But the 6.5 percent increase was not a surprise, considering a year ago foreclosure filings were artificially low, because several large banks had temporary moratoriums on foreclosure activity in early 2009, notes Ryan McMaken, of the Colorado Division of Housing, which released today’s report.

And the foreclosure sales are up even more, but that is largely a function of homes that have begun the process with filings. McMaken’s research indicates there tends to be a spike in sales, eight months following the actual filings.

But the bigger question is, despite the 6.5 percent blip in filings, does it appear that the worst of the foreclosure crisis is behind us?

“I’ll take the Fifth on that one,” Ron Woodcock, a broker with RE/MAX Southeast, answered, when I posed that question to him.

Colorado “awesome” compared to rest of country

Seriously, he said that although Colorado and the Denver area are in much better shape than most of the rest of the country, the biggest threat to a resurgence in foreclosure activity are people losing their jobs, he said.

“I think Colorado is in awesome shape compared to the rest of the country,” Woodcock said. “You know I was a licensed broker in Florida for 20 years before I came to Denver. If I were still in Florida, I’d be waiting tables at Disneyworld, and not selling homes.”

But he said that what initially drove the foreclosure crisis – bad loans given to anyone who could fog a mirror – no longer are the chief culprit driving foreclosures.

Lack of jobs the problem

“I would only say that one of 10 people I deal with, is because they have adjusting ARMs, or something,” Woodcock said. “Nine out of 10 times it is because they have lost their jobs. This country has to create more jobs! So it is very hard to say if we are at the bottom of foreclosures. Without job creation, it is hard to know if we have seen the worst of it. I think I am more optimistic than most people, but I am worried that we might see another spike in foreclosures, if people can’t get good jobs.”

Shannon Peer, who heads counseling at Brothers Redevelopment in Edgewater, which runs the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline, 1-877-601-HOPE, said that 85 percent of the people who have been calling mention that they are worried about losing their homes either because they lost their jobs or their income has dropped sharply.

Lenders offering forbearance programs

The good news, said Stephanie Riggi, also of Brothers, is that lenders increasingly are more willing to work with people to keep them in their homes. If they lose their jobs, they may not qualify for loan modification programs, but some lenders now are allowing forbearance programs, in which the lender will allow the homeowner not to pay their mortgage for a certain period of time, while they try to get back on their feet.

“It’s really a temporary suspension of the mortgage payment,” she said. “Every lender is different. But they might suspend your payments for three months, and at the end of that period re-evaluate to see where you are.”

When compared to other parts of the country with large urban areas, Denver is certainly in better shape than most places, said McMaken, of the housing division.

Areas that previously were “ground zero” for foreclosures – Adams, Arapahoe and Denver counties – have seen huge drops in activity, he noted.

“But now, it is spreading to other parts of the state,” McMaken said. “We’re seeing huge increases like Mesa County. And the mountain resort communities are really being hit hard. Public trustees are telling me that in the past, almost none of the resort properties that went into foreclosure went all the way to sales. That’s because there were a lot of people eager to buy them. People used to even fly in from Russia to buy properties. You don’t hear of that anymore. Even in places like Telluride, properties will sit around unsold for months.”

But overall, McMaken said at least for the short-term, foreclosure filings and foreclosure sales will start to level off. But he said that Colorado is not immune to what happens to the national economy. If inflation rises, which causes mortgage rates to increase, “that will not be good news for Colorado housing,” he said. Also, he said that when thousands of students graduate from high school and college in May and June, the size of the labor force will grow. And without more jobs on the horizon, the unemployment rate may grow, he said.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865

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Foreclosure filings are the initial filing that begins the foreclosure process, and foreclosure sales totals are the total number of foreclosures that have been sold at public trustee auction at the end of the foreclosure process. In many cases, the bank holding the loan wins the bid and the home becomes known as a REO, or Real Estate Owned property.

Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the housing division, and the author of the report, is not alarmed by the spike in foreclosure sales, which had been declining at the end of 2009, compared to a year earlier.

“What happened is that we had all of those moratoria in the fall of 2008 through January of 2009, which led to lower foreclosure activity,” McMaken said. “I think the big fear was that we would see a big jump in foreclosure activity after they ended, although for the most part that did not happen. We did see a fairly significant jump between June and July of last year, but it was fairly short-lived

“Recent movements in foreclosure sales and filings reflect recent overall trends, as monthly sales totals have moved upward and monthly filings totals have moved downward,” according to the report.The report goes on to say that the “movements in foreclosure sales reflect movement in foreclosure filings, but lag by six to eight months. (If the)  current relationship between filings and sales continues, foreclosure sales will begin to fall again during spring 2010.”

Foreclosures vary hugely by county

Foreclosure activity varied by county. The counties with the largest decreases from January 2009 to January 2010 in filings activity were Douglas County and Denver County, where filings decreased by 26 percent and 17 percent, respectively. The largest increase was in Mesa County where filings increased 159 percent year-over-year.

