| Court: | NM Supreme Court |
| Facts: | Vendees had a land contract for purchase of a house. It has a strict foreclosure option. They miss a payment, and the vendors exercise the clause. Vendees ofer to pay the entire balance, with interest, costs, and attorney fees, but the vendors refuse. |
| Posture: | Vendees sue, asking the court to create an equitable mortgage. Lower court denies. Appeal. |
| Issue: | Is this an equitable mortgage, so that vendees would have an equity of redemption? |
| Holding: | No. The court isn't going to rewrite the contract. |
| Rule: | We enforce contracts as written. |
| Reasoning: | There's no inequity here: it was a fair contract, in accordance with normal rules, and they got to live in the house for cheap for almost 6 years. Land contracts require very minimal down-payments, and the cost for that is that you don't get the same kinds of protection you do with a mortgage. The fact that strict foreclosure was optional doesn't convert this into a mortgage. |
| Dicta: | |