Colorado’s foreclosure activity in the first quarter fell by 13.6 percent from a year earlier, but that is about 50 percent year-over-year drop of 28.95 percent, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac. Foreclosure activity in Colorado is down 11.9 percent from the fourth quarter, also trailing an almost 14.8 percent drop for the nation.

In Colorado, one out of every 157 homes is in some state of foreclosure activity, compared with one out of every 191 homes for the nation. RealtyTrac, which combines every aspect of the foreclosure process from the initial filing until the property become a REO (real estate owned) after it is purchased by a bank at a public trustee auction, showed total foreclosure filings of 13,847 in the first quarter.

RealtyTrac seems in the right neighborhood

Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, said that “broadly speaking,” he thinks the RealtyTrac numbers will support his finding for March and the first quarter. For example, he said it is “pretty clear” that first-quarter filings will be down from the fourth quarter of last year.

“New filings really fell off quite a bit in January and February, as the lender continued to process new foreclosures very slowly,” McMaken  said. “The numbers came back up a little in March, but the first quarter they should still show up as being pretty slow for filings. Completed foreclosures, on the other hand will likely show an increase from the fourth quarter to the first quarter. The Realtytrac numbers show an overall decrease from the fourth quarter to the first quarter, but I think that misses an increase in sales activity. He added that as far as month-over-month changes, “both filings and sales came up a bit from February’s numbers, so the Realtytrac numbers reflect that well, and March 2011′s totals are well below March 2010′s totals. This is especially the case with new filings.”

Nationwide, foreclosure filings were reported on 239,795 U.S. properties in March, a 7 percent increase from February, but still down 35 percent from March 2010, when 367,056 homeowners received a foreclosure notice – the highest monthly total in the history of the RealtyTrac monthly report since its inception in January of 2005.

3-year low for foreclosures

“The nation’s housing market continued to languish in the first quarter, even as foreclosure activity fell to a three-year low,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Weak demand, declining home prices and the lack of credit availability are weighing heavily on the market, which is still facing the dual threat of a looming shadow inventory of distressed properties and the probability that foreclosure activity will begin to increase again as lenders and servicers gradually work their way through the backlog of thousands of foreclosures that have been delayed due to improperly processed paperwork.”

A total of 197,112 U.S. properties received default notices  for the first time in the first quarter, a 17 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 35 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. A total of 73,393 properties received default notices in March, up 16percent from February but still down 37 percent from March 2010.

Foreclosure auctions  were scheduled for the first time on a total of 268,995 U.S. properties in the first quarter, a 19 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 27 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. Foreclosure auctions were scheduled on 93,228 U.S. properties in March, down 4 percent from February and down 41 percent from March 2010.

Lenders foreclosed on 215,046 U.S. properties in the first quarter, a 6 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 17 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. In states where the non-judicial foreclosure process is primarily used, bank repossessions (REOs) increased 9 percent from the previous quarter, and March REOs increased on a monthly basis in both nonjudicial and judicial foreclosure states.

Nevada, Arizona, California top

Nevada posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 35 housing units with a foreclosure filing, despite a 10 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous quarter. In March, Nevada’s foreclosure activity increased 35 percent from February after two straight monthly decreases.

Bank repossessions increased 26 percent in Arizona from February to March, helping to keep the state’s foreclosure rate second highest in the nation for the first quarter: one in every 60 Arizona housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter. The state’s first quarter foreclosure activity increased 15 percent from the fourth quarter — the second highest quarterly increase of any state — but was still down 17 percent from the first quarter of 2010.

First quarter foreclosure activity in California decreased 4 percent from the previous quarter and was down 22 percent from the first quarter of 2010, but the state still posted the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 80 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter. First quarter bank repossessions in California increased 17 percent from the previous quarter, while March default notices increased 28 percent from February.

