Counseling For Colorado Foreclosure Victims

Posted on May 9th, 2008 by hinson

Colorado state nestling near the Rocky Mountains of western and south-western US. Its bustling capital is Denver. It seems difficult to believe that in this paradise of hustle and bustle, of wealth and prosperity, foreclosures should sneak. Yet this is exactly what is happening.

The rising number of foreclosures is causing concern not only to the hapless house owners facing eviction but to the lenders as well as the local, state and federal governments. It appears that most of the foreclosures stem from risky sub-prime floating rate interests.

In the zip codes of Aurora, Colorado Springs, Denver, Greeley and Parker about 11,633 foreclosures were posted – the first stage of the judiciary process. The total worth of the properties was about $2.2 billion. The survey covered the period from 27th November 2007 to 4th April 2008.

The Governor of Colorado declared this week to be Foreclosure Prevention Awareness Week. The programme includes posting notices to the owners of the affected properties informing them about their rights and what free counseling services are available in the state for the state. The Governor reiterated that the cornerstone of American nationhood is the dream of owning a house. It is a pity too many residents are finding that dream turning into a nightmare. Ritter added that the state government has set up a telephone hot line to serve the people.

Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colorado) commented that about 80% of those who are facing foreclosure troubles have been able to avoid it after making use of counseling. He added that foreclosures are the main cause for the general economic slump of the nation. All across the country as well as in Colorado people are feeling the pinch of foreclosures. It is having a snow balling effect among the communities. The future seems to be bleak with 50,000 more houses ready to slide into the foreclosure net before the year dies out. As a cause of this 750,000 units, not directly affected by foreclosures will witness the decline in the value of their units because of what is happening in the neighbourhood around them.

In March Colorado Foreclosure Hotline took 3,050 calls – most from foreclosure victims. Initially when it was opened in October 2006 most of the calls were from those who were curious about it. Today most are from serious borrowers. Most of the callers were those who had taken loans from five major lenders – Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Washington Mutual and JP Morgan Chase.