loss / enhancement: “During the life of the real estate contract any risk of loss or enhancement in value accrues to the purchaser.” MGIC Mortgage Corp. v. Bowen, 91 N.M. 200, 202, 572 P.2d 547, 549 (1977) (mgic-mortgage-corp-v-bowen-1977). Consequence on default: “Upon default and forfeiture, the buyer’s interest is terminated and there is no enhancement value to be recovered by the buyer.” Russell, 103 N.M. at 50, 702 P.2d at 995. Risk of loss is thus buyer-borne (subject to contract terms).
  • Recordable / insurable: The buyer’s equitable interest is recordable under § 14-9-1 (record the REC or a memorandum) and is insurable; title companies issue owner’s policies and, in standard New Mexico practice, the warranty deed (to buyer at payoff) and a special warranty deed (back to seller on default) are deposited with an escrow agent.

3. Default & Remedies → see forfeiture-vs-foreclosure

  • Primary remedy: forfeiture by escrow (self-help), at the seller’s election. On an uncured default the seller withdraws the escrowed instruments, files an affidavit of default and forfeiture, and records the special warranty deed reconveying title to the seller — terminating all of the buyer’s rights and retaining payments made as liquidated damages, without any judicial proceeding. Eiferle v. Toppino, 90 N.M. 469, 565 P.2d 340 (1977) (describing exactly this escrow-deed forfeiture mechanism) (eiferle-v-toppino-1977).
  • Forfeiture available? Yes — subject to the equitable “shock the conscience” override. “Forfeiture provisions of this type are generally enforceable in New Mexico. The literal terms … however, will not be enforced when to do so would result in an unwarranted forfeiture or in unfairness which would shock the conscience of the court.” Buckingham, 1998-NMCA-012, ¶ 7, 124 N.M. 498, 953 P.2d 33. No bright-line substantial-equity bar exists; whether forfeiture is allowed is “a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court” (id. ¶ 8, quoting Albuquerque Nat’l Bank v. Albuquerque Ranch Estates, 99 N.M. 95, 654 P.2d 548 (1982)).
    • The four-factor “shock the conscience” test (Russell, 103 N.M. at 50; applied in Buckingham ¶ 7): (1) the amount of money already paid by the buyer to the seller; (2) the period of the buyer’s possession; (3) the market value at default compared to the original sale price; and (4) the rental potential and value of the property. Forfeiture was refused (shocked the conscience) in Huckins v. Ritter, 99 N.M. 560, 661 P.2d 52 (1983) (down payment ≈ one-third of price + short possession) (huckins-v-ritter-1983) and in Eiferle (premature default demand); forfeiture was enforced in Manzano Industries v. Mathis, 101 N.M. 104, 678 P.2d 1179 (1984) (manzano-industries-v-mathis-1984), Russell (six years’ possession, rental profit, prior cured defaults), and Buckingham (property deteriorated; buyer collected rent; large down payment alone does not shock the conscience).
  • Cure period / notice: No statutory cure period or prescribed notice form. Cure rights and default-notice mechanics are contract-governed — typical New Mexico RECs prescribe a default notice mailed to the buyer and a stated cure window (e.g., 30–90 days; the contract in Armstrong v. Csurilla used a 90-day cure after mailing of the default notice). A seller who makes a premature demand before the contractual cure window expires acts “of no effect” and may forfeit the forfeiture (Eiferle; Buckingham ¶ 13 distinguishing Eiferle).
  • Judicial foreclosure required when: Never required for forfeiture — forfeiture is self-help via escrow. Judicial foreclosure is the alternative path the seller may elect instead: sue on the debt, reduce it to judgment, file a transcript of judgment to create a lien, and foreclose that lien (NMSA 1978, §§ 39-5-1 et seq.), yielding a judicial sale and potentially a deficiency judgment. Armstrong v. Csurilla, 112 N.M. 579, 817 P.2d 1221 (1991) (affirming a foreclosure decree and deficiency judgment on suit upon RECs) (armstrong-v-csurilla-1991).
  • Acceleration: Enforceable where the contract so provides; the standard New Mexico REC gives the seller the option, on uncured default, to either accelerate the whole balance and sue or terminate the buyer’s rights and retain payments as liquidated damages (Armstrong ¶ on the contract clause; Buckingham ¶ 17). These are alternative, not cumulative.
  • Restitution offset on forfeiture: none. On a valid (non-shock-the-conscience) forfeiture the buyer recovers nothing — no return of payments and no enhancement value (Russell, 103 N.M. at 50). Where forfeiture is refused as unconscionable, the court fashions equitable relief (but may not simply hand the buyer the enhancement value of the property — Russell reversed a damages award that did so).
  • Seller’s other remedies: suit on the debt / acceleration; judicial foreclosure with deficiency; specific performance (compelling payment); damages — each subject to election of remedies (below).

