Colorado Homes – If your one of those that holds out to the last minute, that last minute is coming up on you real fast. Start thinking about a Dream Denver Colorado home in the mountains if your financially stable and can obtain the financing. Yes, now is the time to buy!
While Denver Colorado real estate foreclosure sales have been on the downturn along the Front Range, and surrounding Denver mountain home communities are experiencing increases often of triple-digit percentages as homeowners from the wealthy on down lose their properties.
For years, mountain brokers touted endless appreciation that bested the stock market. When properties appreciated at rates of 10 percent or more a year, “all you needed for a loan was a pulse,” some sources were quoted as saying.
Already this year in Pitkin County, there have been 25 foreclosures, compared with six this time last year — then a record. Grand County has logged 48 foreclosure filings through mid-March, close to the annual total of 2007.
Back in 2007, a resort homeowner in financial trouble could easily sell for at least what was owed. Today, resort counties are weathering 50 percent or greater declines in real estate sales from the high times of 2006. At first, 40 percent to 50 percent of foreclosure filings were second homes and timeshares. Two years later, it’s mostly locals, with less than 30 percent of properties in foreclosure coming from timeshares and second homes.
Mountain Town Foreclosures
Twelve of the 15 counties in Colorado with the highest foreclosure filing rate increase between 2007 & 2009 are home to 21 of Colorado’s 26 ski resorts. Ski resorts long considered immune to the fluctuations of the national economy, mountain resort communities are weathering record levels of foreclosures as jobs decline and credit for loan adjustments withers. Two counties with ski resorts closest to the Denver front range are Grand and Summit. The percentage of increase in Grand County (Winter Park) from 2007 to 2009 was up 348% while Summit County ( Breckenridge, Keystone & Copper Mountain)experienced a 214% increase during the same time period followed by Eagle County (Vail) up 256%. These figures are expected to increase this year up another 50%.
Posted by: Jeffery McClintock
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