One in every 98 Utah housing units had a foreclosure filing in the first quarter, the fourth highest state foreclosure rate, and Idaho posted the fifth highest state foreclosure rate: one in every 106 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Related Posts:

• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures
• Colorado foreclosure average price: $186,046
• Colorado foreclosures fall
• Foreclosures hit 19-month low
• April foreclosures rise at fast clip

Other statistics on how Colorado compared against the nation:

• The average foreclosure discount compared with a market-rate sale was 28.25 percent in Colorado, compared with 20.1 percent for the nation.
• The average REO(Real Estate Owned) discount in Colorado, compared with a non-foreclosure sale, was 32.1 percent, compared with 36.3 percent for the nation.
• The average pre-foreclosure discount in Colorado was 20.47 percent, compared with 15.06 percent for the nation.

In total, there were 17,410 foreclosure sales in Colorado in 2010. Nationwide, there were 831,574, according to RealyTrac.

Passes “smell test”

Overall, the numbers seem to be in the ballpark for the Denver area, said Tom Cryer, a broker with the Kentwood Co.

“I would say it passes the smell test – that is a good way to put it,” Cryer said. He said in the Denver-area market,  sales are basically evenly divided between non-distressed homes, foreclosures and short sales. “And short sales are basically foreclosures,” without the legal trappings, Cryer said. A short sale is when a lender agrees to accept less than the amount of the mortgage when the property trades hands.

Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, called the report “interesting,” although he does not have the data to evaluate RealtyTrac’s conclusion. However, he noted that the National Association of Realtors reported on Wednesday that 23 percent of all purchases nationwide were made by investors in January, up from 20 percent in December.”That would seem to back up certain aspects of this Realtytrac report which shows increases in homes bought out of some stage of foreclosure,” McMaken said.

Appetite for foreclosures

While it is difficult to draw conclusions from the report, McMaken said it does seem to indicate that the “investment community” is eager to buy foreclosures in Colorado, although with a 32 percent discount that may be considered bad from the seller’s perspective.

One statistic that caught his eye is that in some states, New York for example, only 7 percent of the sales were foreclosures, yet on average they commanded a “huge” discount of 50 percent. Colorado, by contrast, seems to be fairly typical, based on the percentage of foreclosed homes and the discounts, he said.

Nationwide, there were 149,303 foreclosure sales recorded in the fourth quarter, down 22 percent from the previous quarter and down 45 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 — despite a 21 percent monthly uptick in foreclosure sales volume in December. Mirroring the year-end statistics, foreclosure sales in the fourth quarter accounted for 26 percent of total sales, and foreclosure properties sold for an average sales price that was 28 percent below the average sales price of properties not in foreclosure.

“Foreclosure sales in the fourth quarter faced the twin headwinds of the expired home-buyer tax credit — which began to stifle sales volume during the third quarter — and the foreclosure documentation controversy, which hit in the fourth quarter and temporarily froze sales of foreclosures from several major lenders,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Given those factors, it’s not surprising that in the fourth quarter foreclosure sales volume hit its lowest level since the first quarter of 2008.

“Still, foreclosures continue to represent a substantial percentage of all U.S. residential sales and continue to sell at an average sales price that is significantly below the average sales price of properties not in foreclosure — the result of a bloated supply of foreclosures and weak demand from home-buyers,” Saccacio continued. “The catch-22 for 2011 is that while accelerating foreclosure sales will help clear the oversupply of distressed properties and return balance to the market in the long run, in the short term a high percentage of foreclosure sales will continue to weigh down home prices.”

Foreclosure sales by type

A total of 512,886 bank-owned (REO) properties sold to third parties in 2010 — down nearly 32 percent from 2009 — at an average discount of 36 percent, up from an average discount of 33 percent in 2009. REO sales accounted for 16 percent of all sales in 2010, down from nearly 18 percent of all sales in 2009 but still higher than the 13 percent of all sales they accounted for in 2008.

In the fourth quarter, a total of 95,683 REO properties sold to third parties, down 17 percent from the third quarter and down 43 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009. Fourth quarter REO sales accounted for nearly 17 percent of all sales during the quarter at an average discount of nearly 37 percent.

Related Posts:

• Denver 11th for foreclosures
• Colorado No. 12 in foreclosures
• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures
• Colorado No. 11 for foreclosures in October
• Is Denver’s home market heading for a dive or recovery?

Colorado foreclosure activity dropped in the last three months of 2010, according to a new state report.

