'No Dip In Sight' For Denver Area Defaults
MSNBC reports that defaults jumped in the Denver area. "Real estate foreclosures jumped 17 percent across seven metro Denver counties, plus Elbert and Weld counties, in 2005. At least 16,047 real estate foreclosures were filed last year in the nine Front Range counties, up from 13,685 in 2004. Some counties, such as Adams, reported more than a 30 percent increase.""The foreclosure tally for 2005 is the second-highest in Colorado's history, behind only 1988, when 17,122 foreclosures were filed, according to county public trustees. Statewide, Colorado registered 2,687 foreclosures in November, placing it second in the nation behind only Georgia, which had 4,416 foreclosures during the month."
"'A lot of times it's a single event that leads to foreclosure, a job loss, an illness, a divorce,, said Kim McGrigg, a spokeswoman for the Denver office of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service. Increasingly, however, other factors are squeezing homeowners, from rising mortgage interest rates to higher energy prices, health care costs and credit card payments."
"'There is a percentage of people who come in with overwhelming credit card debt who simply say they overspent,' McGrigg said."
"Job losses often correlate with high foreclosure rates, economists say. Denver and Adams counties reported the highest unemployment rates in the metro region at 5.6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. Denver County's foreclosures jumped to 3,699 from 3,351 last year, and Adams County's jumped to 3,281 from 2,499."
"Some county public trustees say the foreclosure tally could have been higher. Arapahoe County could have added another 200 foreclosures to its 3,600 year-end tally, but clerks simply weren't able to process all the files that poured in last month. 'Those left on the shelf roll over into 2006,' said Mary Wenke, Arapahoe County public trustee. 'It's not going down, that's for sure. We've been told by attorneys representing the major lenders that they don't see a dip in sight at all.'"
"From 2003 to 2004, there was a 31 percent increase in foreclosures, and the two previous years were higher than that, at 44 percent and 55 percent, public trustees said."
posted by Ben Jones @ 6:11 AM
3 Comments:
The foreclosure tally for 2005 is the second-highest in Colorado's history, behind only 1988, when 17,122 foreclosures were filed
This was the tail end of the energy bust, which hit Colorado as well as Texas.
Ben, I have made a wager with my wife that the family next door will be foreclosed on within a year. We had a nice, stable, older woman who lived in the house next door for 7 years. She sold in 2004 to move to a smaller town. In moved a family who have never owned a house. One month after they moved in their AC went out... in July. You know what that's like in Texas. They didn't have the $1500 necessary to have the unit replaced! For almost 2 weeks they left all the windows open. They must have scrounged the money from somewhere, because the unit was finally replaced.
The yard looks like crap. They mow it only when they get a letter from the HOA. A lawn crew can cut the yard for $20/week but they don't appear to have the money for that. My guess is the mortgage is eating them alive.
Ben: I live in Colorado and this report is dead on. I have been tracking foreclosures thru foreclosure.com for some time now. I see things only getting worse here.
opeth,
Thanks for the front line report. Please check in again.
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