▸ For Sellers / Operators — New Mexico is one of the more forfeiture-friendly CFD states: there is no installment-contract statute, no mandatory disclosures, no statutory cure period, and no recording deadline, and forfeiture is self-help through escrow (affidavit of default + recording the escrowed special warranty deed) — no foreclosure needed. Two things will still defeat you. (1) The shock-the-conscience override (§3): if the buyer has paid a lot, held possession long, or the property has appreciated and the buyer has little rental benefit, a court can refuse the forfeiture (Huckins, Eiferle). Build a clean default-notice/cure record and never make a premature demand before the contractual cure window runs (Eiferle). (2) Election of remedies (§3b): once you declare forfeiture and repossess, you cannot also sue for the deficiency or contract damages — and vice versa (Graham v. Stoneham; Buckingham reversed exactly that double recovery). Pick forfeiture or suit-on-the-debt/foreclosure; you do not get both. Record the REC for priority (§14-9-1), and assess Garn-St. Germain due-on-sale and Dodd-Frank/SAFE volume exposure (§§4–5) before you wrap or sell at scale.

▸ For Buyers — Your protections are equitable, not statutory: you hold equitable title and are treated as the owner (Earp, McCune), and a court can refuse a forfeiture that shocks its conscience weighing what you paid, how long you held, appreciation, and rental value (Russell/Buckingham four factors). But the baseline is harsh — on a valid forfeiture you lose your payments and any equity (Russell) — so record your REC and cure within the contractual window before a default notice ripens.

3b. Remedies — Advanced

  • Election of remedies — the central advanced doctrine. “At common law, when a buyer defaults on a contract for the sale of land, and the seller repossesses the property, this ‘constitutes an election of remedies and amounts to a rescission of the contract, precluding further recovery from the buyer.‘” Buckingham, 1998-NMCA-012, ¶ 18, quoting Graham v. Stoneham, 73 N.M. 382, 385, 388 P.2d 389, 391 (1963) (graham-v-stoneham-1963); accord Armstrong v. Csurilla, 112 N.M. 579, 586, 817 P.2d 1221, 1228 (1991). The converse also holds: a seller who sues for the unpaid balance is precluded from thereafter repossessing (Armstrong ¶ 29). Buckingham reversed a judgment that let the seller both keep the forfeited down payment and recover breach-of-contract damages (¶¶ 17–19).
  • Deficiency: No deficiency on forfeiture (forfeiture rescinds; seller keeps the property + retained payments and recovers nothing more). A deficiency judgment IS available on the foreclosure path — Armstrong v. Csurilla affirmed a deficiency after a judicial sale on suit upon the RECs, subject to the court’s power to refuse to confirm a sale whose price “shocks the conscience” (a separate, sale-price doctrine).
  • Equitable relief from forfeiture: Courts grant it under the four-factor shock-the-conscience standard (Huckins, Eiferle); “equity abhors a forfeiture” (Armstrong ¶ 86), but “not every case of default … presents circumstances which shock the conscience” (Russell, 103 N.M. at 50).
  • Ejectment vs. eviction path: A defaulting REC buyer holds equitable title and is an owner, not a tenant (Earp, McCune). After a completed escrow forfeiture the seller holds the recorded deed; a holdover buyer who refuses to surrender forces the seller into an ejectment/quiet-title action (cf. Armstrong, where the Csurillas refused to surrender and the sellers had to litigate). The summary landlord-tenant eviction track is generally unavailable against an REC owner.
  • Quiet title after forfeiture: Often prudent. Recording the special warranty deed reconveys record title, but a contested forfeiture (or a recorded buyer interest) may require a quiet-title suit (NMSA 1978, Ch. 42, Art. 6) to clear the buyer’s recorded equitable interest. (Court/timeline specifics flagged in needs_verification.)
  • Forfeited payments: Treated as liquidated damages for use of the property (Buckingham ¶¶ 5, 17). Enforceable unless the overall forfeiture shocks the conscience; New Mexico does not apply a separate penalty-doctrine haircut once the forfeiture itself is upheld.
  • Intervening seller-lien risk to buyer: Because the seller retains bare legal title, liens/judgments against the seller can cloud title; the buyer’s recording of the REC (§ 14-9-1) and the notice protection of § 14-9-3 are the buyer’s principal defenses, along with an owner’s title policy.