There were 10,736 foreclosure filings in Colorado in the fourth quarter, a 4.8 percent drop from the 11,286 in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the Colorado Division of Housing report. Foreclosure sales at public trustee auctions, recorded a 14.17 percent drop, falling to 4,691 in the fourth quarter from 5,466 in the same period in 2009, according to the state division. Total foreclosure filings last year dropped by 8 percent to 42,692 from the record 46,394 in 2009. Last year marked the second highest total for foreclosure filings.

Foreclosure auction sales also surged in 2010, rising 16.9 percent to 23,891 from 20,437 in 2009. However, last year’s foreclosure auction sales trailed the record 25,054 recorded in 2007.

Increase in sales expected

“The large number of sales in 2010 was the inevitable follow-up to the record number of new foreclosure filings in 2009,” said Ryan McMaken, a spokesperson for the housing division. “The number of new properties put into the foreclosure pipeline in 2009 was so large that we knew we’d see an increase in foreclosure sales some time later. These foreclosure numbers are still closely connected to the increases in unemployment that began in late 2008.”

Although 2010 foreclosure totals were at near-record highs, the report also noted that new foreclosure filings have been largely declining over the past eighteen months. According to the report, “recently-collected quarterly and monthly totals indicate that foreclosure filings continue to fall from peak levels, and 2010’s fourth-quarter total for foreclosure filings remains 14 percent below 2009’s third-quarter peak.”

Still, McMaken noted: “If filings continue to go down, sales at auction will eventually have to fall as well.”

Filings down across the board

All Front Range metropolitan counties reported drops in foreclosure filings in 2010. From 2009 to 2010, Adams County filings fell 13.4 percent while Denver County filings fell 17.7 percent. Foreclosure filings in Pueblo County fell 11.9 percent during the same period. In Mesa County, the most populous county on the Western Slope, foreclosure filings increased 29.6 percent from 2009 to 2010, while filings in Garfield County and La Plata County increased 64 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.

At the same time, all Front Range metropolitan counties except Denver County reported year-over-year increases in foreclosure sales at auction. Comparing 2009 to 2010, sales rose 4.3 percent and 13.1 percent in Adams County and Arapahoe County, respectively, and fell 7.3 percent in Denver County. During the same period, sales rose 173.0 percent in Mesa County and rose 36 percent in La Plata County.

Foreclosure sales are opened foreclosures that have proceeded through the full foreclosure process to final sale at public auction. Filings denote the beginning of the foreclosure process, and once a foreclosure is filed, the borrower has at least 110-120 days to work with the lender to avoid a completed foreclosure. It is during this period that borrowers work with lenders and housing counselors to work out loan modifications, short sales, or other ways of withdrawing the foreclosure.

The full report is available on the Division of Housing blog.

Related Posts:

• Denver 11th for foreclosures
• Colorado No. 12 in foreclosures
• Colorado foreclosures: Hopeful signs, but crisis isn't over
• Colorado foreclosures both rise and fall
• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures

The report by the Colorado Division of Housing, shows that foreclosure public trustee sales fell 38 percent from September to October as some mortgage servicers slowed down the processing of foreclosures in response to the so-called “robo-signing” controversy.

Year-over-year foreclosure sales were not so dramatic, but still fell 13.8 percent from October 2009. Year-to-date comparisons, however  show that from January to October, foreclosure sales are up 18.3 percent. There were 1,308 foreclosure sales at public auctions last October  in Colorado’s major metropolitan counties, compared to September’s 2,111. There were 1,518 sales during October of last year.

Foreclosure filings down, too

Foreclosure filings also fell, but at a fraction of the drop in sales. Foreclosure filings fell 5.4 percent from October 2009 to last October, and year-to-date comparisons show that filings are down 11.2 percent for the period of January to October this year as compared to the same period last year. Filings rose 3.4 percent from September to October. There were 3,059 foreclosure filings during October 2010 in the metro counties, compared to September’s total of 2,959. There were 3,254 filings during October of last year.

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 auction at the end of the foreclosure process.

Sales drop expected

“We expected to see a drop in the number of foreclosure sales for the month,” said Ryan McMaken, a spokesperson for the Colorado Division of Housing. “But this drop doesn’t necessarily signal a new trend. New filings continue to fall, but the state’s still working through the inventory of foreclosures opened last year. Once that’s done, we could expected to see a sustained decline, but we may not be to that point yet.”

