1 in 60 homes foreclosed in 2007

El Paso County ranked in the middle of the pack last year when it came to foreclosure problems among some of the state’s more populous and higher-profile areas, according to a report released Wednesday by the Colorado Division of Housing.

The county had one foreclosure for every 60 households in 2007, better than the statewide rate of one foreclosure per 45 households, the report estimated.

Of 18 counties listed in the Housing Division report, El Paso was better off than Denver, which had one foreclosure for every 32 households; Pueblo, one per 39; and Douglas, one per 49. Adams County, outside Denver, has the state’s worst foreclosure rate among the counties examined — one per 23 households.

Among counties that fared better than El Paso County, Boulder had one foreclosure for every 112 households; Mesa, one per 136; and Eagle, one per 142.

Teller County had one foreclosure for every 51 households last year.

El Paso County’s rate might have been worse had it not been for Fort Carson deployments, said Housing Division Director Kathi Williams. State and federal laws prohibit lenders from foreclosing on soldiers while they’re on active duty, and thousands of troops currently are in Iraq.

It’s difficult to forecast what will happen with foreclosures in 2008 until after the first quarter, Williams said.

Even as foreclosures appear to be slowing, some homebuyers are having a difficult time getting loans, homeowners with adjustable rate loans are facing an increase in interest rates and housing inventories remain high, she said.

State officials also want to see the effect of a new Colorado law that attempts to make it easier for homeowners to stave off foreclosure by giving them more time to make up missed payments, Williams said.

The Housing Division’s foreclosure rates are based on a 2006 estimate of the number of households in a community and the number of foreclosures in 2007.

Statewide, 39,915 foreclosures were filed in 2007, breaking the record of 28,435 the previous year, according to the Housing Division’s report. In 2003, there were 13,573 foreclosures statewide.

El Paso County’s foreclosures totaled 3,556 in 2007, which broke the old record of 3,476 in 1988. Despite last year’s record number of foreclosures, some real estate experts say the problem was worse in the 1980s because El Paso County had a similar number of foreclosures, concentrated among far fewer homes.

Homes that went through the foreclosure process, and then were sold after owners couldn’t come up with money to keep them, totaled 25,320 statewide, an increase from 17,451 in 2006, the Housing Division said in its report. Five years ago, there were 6,258 foreclosure sales statewide.

Among the reasons foreclosed homes weren’t sold: Owners came up with money to catch up on their mortgage payments or lenders withdrew the foreclosure after working out a payment plan with homeowners.

In El Paso County, foreclosure sales totaled 2,016 last year, compared with 1,516 in 2006.

Teller County had 113 sales last year from among 174 foreclosures.

For assistance:

- Colorado Foreclosure Prevention Hotline: 1-877-601-HOPE

- Pikes Peak Foreclosure Prevention Partnership: 444-8833; www.ppar.com/ppfpp

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0228 or rich.laden@gazette.com