Foreclosure sales activity increased in all metropolitan counties during January of this year compared to January of 2009. The smallest increase was in Denver County where sales increased 19 percent. The largest increase was found in Mesa County where foreclosure filings increased 337 percent from January 2009 to January 2010. However, measuring changes in foreclosure sales activity since 2008, all counties reported falling foreclosure sales except Boulder and Mesa Counties.

The county with the highest rate of foreclosure sales was Weld County with a rate of 532 households per foreclosure sale. Adams County was a close second with 535 households per foreclosure sale. The lowest rate was found in Boulder County where there were 1,779 households per foreclosure sale. The largest increase in foreclosure rates since 2009 was found in Mesa County where the foreclosure rate more than tripled year-over-year.

Not out of the wood yet

McMaken, however, said there may be more foreclosures in the pipeline. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that the number of mortgages in Colorado that were “seriously delinquent” at the end of 2009 rose to 5.87 percent from 3.96 percent during the same period in 2008, more than a 48 percent increase. Seriously delinquent loans are at least 90 days overdue and typically in the early stages of a foreclosure. In 2005, only 1.97 percent of the loans were seriously delinquent, and the percentages have risen every year since them.

“Basically, they went from 4 percent at the end of 2008 to 6 percent at the end of 2009, if you round off the numbers,” McMaken said. “That is a pretty significant one-year increase.” He said he expects that foreclosure sales by public trustees “will slowly ebb downward through the spring. But as far as filings, who knows?”

The housing division’s  monthly foreclosure report surveys foreclosure activity in the twelve largest counties of Colorado. The report is a supplement to the Division’s quarterly foreclosure report that includes all counties in Colorado.

The full report is available on the Division of Housing this link.

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Source: Colorado Division of Housing

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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The good news is that foreclosure filings in Colorado barely rose from 2008 – only a 0.23 percent increase, according to a national report.

The bad news is that Colorado still is ranked No. 10, according to RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, Calif.

The report showed 50,514 total properties in Colorado with some kind of foreclosure action, which equates to 2.37 percent of all housing units in foreclosure. The U.S. average is 2.21 percent.  The report also shows one out of every 42 households in foreclosure, compared with one of every 45 for the U.S. average. Foreclosure activity in Colorado, according to RealtyTrac, rose 28.2 percent from 2007, far below the 120 percent average national increase.

“It’s kind of bizarre that Colorado is still in the top 10,” said Ryan McMaken, noting that the overall rate in Colorado is very close to the national rate. Also, Colorado’s foreclosure activity has been basically flat, while it is still rising in many other parts of the country.

“RealtyTrac combines all of the different kind of foreclosure actions,”McMaken noted, while he separates new filings and homes that actually go to foreclosure sales.

“If you dig deeper, you will find that while our filings are still climbing, the number of sales are going down,” as banks work with borrower to modify loans, he noted. “We do show a net increase in activity, and we probably will continue to do so, as long as the number of filings continue to rise.”

Still, rather than the 10th worst state in the nation as far as foreclosures, he said Colorado is really more in the middle of the pack, he said. That is also affirmed my Mortgage Banker Association numbers, which shows Colorado in the middle of the U.S., as far as delinquent loans.

An earlier report by InsideRealEstateNews.com found that while foreclosure filings in the Denver area rose by 6.4 percent in 2009 from 2008, most of the percentage increases were found in Boulder, Broomfield and Douglas counties, while activity was flat or dropped slightly in Denver and Adams county. (For that report, please visit this blog.)

Nationwide, RealtyTrac  found more than 3.9 million foreclosure actions -  default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 2. 8 million properties in the U.S.  in 2009, a 21 percent increase in total properties from 2008 and a 120 percent increase in total properties from 2007.

Four states accounted for more than 50 percent of the nation’s 2009 total, with more than 1.4 million properties receiving foreclosure filings in California, Florida, Arizona and Illinois. And almost half of those – 632,573 – were in California.

“That means that 46 other states split the remaining half,” noted McMaken. He said some people might think that the foreclosure pain was spread fairly evenly among the states, but that is not the case.

“What that means a lot of states are clumped together, and there will be a very small percent separating them,” McMaken said.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 349,519 U.S. properties foreclosure filings  on 349,519 U.S. properties in December, a 14 percent jump from November  and a 15 percent increase from December 2008 — when a similar monthly jump occurred. Despite the increase in December, foreclosure activity in the fourth quarter decreased 7 percent from the third quarter, although it was still up 18 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008.

“As bad as the 2009 numbers are, they probably would have been worse if not for legislative and industry-related delays in processing delinquent loans,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

“After peaking in July with over 361,000 homes receiving a foreclosure notice, we saw four straight monthly decreases driven primarily by short-term factors: trial loan modifications, state legislation extending the foreclosure process and an overwhelming volume of inventory clogging the foreclosure pipeline. Despite all the delays, foreclosure activity still hit a record high for our report in 2009, capped off by a substantial increase in December. In the long term a massive supply of delinquent loans continues to loom over the housing market, and many of those delinquencies will end up in the foreclosure process in 2010 and beyond as lenders gradually work their way through the backlog.”