With the exception of Mesa County, all metropolitan counties showed decreases in foreclosure sales at auction, comparing year-over-year. From October 2009 to October 2010, foreclosure sales rose 35.9 percent in Mesa County, but foreclosure sales fell 60 percent in Broomfield County, and they fell 37.9 percent and 35.6 percent in Boulder County and Pueblo County, respectively.

Foreclosure filings trends were mixed in Colorado’s metro counties. From October 2009 to October 2010, in Broomfield and Mesa counties, filings increased 36.8 percent and 16.2 percent, respectively. In all other metro counties, during the same period, foreclosure filings either fell or rose only a small amount. Filings fell 16.8 percent and 13.3 percent in Adams and Arapahoe Counties, respectively.

The Division of Housing’s monthly foreclosure report surveys foreclosure activity in the 12  largest counties of Colorado. The report is a supplement to the division’s quarterly foreclosure report that includes all counties in Colorado.

County	Sales October 2009	Sales October 2010	Percent change
Adams	245	176	-28.2%
Arapahoe	220	219	-0.5%
Boulder	58	36	-37.9%
Broomfield	15	6	-60.0%
Denver	236	197	-16.5%
Douglas	105	90	-14.3%
El Paso	171	160	-6.4%
Jefferson	151	144	-4.6%
Larimer	61	54	-11.5%
Mesa	39	53	35.9%
Pueblo	73	47	-35.6%
Weld	144	126	-12.5%
Total	1518	1308	-13.8%

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

Related Posts:

• Colorado No. 9 for foreclosures
• Colorado foreclosure average price: $186,046
• Colorado foreclosures fall
• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures
• Denver 11th for foreclosures

Realtytrac ranked Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures, in a report released today.  At the end of the third quarter, Colorado was No. 12.

In Colorado, one out every 374 households had some kind of foreclosure action, according to the Irvine, Calif.-based company, which tracks and sells information on distressed properties across the U.S. That compares with a national average of one out of every 389 households in some stage of foreclosure. RealyTrac combines all foreclosure activity – from the first notice until it is purchased at a public trustee auction  - to arrive at its total foreclosure filings. That is a different methodology used by others that track foreclosure activity, such as the Colorado Division of Housing.

In Colorado, there were a total of 5,751 foreclosure filings in October, according to Zillow. Nationally, there were 332,172. In Colorado, according to RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosure filings were up 13.95 percent from October 2009 and down 4.63 percent from September. Nationally, foreclosure activity was down 4.39 percent from September and basically flat from October 2009.

National spotlight

“October marks the 20th consecutive month where over 300,000 U.S. homeowners received a foreclosure notice,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer at RealtyTrac. “The numbers probably would have been higher except for the fallout from the recent ‘robo-signing’ controversy — which is the most likely reason for the 9 percent monthly drop in REOs we saw from September to October and which may result in further decreases in November.“The numbers probably would have been higher except for the fallout from the recent ‘robo-signing’ controversy — which is the most likely reason for the 9 percent monthly drop in REOs we saw from September to October and which may result in further decreases in November.”

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

Related Posts:

• Colorado No. 9 for foreclosures
• Colorado foreclosure average price: $186,046
• Colorado foreclosures fall
• Foreclosures hit 19-month low
• April foreclosures rise at fast clip

Overall, Colorado ranked No. 11 nationwide, shows the report by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac. A few years ago, Colorado was typically ranked in the top three. Even last year, Colorado consistently was in the top 10, as far as its foreclosure rate. But Colorado’s ranking has slipped, while the foreclosure rate has climbed in other parts of the country, especially California, Nevada and Florida.

“The latest report seems to be continuing the trend in which Colorado ranks near the national average in its foreclosure rate,” said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, who uses a different methodology to track foreclosures in Colorado.

Colorado’s foreclosure rate in February rose by 22.2 percent from February 2009, while the overall national increase was 6.22 percent, according to RealtyTrac. And from January, Colorado’s foreclosure rate rose 2.49 percent, while the nation as a whole saw a month-to-month decline of 2.28 percent. RealtyTrac tracks every aspect of foreclosures, from the first notice to delinquent homeowners until the property becomes a REO and is in the hands of the lender.

