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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (73321)	10/31/2006 11:25:50 PM
From: John Vosilla	Respond to of 110194

Foreclosures lead to auction Once-common event resurfaces as state's rate again tops U.S. By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News October 31, 2006 A Dallas company plans to auction about 75 foreclosed homes in Denver next month, a sign of the continuing high rate of foreclosures plaguing Colorado. The auction by Hudson & Marshall will be held at 11 a.m. on Nov. 18 at the Sheraton Tech Center hotel at 7007 S. Clinton St. Separately on Monday, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac announced that Colorado's foreclosure rate leads the the nation for the second consecutive quarter. Colorado has one new foreclosure filing for every 127 households, according to RealtyTrac. That is almost triple the national average. After declining almost 13 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter, Colorado foreclosure activity jumped 24 percent from the second to the third quarter, with 14,374 properties entering some stage of foreclosure - the eighth-highest foreclosure total in the nation. Some local experts - including Kathi Williams, executive director of the Colorado Division of Housing, and Chris Holbert, president of Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association - question whether RealtyTrac's numbers are accurate. "I know it sounds kind of counterintuitive, but we are not trying to make the numbers worse than they are," Rick Sharga, a vice president at RealtyTrac said last week. "But if I were representing a state-based mortgage lenders association or a state political entity of some sort, I would really want to downplay the numbers. But the numbers are what they are." In any case, the rising number of foreclosures creates a perfect time to hold an auction, according to Hudson & Marshall. Such auctions were common in the late 1980s, during the last foreclosure crisis. But in recent years, most of the auctions in the Denver area have been for expensive real estate rather than distressed properties. "It seems like we used to have foreclosure auctions almost on a daily basis during the late '80s," said independent real estate broker Gary Bauer. The homes in the auction are valued from about $25,000 to $200,000. Prospective buyers also can bid online (at hudsonandmarshall. com) for the homes before the auction. A lender accepted a bid on the biggest house listed, a 3,002-square-foot home in Westminster, which will be pulled from the auction. "Basically, they go to the highest bidder," said Dave Webb, co-owner of Hudson & Marshall. "They can be opportunities in a declining market," he said. "The lenders are motivated to sell. First-time buyers who have been shut out of the market can find opportunities, as well as investors." He said he expects to hold more large auctions in Denver as the market continues to worsen. Creed Smith is listing three homes in the auction through his namesake company, including a house at 4829 Beach Court in northwest Denver that had been listed at $129,500. He said that foreclosed homes aren't the bargains they were in the late 1980s, although he said there likely will be opportunities at the auction to buy homes below the asking price. "I wish," he said. "Back in those days you could buy a HUD condo for $12,000. If we had deals like that again, everyone would be maxing out their credit cards to buy every property they could." If you go to the auction • When and where: 11 a.m. on Nov. 18 at the Sheraton Denver Tech Center. An auction of eight homes in Colorado Springs will be held at 7 p.m. on Nov. 16 at the Holiday Inn Colorado Springs hotel near the airport. • What you need: Be prepared to put 5 percent down or $2,500, whichever is greater. • Home values: $25,000 to more than $200,000. If bids are too low, the seller can reject them. • Bid online at hudsonandmarshall.com before the auction. • Tips: Have in mind your top bid, as well as an estimate of any renovation cost, as homes are sold "as is." rockymountainnews.com