4. Federal Overlay (as applied in-state) → see dodd-frank-seller-financing, safe-act-mlo

  • Dodd-Frank exposure: A New Mexico residential REC is “credit”/seller financing under TILA and the CFPB Loan-Originator Rule. The ≤1-property (no balloon/ATR) and ≤3-property (with ATR) seller-financer exclusions from the loan-originator definition apply in New Mexico as nationally — see dodd-frank-seller-financing for 12 C.F.R. § 1026.36(a). An operator selling multiple owner-financed homes per 12 months loses the exclusion and must use a licensed loan originator and meet ATR. Because New Mexico has no offsetting state CFD-protection statute, the federal overlay is the principal consumer-protection constraint on volume sellers here.
  • SAFE Act / MLO licensing: New Mexico administers residential mortgage loan originator licensing through the Regulation & Licensing Department, Financial Institutions Division (FID) under the New Mexico Mortgage Loan Company Act / SAFE provisions (NMSA 1978, Ch. 58). A seller-financer above the federal/state de-minimis thresholds may require licensure. See safe-act-mlo. (Exact NMSA Ch. 58 SAFE-Act section and the New Mexico de-minimis threshold flagged in needs_verification.)
  • State consumer-protection overlay: No CFD-specific statute. The New Mexico Unfair Practices Act (NMSA 1978, §§ 57-12-1 et seq.) and common-law fraud are the backstops (pleaded in Buckingham). (Exact UPA section text flagged in needs_verification.)
  • CFPB enforcement notes: New Mexico was not the locus of the marquee Harbour-Portfolio CFD actions, but its statute-free, forfeiture-friendly posture leaves predatory volume CFD practice checked mainly by the federal overlay and the UPA. See dodd-frank-seller-financing.

5. Title, Recording & Wraps → see garn-st-germain-due-on-sale

  • Memorandum recording: Permitted. The REC itself, or a memorandum / “notice of interest” identifying the parties and the legal description, may be recorded under NMSA 1978, § 14-9-1; recording imparts constructive notice and fixes priority, and an unrecorded REC is subordinate only to a later BFP without notice (§ 14-9-3; verified). No prescribed statutory form.
  • Garn-St. Germain due-on-sale: An REC/wrap is a “transfer” that can trigger the underlying lender’s due-on-sale clause under 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3. The Garn-St. Germain residential exemptions (e.g., transfer into an inter vivos trust where the borrower remains beneficiary) generally do not cover a sale-on-terms to a third-party REC buyer, so a New Mexico wrap carries acceleration risk. Eiferle itself involved an REC wrapped over an assumed Prudential first mortgage — the classic wrap structure. See garn-st-germain-due-on-sale.
  • Underlying mortgage / wraps: Permitted — New Mexico has no statute (like Texas § 5.085) restricting wraps. A wrap REC over an existing mortgage is lawful; the operative risks are (a) Garn-St. Germain due-on-sale acceleration and (b) the buyer’s exposure if the seller fails to pay the wrapped senior lien (mitigated by direct-pay / cure mechanics). Disclosure of the underlying lien is prudent (and protects against fraud/UPA claims) but not statutorily mandated.
  • Deed delivery mechanism: Escrow. Standard New Mexico practice deposits a warranty deed (buyer ← seller, released at payoff) and a special warranty deed (seller ← buyer, released on default/forfeiture) with an escrow agent (Eiferle). Title passes by release of the appropriate escrowed deed.
  • Marketable title at payoff: On full performance the escrow agent releases the warranty deed conveying legal title to the buyer; the buyer’s equitable title ripens into legal title.
  • Title insurance: Available to the buyer (owner’s policy); New Mexico title companies routinely insure REC transactions and serve as escrow agents.
  • Seller death / bankruptcy effect: The buyer’s recorded equitable interest survives; in the seller’s (or buyer’s) bankruptcy the REC is property of the estate and the buyer’s equitable title is not extinguished by a trustee’s mere rejection — In re McCune (Bankr. D.N.M. 2024) (REC remains in effect and property of the estate; buyer’s equitable interest not extinguished).