Colorado 39th in delinquent loans

But McMaken said that RealyTrac’s numbers do not tell the entire story.

“As usual, the Realtytrac state rankings should be checked against the mortgage bankers data which shows Colorado at 39th in the nation for the number of loans that are seriously delinquent,” McMaken said. “The fact that Colorado is falling much more quickly in delinquency rankings than in Realtytrac rankings would lead me to conclude that Colorado is very slowly dealing with its accumulated inventory of foreclosing properties, but that the rate at which new properties are defaulting in Colorado is slowing at a much faster rate.

“This all only tells us what’s going on in Colorado relative to other states, of course. Colorado is clearly improving compared to other states, but still has its own set of challenges, and is improving only very slowly over past annual activity”

McMaken also said that the 22 percent year-over-year comparison is misleading, although he said a state report, that likely will be released next week, also will show an increase.

“However, it is important to keep in mind that there was very little activity in February 2009 due to moratoria put on foreclosures by major servicers and investors,” McMaken said. “This means a year-over-year comparison will show a large increase in foreclosure, but it does not mean that the real estate markets have deteriorated in that time to the same extent.”

U.S. foreclosure rise 6%

Nationwide, RealtyTrac showed 308,524  foreclosure filings –  default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions –   6 percent above the level reported in February 2009.

“The 6 percent year-over-year increase we saw in February was the smallest annual increase we’ve seen since January 2006, when we began calculating year-over-year increases, but it still marked the 50th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “This leveling of the foreclosure trend is not necessarily evidence that fewer homeowners are in distress and at risk for foreclosure, but rather that foreclosure prevention programs, legislation and other processing delays are in effect capping monthly foreclosure activity — albeit at a historically high level that will likely continue for an extended period.

“In addition, severe winter weather appears to have temporarily slowed the processing of foreclosure records in some Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.”

Foreclosure activity by type

Default notices (Notices of Default and Lis Pendens) were reported on a total of 106,208 U.S. properties during the month, an increase of 3 percent from the previous month but down 3 percent from February 2009. Default notices were down 25 percent from their peak of more than 142,000 in April 2009 but were still more than three times the number they were four years ago in February 2006. Foreclosure auctions (Notices of Trustee’s Sale and Notices of Sheriff’s Sales) were scheduled for the first time on a total of 123,633 U.S. properties, a decrease of 1 percent from the previous month but still 16 percent higher than the level reported in February 2009. Scheduled auctions were down 14 percent from their peak of more than 144,000 in August 2009 but were also about three times higher than the number reported in February 2006. Bank repossessions (REOs) were reported on a total of 78,683 U.S. properties during the month, a 10 percent decrease from the previous month but an increase of 6 percent from February 2009. Bank repossessions were down nearly 15 percent from their peak of more than 92,000 in December 2009 but were at nearly twice the level reported in February 2006.

Nevada, Arizona, Florida post top state foreclosure rates

Nevada foreclosure activity decreased nearly 7 percent from the previous month and was down 30 percent from February 2009, but the state’s foreclosure rate continued to rank highest in the nation for the 38th month in a row. One in every 102 Nevada housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month — more than four times the national average. Arizona and Florida documented nearly identical foreclosure rates, with one in every 163 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in both states. Despite a nearly 21 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, Arizona’s rate was statistically slightly higher than Florida’s rate and ranked second highest among the states. California’s foreclosure rate ranked fourth highest among the states, with one in every 195 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, and Michigan’s foreclosure rate ranked fifth highest among the states, with one in every 226 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Other states with foreclosure rates among the nation’s 10 highest were Utah (one in every 275 housing units), Idaho (one in 296), Illinois (one in 305), Georgia (one in 331) and Maryland (one in 407.)