Nevada led the nation last year, with more than 10 percent of the homes receiving some type of a foreclosure action in 2009, giving it the dubious distinction of being No. 1 for foreclosures for the third consecutive year.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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Foreclosure sales at auction in Colorado’s largest counties fell 13 percent in the first 11 months of the year,  compared to the same period last year, according to a state report released today.

The report by the Department of Local Affairs – Division of Housing, shows that completed foreclosures  declined, but new foreclosure filings rose 12 percent for the period of January to November compared year over year.

There were 32,744 foreclosure filings and 17,160 foreclosure sales from January to November of last year. There were 36,628 filings and 14,975 sales during the same period this year.

Comparing the month of November this year to November last year, foreclosure sales fell 0.5 percent from 1,520 to 1,512, while new foreclosure filings rose 11.8 percent from 2,506 to 2,802.

Foreclosure activity fell from October to November.

Foreclosure sales fell 0.4 percent, and foreclosure filings fell 13.4 percent. Monthly totals peaked in July of this year when foreclosure sales reached 1,869 and foreclosure filings totaled 3,855.

Mesa County reported the largest year-over-year increase in completed foreclosures, with an increase of 181 percent

Boulder County and El Paso County reported increases of 126 percent and 11 percent respectively, while all other counties surveyed reported decreases in the number of completed foreclosures.

Adams County and Arapahoe County reported decreases of 22 percent and 20 percent respectively. Denver County reported the largest decline of 33 percent.

However, no counties reported decreases in new foreclosure filings for the same period. Adams and Denver Counties reported no change in totals, but all other counties surveyed reported increases, with Mesa County and Boulder County reporting the largest increases of 139 percent and 39 percent respectively.

“At this point, it appears very unlikely that the number of completed foreclosures will reach the total set in 2007 and 2008,” said Ryan McMaken, a spokesperson with the Colorado Division of Housing. “November was a relatively light month for foreclosures, but with new foreclosure filings still up compared to last year, foreclosures will continue to be a challenge.”

Foreclosure rates in metropolitan counties vary considerably. Adams County and Weld County tied for the highest foreclosure rate with 61 households per foreclosure completed year to date. Pueblo County reported a rate of 84 households per foreclosure, and Arapahoe County report 85. Boulder County reported the lowest rate among counties surveyed with a rate of 326 households per foreclosure. In spite of recent increases in foreclosure activity, Mesa County reported the second-lowest foreclosure rate of 199 households per foreclosure.

For all counties surveyed, the overall foreclosure rate was 128 households per completed foreclosure.

County	2008	2009	Percent Change
Adams	3232	2515	-22
Arapahoe	3222	2585	-20
Boulder	159	360	126
Broomfield	116	113	-3
Denver	4220	2810	-33
Douglas	998	948	-5
El Paso	2010	2234	11
Jefferson	1746	1508	-14
Larimer	759	727	-4
Mesa	102	287	181
Pueblo	717	719	0
Weld	1449	1448	0
Total	17160	14975	-13

.

County	2008	2009	Percent Change
Adams	5227	5215	0
Arapahoe	5426	5590	3
Boulder	947	1316	39
Broomfield	248	306	23
Denver	5717	5740	0
Douglas	1922	2408	25
El Paso	4179	4886	17
Jefferson	3340	3670	10
Larimer	1493	1947	30
Mesa	442	1058	139
Pueblo	1222	1456	19
Weld	2581	3036	18
Total	32744	36628	12

.

Related Posts:

• Denver-area foreclosure filings rise, sales drop, in October
• Foreclosure activity peaked in July
• Job losses driving foreclosures
• Foreclosure filings fall, sales skyrocket
• May-to-June foreclosures not encouraging

Movement in new foreclosure filings was mixed.  Arapahoe, Boulder, Larimer and Mesa Counties all reported sizable increases year over year, while Adams, Denver, Douglas, El Paso, and Weld Counties reported decreases in foreclosure filing activity over the same period.

Decreases were more widespread with foreclosure sales. Sales totals dropped in all counties except Boulder and Mesa Counties. Adams, Arapahoe, and Denver reported year over year decreases of over 30 percent.

Overall, foreclosure sales fell 30 percent, year over year.

Foreclosure filings in several counties.

Foreclosure filings fell 7.1 percent from September to October and foreclosure sales fell 9.8 percent.

Comparing year-over-year, foreclosure sales fell 30.1 percent overall with totals falling from 2,171 to 1,518.

Mesa County reported the largest increases in sales activity with an increase of 225 percent. Foreclosure sales also increased significantly in Boulder County with an increase of 28 percent.

Foreclosure  filings totals fell 7.1 percent overall from September to October of this year, with totals falling from 3,480 to 3,234.

Totals fell in every county except Denver County and Mesa County where they increased 6 percent and 21 percent respectively.

Pueblo reported the largest fall in totals with a decline of 37 percent.

Foreclosure sales totals increased 21 percent overall from September to October of this year, with totals rising from 1,682 to 1,518.

Only Boulder County reported a sizable increase during this period with an increase of 18 percent. All other counties surveyed reported decreases, with the largest decreases occurring in El Paso and Larimer Counties.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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