| 12/13/2007 9:08:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Foreclosures up to 58 in Chaffee County
by Christopher Kolomitz
Mail Managing Editor
Chaffee County may be on track to surpass the number of foreclosures filed since record keeping of such data at the county treasurer's office started in 1978.
As of Wednesday, Chaffee County Treasurer Diana Wood received 58 foreclosure filings. In 1988 the office had 63 filings, the most since 1978.
"I don't want to jinx myself, but I would say there is a possibility," to have five more foreclosures before the end of the year, Wood said.
In 2006 Wood received 60 foreclosure filings and conducted 30 sales.
Statewide, foreclosures are at higher levels than were reported for the full year of 2006, officials with the Colorado Division of Housing said.
From Jan. 1 through Sept. 30 there were 28,960 foreclosure filings in Colorado compared to 28,509 filings for the full year of 2006.
Foreclosure filings have been largely flat from quarter to quarter during the year, with high-foreclosure counties like Adams, Denver, and Arapahoe reporting roughly the same number of new foreclosure filings during the third quarter as during the first and second quarters, officials said.
Only Weld County reported a substantial increase in foreclosure filings with a 15 percent rise from 650 during second quarter to 746 during third quarter.
Most of the increase in foreclosure activity this year has been in foreclosure sales at auction, which is the point in foreclosure process when a foreclosed home is sold back to the lender or a third party.
Overall, from January through September, foreclosure sales increased 26 percent from 2006.
Among individual counties, Adams County reported sustained growth in foreclosure sales, climbing 6 percent from 1,180 during the second quarter to 1,255 during the third.
Sales increased 8 percent in El Paso County, rising from 497 to 537 during the same period. Weld County reported a 19 percent increase from 456 during the second quarter to 542 during the third.
According to housing counselors, a difficult housing market makes foreclosure sales at auction more likely as time goes on because it becomes more difficult for borrowers to sell a home at a price close to what is still owed on the mortgage.
Foreclosure filings in Colorado increased 31 percent from 2005 to 2006 and 110 percent between 2003 and 2006.
Forecasts indicate that, barring major positive changes in the housing market, foreclosure filings in Colorado will increase to 37,000 - a 30 percent increase from 2006.
Most significant foreclosure activity is on the Front Range. For example, counties with the most foreclosure filings per household were Adams, Weld, Arapahoe, Denver, and Pueblo.
Adams and Pueblo counties topped the list with one filing per 32 households and one filing per 40 households respectively. In Weld County, there was one filing per 41 households, with Denver and Arapahoe Counties reporting one filing per 43 households and one per 47 households respectively.
In the mountains and on the Western Slope, foreclosure rates are generally lower. Mesa County and Summit County reporting a filing rate of one per 187 and one per 112 respectively. La Plata County reported a rate of one filing per 281 households.
Statewide, there was approximately one foreclosure filing per 64 households from Jan. 1- Sept. 30.
In the central mountains and on the Western Slope, the active housing market makes it relatively easy to sell a home if a borrower is unable to maintain payments.
On the Front Range and on the Eastern Plains, partly because of a large supply of housing for sale, it's more difficult to sell a home quickly, which may lead to increased default rates.
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