6 states account for 60% of foreclosures

Six states account for more than 60 percent of national total in February. California led the way, with 68,562 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the month — down nearly 5 percent from the previous month and down 15 percent fromFebruary 2009. Foreclosure activity in Florida increased nearly 15 percent from the previous month and was up more than 16 percent from February 2009. The state continued to post the nation’s second highest total, with 54,032 properties received a foreclosure filing during the month. Increasing foreclosure activity boosted Michigan’s total to third highest among the states. A total of 20,028 Michigan properties received a foreclosure filing during the month — up nearly 14 percent from the previous month and up 59 percent from February 2009. With 17,312 properties receiving a foreclosure filing, Illinois posted the fourth highest total, followed by Arizona, with 16,718 properties receiving a foreclosure filing, and Texas, with 12,638 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in February. Other states with totals among the 10 highest in the country were Georgia (12,177), Ohio (11,286), Nevada (11,035), and Maryland (5,732).

Divergent trends

Metro areas in the Sun Belt states of Nevada, Florida, California and Arizona continued to dominate the top 10 highest foreclosure rates among metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more, but activity trends in these areas varied considerably. The Las Vegas metro area documented the highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 90 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, despite a 9 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month. Six of the other metro areas in the top 10 — all in California or Arizona — also reported decreasing foreclosure activity from the previous month. The biggest monthly decrease among the top 10 was in the Phoenix metro area, where foreclosure activity dropped nearly 18 percent. In contrast, the two Florida metro areas in the top 10 both posted substantial monthly increases in foreclosure activity. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area saw a 31 percent increase in foreclosure activity from the previous month, giving it the second highest metro foreclosure rate — one in every 92 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. An increase of nearly 66 percent in foreclosure activity from the previous month helped boost the foreclosure rate in Port St. Lucie to sixth highest.

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

Related Posts:

• Colorado No. 12 in foreclosures
• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures
• Colorado No. 11 for foreclosures in October
• RealtyTrac: Colorado No. 9 for foreclosures
• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures

The ranking is a marked improvement from just a few years ago, when Colorado’s foreclosure rate was leading the nation, according to RealtyTrac, the Irvine, Calif.-based company that released the report. In 2006, Colorado was No. 1 for the most of the year. In 2007, it was usually ranked in the top three.  Even as foreclosure rates soared in other states, surpassing Colorado’s rate, the state was typically on RealtyTrac’s top 10 list.

1 out of 428 households in foreclosure

For January, one out of every 428 households in Colorado was in some stage of foreclosure, compared with the overall U.S. average of one out of every 409 households. And while the national foreclosure rate dropped 9.67 percent from December, Colorado’s dropped by 16.31 percent.   Some 5,029 homes were in some stage of foreclosure from the first Notice of Default to REO (Real Estate Owned) when the bank takes over the property following a public trustee auction, according to RealtyTrac, which collects and sells real estate data.

Colorado holding its own

Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing, which is last week released its own foreclosure report, using a different methodology, said it makes sense that Colorado has a lower foreclosure rate than the national average, ” given the unprecedented growth in foreclosures in places like Florida, California, Arizona and Michigan.  Colorado simply wasn’t able to keep up with those places when it came to new foreclosures.”

Also, Colorado’s unemployment rate is lower than the national average of just below 10 percent.

“Now employment is the driving factor, and since Colorado has a better unemployment rate than the national average, I expect to see foreclosures here continue to fall behind the national rate,” McMaken said.

Still, “we shouldn’t be smug, of course,” he added. “There’s still no positive job growth in Colorado and we have yet to see what will happen when the home buyer tax credits finally expire,” later this year.

For the entire nation, there were 315,716 properties in January in some stage of the foreclosure process, according to RealtyTrac. REO activity nationwide was down 5 percent from the previous month, but up 31 percent from January 2009; default notices were down 12 percent from the previous month, but up 4 percent from January 2009; and scheduled foreclosure auctions were down 11 percent from the previous month, but up 15 percent from January 2009.

Foreclosure surge may be coming

“January foreclosure numbers are exhibiting a pattern very similar to a year ago: a double-digit percentage jump in December foreclosure activity followed by a 10 percent drop in January,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac “If history repeats itself we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose onsdelinquent loans where neither the existing loan modification programs or the new short saleand deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives works.”

Nevada was ranked No. 1, with one out of every 95 homes in some stage of foreclosure. Nevada has had that dubious honor for 37 consecutive months. California, Florida and Arizona posted the three highest state totals in terms of properties receiving foreclosure filings in January, and together those states accounted for more than 44 percent of the national total.