6. Tax Treatment

  • IRC § 453 installment reporting: A New Mexico REC is an installment sale; the seller reports gain ratably as principal is received, subject to the dealer exception (§ 453(b)(2), (l)). See irc-453-installment-sale.
  • Property tax: Contract-governed; buyer pays in practice. The equitable owner in possession ordinarily bears ad valorem taxes; the county assessor’s residential transfer-affidavit machinery (NMSA 1978, § 7-38-12.1) treats the transfer as a sale. (Practice point; exact statutory allocation flagged in needs_verification.)
  • Homestead / valuation: New Mexico’s property-tax “head of family” and veteran exemptions and the 3%-valuation-cap on owner-occupied residences turn on ownership/occupancy; an REC buyer in possession is generally treated as the owner for these purposes. (Exact NMSA Ch. 7 sections flagged in needs_verification — primary text not retrieved this run.)
  • Transfer / documentary-stamp tax: New Mexico imposes no real-estate transfer or documentary-stamp tax and no mortgage-registration tax; only nominal county recording fees apply on the recorded REC and the eventual deed.

7. Bankruptcy & Death / Divorce

  • Buyer bankruptcy — circuit-split characterization. New Mexico federal courts are divided on whether an REC is an executory contract under 11 U.S.C. § 365 or a security device / secured debt. Shaw v. Dawson (In re Shaw), 48 B.R. 857, 860 (D.N.M. 1985), held the REC is executory and within § 365; a contrary line treats it as a financing arrangement — “Contracts for Deeds are merely a financing arrangement for a sale which has already occurred. The vendor retains legal title only as security for the price.” In re McCune, No. 20-12326-j7, Mem. Op. at 16 (Bankr. D.N.M. Apr. 5, 2024) (quoting the Ninth Circuit BAP) (in-re-mccune-2024). McCune declined to resolve the split, holding that either way the REC remained in effect and property of the estate, and the buyer’s equitable title was not extinguished by rejection. See forfeiture-vs-foreclosure and the federal pages.
  • Seller bankruptcy: The buyer’s recorded equitable interest and the escrowed deeds generally survive; the trustee takes subject to the recorded REC.
  • Assignability by buyer: Generally permitted subject to contract terms; a subpurchaser/assignee “takes the land subject to the terms of the contract of which he has knowledge” (Russell, 103 N.M. at 50, quoting Campbell v. Kerr, 95 N.M. 73, 618 P.2d 1237 (1980)). Anti-assignment clauses are common; enforceability is contract-specific. (Authority on anti-assignment enforceability flagged in needs_verification.)
  • Survivorship / divorce: The equitable interest is community or separate property characterized like other realty under New Mexico community-property law and passes by estate plan or community-property rules.

