Saturday, February 12, 2011

Colorado foreclosure filings down in January

Real estate

Colorado foreclosure filings down in January

Denver Business Journal

Date: Thursday, February 10, 2011, 6:07am MST

Real estate properties with new Colorado foreclosure filings fell 3.46 percent in January from the previous month and were down 1.65 percent from January 2010, according to data today from RealtyTrac Inc., the Denver Business Journal reports.

The state had a total of 4,946 housing units with foreclosure filings last month, or one for every 438 homes, over the national rate for the month of one in every 497 homes, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based private marketer of foreclosure properties.

Still, Colorado showed improvement over December's new-filings rate of one in every 420 properties.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Housing Division: Colorado foreclosure filings drop in Q4, 2010

Denver Business Journal

Date: Thursday, February 10, 2011, 11:03am MST

Residential Real Estate

Foreclosure filings for Colorado in 2010’s fourth quarter were down 4.8 percent from the same period of 2009, indicating some recovery in the state’s real estate market, but continuing challenges because of unemployment, according to a Colorado Division of Housing report released Thursday.

Filings, which are the beginning of the foreclosure process in this state, dropped to 10,736 in last year’s final period from 11,282 year over year.

Fourth-quarter foreclosure sales at auction, the completion of the foreclosure process, dropped 14.2 percent to 4,691 from 5,466 year over year.

The state’s foreclosure data is for both residential and commercial real estate properties.

“The sustained declines in new foreclosure filings likely indicate that households are finding ways to avoid entering the foreclosure process, and that mortgage companies are initiating fewer foreclosures,” the housing division report said. But joblessness and lowered income, according to housing counselors and lenders, will continue to be problems for homeowners.

“Until job gains occur more quickly, and home prices and sales rise more solidly, many metro Denver residents remain at risk for default,” said a recent 2011 economic forecast by the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Home resales dip 8% in Denver area, but sales prices rise

Denver Business Journal - by Paula Moore

Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 10:53am MST

Home resales in metro Denver were down in January from a year earlier, largely because there are no federal homebuyer tax credits to buoy sales, but average sold price was up because of the recovering economy, according to Metrolist Inc. data.

Resales of both standard houses and residential condominiums dipped 8.4 percent in this year’s first month to 2,156 from 2,353 for the same month of 2010. Such sales were down 12.7 percent from 2,469 in 2009.

“Resales were down in January because the first-time homebuyer credit is no longer in force,” said Gary Bauer, an independent residential real estate broker in Littleton and Metrolist analyst. Bauer also provided the Metrolist data to the Denver Business Journal.

Resales, also called existing home sales, are those of homes that have sold at least once before.

Average sold price, for houses and condos combined, rose 5.9 percent in January to $252,307 from $238,155 for the same month of 2010. That price was up 18.3 percent from $213,330 in January 2009.

Selling prices increased because consumer confidence is up, according to Bauer. “People are buying a little higher-priced home,” he said.

SIDE STREETS: Get your questions ready, the HOA boss is coming to speak!

Comments 6

February 06, 2011 12:01 PM

BILL VOGRIN

The state’s new HOA boss, Aaron Acker, is coming to town Tuesday to talk about all things related to covenant-controlled communities, the rights of people living under homeowners associations and the new state agency he oversees.

It’s a great opportunity for everyone to meet the man who will oversee the new HOA Information and Resource Office, which opened Jan. 1 within the Division of Real Estate under the umbrella of DORA — the Department of Regulatory Agencies in Denver.

Acker’s job is to register all the HOAs in Colorado and get a handle on complaints of abusive HOA boards and management companies. He will report his findings to the General Assembly.

“We wanted to give HOAs around town the opportunity to ask him questions about the registration process and the complaint process,” said Michelle Green, a property manager active in the Southern Colorado Chapter of the Community Association Institute, which is hosting his speech.

CAI is a national organization made up of professional property managers and volunteer association board members dedicated to “promoting harmony, community, and responsible leadership” within covenant controlled communities.

Some property managers and HOA board members have worried that Acker’s office was created to persecute HOAs. Acker said that’s not the case. And he is looking forward to spreading the word about his office, and dispelling any misconceptions that he exists to torment anyone.

“I’m here to help association managers and boards as much as the homeowners,” Acker said Thursday. “Homeowners associations boards are the homeowners. They are volunteers trying to work for the betterment of their communities. We want to listen to what they have to say.”

The Real Estate Tipsheet

Saturday, February 12, 2011