Foreclosures for Sale in Colorado
Colorado has not been hit as badly as many other states such as Nevada, California, Arizona, Ohio and Indiana and in fact at present is rated 10th in the nation for the highest number of foreclosures for sale listed.
The third quarter has shown a significant drop in the figures with some sources quoting as much as 14 percent, but most only around 3 percent. The number of filings has been reduced by 3 percent and the number of sales by 14 percent. Many experts say this is a result of federal government intervention, resulting from the changes to legislation and an injection of $24 million to assist lenders and borrowers.
The $24 million has been directed not towards paying mortgages for those in dire straits, rather in providing advice for people struggling and also in bailing out banks who have too many foreclosure properties on their books to manage. The emphasis everywhere is how to kick start the local economics again, but many commentators are simply saying it is too early to be optimistic about these drops in figures across the State of Colorado.
An east – west divide has appeared in the foreclosure listings in Colorado that seems difficult to explain, with figures in the west being lower than the east. Adams County and Weld County have been performing well whereas Garfield County is struggling.
Unemployment figures are at around 5.3 percent, which whilst lower than the national average of 5.7 percent is still the highest in the State for 30 years, and is a cause of grave concern to many. The rate is rising and is predicted to continue that way until well into the first quarter of 2009. Unemployment makes it harder to pay debts and foreclosure statistics will begin to rise again unless this challenge can be tackled.
The federal government has also introduced new legislation to extend the welfare payments for the unemployed to seven weeks, in order to help those struggling repay home loans.
This is little consolation for those who would like to sell their property as the Colorado housing market is awash with properties underselling theirs, effectively forcing them into negative equity and making it impossible for them to sell up. There are even stories in Denver of divorced couples having to continue to cohabit as they cannot afford to move. So the message is: the statistics may be showing a drop, but in the neighbourhoods, the problems are still very real.