8. Case Law (real, verified)

CaseYearTopicHolding (plain English)Source
russell-v-richards-19851985forfeiture / shock-the-conscienceREC forfeiture clauses are enforceable absent unfairness that shocks the conscience; on valid forfeiture the buyer recovers nothing and gets no enhancement value. Refusal to enforce here was an abuse of discretion.https://static.case.law/nm/103/cases/0048-01.json
eiferle-v-toppino-19771977forfeiture refused / premature demandA seller’s premature default demand (before the cure window ran) is of no effect; letting the seller cancel, retake title via the escrowed special warranty deed, and keep all payments would shock the conscience.https://static.case.law/nm/90/cases/0469-01.json
buckingham-v-ryan-19981998shock-the-conscience factors / election of remediesLarge down-payment forfeiture upheld on the four factors; but the seller who elects forfeiture cannot also recover contract damages — double recovery reversed.https://static.case.law/nm/124/cases/0498-01.json
armstrong-v-csurilla-19911991foreclosure path / deficiency / electionA seller may alternatively sue on the REC debt, foreclose the judgment lien, and obtain a deficiency; election of remedies bars combining suit-on-debt with repossession; “shock the conscience” also polices inadequate judicial-sale prices.https://static.case.law/nm/112/cases/0579-01.json
huckins-v-ritter-19831983forfeiture refusedForfeiture of a down payment ≈ one-third of price after a short possession was an unwarranted forfeiture that shocks the conscience.https://static.case.law/nm/99/cases/0560-01.json
manzano-industries-v-mathis-19841984forfeiture enforcedNot every default shocks the conscience; large-down-payment forfeiture was enforced — one factor, not dispositive.https://static.case.law/nm/101/cases/0104-01.json
mgic-mortgage-corp-v-bowen-19771977equitable interest / risk & enhancementDuring the life of the REC, risk of loss and enhancement in value accrue to the purchaser; on forfeiture the terminated buyer recovers no enhancement.https://static.case.law/nm/91/cases/0200-01.json
graham-v-stoneham-19631963election of remediesA seller who repossesses on default elects rescission and is precluded from further recovery from the buyer.https://static.case.law/nm/73/cases/0382-01.json
bishop-v-beecher-19601960REC is not a mortgageAn REC is a contract, not a mortgage; forfeiture (not foreclosure) is the contractual remedy, absent unconscionability.https://static.case.law/nm/67/cases/0339-01.json
in-re-mccune-20242024bankruptcy / equitable titleNM REC buyer holds equitable title (seller holds bare legal title); courts split on § 365 executory vs. security treatment, but rejection does not extinguish the buyer’s interest or remove the REC from the estate.https://www.nmb.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/McCune-Memorandum-Opinion-Doc-332.pdf
  • Good-law status: All ten are good law and mutually consistent (the Russell four-factor test is the through-line, applied as recently as Buckingham (1998) and recited via McCune/Earp (2014/2024)). Eiferle and Huckins mark the forfeiture-refused boundary; Russell, Manzano, and Buckingham mark the forfeiture-enforced boundary.

9. Edge Cases (state-specific notes)

  • garn-st-germain-due-on-sale — Eiferle shows the classic New Mexico wrap (REC over an assumed Prudential first mortgage); wraps are lawful but carry due-on-sale acceleration risk; no state statute restricts them.
  • Escrow-deed forfeiture — the defining New Mexico mechanic: pre-signed warranty deed (to buyer) and special warranty deed (to seller) held in escrow; default triggers recording of the special warranty deed — self-help, no foreclosure (Eiferle).
  • Election of remedies trap — forfeiture or suit-on-the-debt/foreclosure, never both (Graham, Buckingham, Armstrong).
  • No statute — the single most important New Mexico fact: there is no installment- contract act; S.B. 320 (2011) died. Do not cite it as law.
  • Manufactured/mobile homes, SCRA — manufactured-home RECs and servicemember protections (50 U.S.C. § 3953) overlay the common-law rules. (State-specific manufactured-home titling flagged in open_questions.)

10. Operations

  • Where records live: County Clerk real-property records in each of New Mexico’s 33 counties; RECs/memoranda recorded under § 14-9-1.
  • Public access: County clerk online portals; official statutes at the New Mexico Compilation Commission / NMOneSource.com; bills/legislative history at nmlegis.gov; appellate opinions at nmcourts.gov and the New Mexico Supreme Court Law Library.
  • Who may draft (UPL): New Mexico restricts non-lawyer drafting of conveyancing instruments; title/escrow companies use standardized REC forms (e.g., long-standing “Valliant” form RECs referenced in Eiferle). Filling blanks in a standard form is generally permitted; drafting tailored terms risks UPL.
  • Costs / timelines: Nominal county recording fees. No statutory clocks — the controlling deadlines are the contractual cure window (commonly 30–90 days) and any judicial-foreclosure/redemption period (one month to nine months under §§ 39-5-18 / 39-5-19) if the seller elects the foreclosure path.
  • Key agencies: County Clerks; Regulation & Licensing Department, Financial Institutions Division (SAFE/MLO); New Mexico Attorney General (UPA / consumer protection); New Mexico Compilation Commission (statutes).
  • Useful forms: Standardized title-company REC forms; affidavit of default and forfeiture; special warranty deed (NMSA 1978, § 47-1-31) and warranty deed (§ 47-1-29).

11. Meta

Disclaimer. This page is legal information, not legal advice, and may be out of date. Contract-for-deed statutes are frequently amended and remedies turn on facts. Consult a licensed attorney in this jurisdiction before drafting, enforcing, or signing an installment land contract.

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