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

Related Posts:

• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures
• Colorado No. 11 for foreclosures in October
• Rising foreclosure filings worries experts
• RealtyTrac’s foreclosure data wrong, state officials says
• Denver 11th for foreclosures

Later, experts said that without the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline, 1-877-601-HOPE, which has received more than 60,000 phone calls, has played a big role in stemming the tide of people losing their homes.

“We’re making good progress,” said Ryan McMaken, who released the report that showed a record 46,394 foreclosure filings last year, an 18 percent increase  from 2008, but only 20,437 foreclosure sales – a 4 percent drop from 2008.

“I think we are doing very well, especially in light of the 2009 foreclosure filings setting a record, but we still had fewer foreclosures being completed,” McMaken said.

Last year, a new state law required people who were facing to receive information about the foreclosure hotline. McMaken noted that there were about 19,000 foreclosure filings in the five-month period when the law was in effect last year, and the hotline received about 18,000 calls during that period.

He noted that some people would have called more than once and not everyone who called the hotline during that time period was just beginning the process. Still, it indicates that people are taking advantage of the free hotline, which is staffed by HUD-approved counselors.

“We know that 16,000 people who called the hotline have reached a resolution,” McMaken said. “If you added another 16,000 people to foreclosure sales, it would had a huge increase.”

Shannon Peer, who heads counseling for the non-profit Brothers Redevelopment, which manages the hotline, said without a doubt it is the single factor that made the biggest dent in the outcome of foreclosure, although he cautioned the state is still dealing with a “foreclosure crisis.”

And it typically takes a great deal of patience and persistence on the part of the homeowners, whether they are trying to get a permanent loan modification, a short sale, or something else.

“This is something that can take many months to resolve,” Peer said. “It is not something that is going to change in a month. It’s a long process. In some ways, it is hard even to compare one six month period to another, because it can take so many months to work its way through the system.”

Statewide, the former hotbeds of foreclosure sales – Denver and Adams County – have shown dramatic drops in foreclosure sales by public trustee offices, noted McMaken.

The growth is primarily occurring in “mid-sized” markets on the Western Slope and eastern plains, which is the past weren’t the victims of rising foreclosures, he said. In some cases, such as around Grand Junction, the problem is because of a job cuts in the formerly growing and lucrative oil and gas industries, he said. In other places, such as Teller and Park counties, people owned homes based on the “drive to buy” principle, can no longer have the income to pay their mortgages, because they either lost their jobs or are grossly under-employed.

In addition, resort communities in places such as Eagle and Summit counties, are reporting rising foreclosures. McMaken said that figures indicate that many of those are second homes and maybe a third of them are some form of timeshare units.

Ron Woodcock, a broker with RE/MAX Southeast, said the overall Denver single-family housing market is the strongest he has seen since moving here from Florida 3-1/2 years ago. He said some counties in Florida had 30,000 foreclosure filings last year.

“We’re really bucking the national trend,” Woodcock said. “We’re nothing like California, Florida,  Nevada or Arizona.”

Woodcock, however, disagrees with some people who say that if mortgage loans were once again assumable, that would help the foreclosure crisis. “Currently, mortgage rates are lower now than they were two or three years ago,” he said. “Why would you assume a loan of 5.5 percent, when you can get a 4 percent loan today? It might help going forward, but it is not going to help today. And while it is harder to qualify for a loan, really what has happened is that we have returned to what it used to take to qualify for a loan.”

McMaken, of the housing division, said the first wave of foreclosures was due to bad ARMs, interest-only loans, and subprime mortgages. Rising unemployment and falling incomes are responsible for most of today’s foreclosures, he said.

Woodcock said some lenders now would rather work with borrowers on loan modifications, rather than short sales, in which the bank accepts less than the mortgage amount. Still there have only been 1,072 permanent loan modifications in Colorado through 2009. (For more on loan modifications, please go to this blog.)

But Woodcock said that he does worry about the so-called “shadow market.” The shadow market is an unknown number of homes held by the banks, which are not actively being marketed. Nationally, the banks may be holding as many as 7 million properties in this fashion, Woodock said.

“An influx of a lot of those homes would have a negative effect on the market,” Woodcock said. “On the other hand, a lot of investors groups are raising money to buy big portfolios from lenders. They’ll step in and buy 50, 60 or 100 homes at one time. Those type of deals aren’t reported in the MLS, but that type of activity is going on.”

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

Related Posts:

• Rising foreclosure filings worries experts
• Foreclosures growing in Denver-area suburbs
• More than 12,000 foreclosures hit Colorado in second quarter
• Colorado No. 12 in foreclosures
• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures

The good news is that completed foreclosure sales in Colorado during 2009 fell 4 percent from 2008’s totals, and have fallen 18 percent since 2007, shows a state report released today. However, foreclosure filings were up 18 percent in 2009 from 2008, rising to a record 46,394.

According to the  report released  by the Department of Local Affairs’ Division of Housing, there were 20,437 completed foreclosures in the state during 2009, falling from 2008’s total of 21,306. In 2007, completed foreclosures reached 25,056.

While completed foreclosures fell, new foreclosure filings, which begin the foreclosure process for borrowers, rose from 39,333 in 2008.

Foreclosure alternatives rising

However, since 2007, in spite of increasing totals in new foreclosure filings, the total proportion of filings that ended in a solution other than foreclosure increased by 51 percent. In 2007, 37 percent of foreclosure filings ended in a result other than foreclosure such as short sale, loan modification, refinance or other solution. By 2009, this total had increased to 56 percent. The result has been fewer completed foreclosures even as new foreclosure filings have increased.

The falling totals in completed foreclosures were driven by significant declines in foreclosure activity in the Denver metro area. In Denver County, foreclosures fell 28 percent, and they fell 20 percent and 16 percent in Adams and Arapahoe Counties respectively. The only county in the Denver area to report increases in completed foreclosures during 2009 was Boulder County where they increased 6 percent.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that we won’t be seeing the sorts of increases in foreclosures that we saw during 2006 and 2007,” said Pat Coyle, a spokesperson with the Colorado Division of Housing. “Colorado’s Foreclosure Hotline and its network of housing counseling agencies have helped over 16,000 households avoid foreclosure since 2006, and we see that reflected in these numbers.”

As completed foreclosures fell quickly in the Denver area, foreclosure activity in other areas of the state increased. Completed foreclosures increased 11 percent in El Paso County and 4 percent in Weld County. Among metropolitan counties, Mesa County reported the largest increase with completed foreclosures growing 223 percent year-over-year to a total of 359.

Totals reported are county-wide totals, and individual neighborhoods may still be experiencing increases and decreases in foreclosure activity that are quite different from what is seen at the county level.

The report noted that while foreclosures were limited to Colorado’s Front Range in earlier years, Colorado’s smaller and more rural counties have become increasingly affected by foreclosures. Teller County, Park County, Morgan County, and Fremont County all reported increases of 30 percent or more in completed foreclosures. On the Western Slope, completed foreclosure totals in Mesa County and nearby counties such as Delta, Montrose, Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties have all increased since 2008.

Economy foreclosure driving force

“These changes in the geography of foreclosures shows that the problem has moved beyond overbuilding and adjustable rate mortgages, said Stephanie Riggi, manager of the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline call center. “We’re seeing unemployment and falling wages as much more of a driving factor behind foreclosures, and it’s not just the Front Range that’s affected.”

Completed foreclosures are opened foreclosures that have proceeded to foreclosure sale at auction. Filings denote the beginning of the foreclosure process, and once a foreclosure is filed, the borrower has approximately four months to work with the lender to avoid a completed foreclosure. It is during this period that borrowers work with lenders and housing counselors to work out loan modifications, short sales, or other ways of curing the foreclosure. According to the report, since the second quarter of 2009, the number of foreclosures cured in Colorado has increased 50 percent.

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

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

Related Posts:

• Rental home market surging
• Foreclosure filings fall, sales skyrocket
• Denver No. 46 in foreclosures
• Colorado No. 10 for foreclosures
• Foreclosures growing in Denver-area suburbs

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.

Related Posts:

• Colorado No. 12 in foreclosures
• Colorado No. 11 for foreclosures in October
• Foreclosure filings fall, sales skyrocket
• Denver No. 46 in foreclosures
• Foreclosures growing in Denver-area suburbs