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Foreclosure filings on pace with pre-recession numbers

Ryan Hoffman
rhoffman@citizentelegram.com

Foreclosure filings in Garfield County for the first four months of 2016 are on track to remain around pre-recession levels, with the western part of the county continuing to experience the largest number of foreclosure filings, according to data released by the Garfield County Public Trustee’s Office.

As of Monday morning, 33 foreclosures had been filed in 2016, said Garfield County Public Trustee Karla Bagley. Based on recent numbers, the trustee’s office projects around 102 foreclosure filings for the entire year.

However, Bagley, in noting that projections are based on the previous month, said she would be very surprised if Garfield County hit 100 foreclosure filings in 2016. She also pointed out that a filing does not equate to a sale and in some cases the borrower will cure the issue with the lender — sometimes over the course of months — and avoid an actual sale of the property.



In any event, the 2016 numbers fair far better than those recorded in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008-09.

Foreclosure filings skyrocketed from 81 in 2008 to a record of 701 in 2011, according to data. Since then, the numbers have dropped on a year-to-year basis nearly as dramatically as the previous increase — 87 foreclosures were recorded in 2015.



Bagley expects 2016 to come in close to the previous year.

In some ways the county is a microcosm of larger trends. Foreclosure filings statewide continually increased year-to-year from 14,858 in 2003 to 46,394 filings in 2009, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. The numbers have decreased since then with 8,241 filings in 2015.

In keeping with a more local trend, western Garfield County is experiencing a larger number of foreclosures than communities in the east of the county.

The largest number of filings for the first four months of 2016 was in the Parachute-Battlement Mesa-Rulison area, which experienced 10, or 30.3 percent of the total 2016 filings in the county. Some of those were large filings encompassing more than one parcel of land or residence — including several mobile-home parks in Battlement Mesa, according to records.

The Rifle area has the second most filings with nine, followed by Silt with eight. New Castle and Carbondale each recorded one filling, while Glenwood Springs had four.

Historically, there tend to be more foreclosures in the western part of the county, Bagley said.

Rifle saw the most foreclosure filings for all of 2015 with 24, while the Parachute-Battlement Mesa-Rulison area recorded 22, Carbondale had 11, and Glenwood Springs and New Castle each had 10. Silt had eight foreclosure filings in 2015.

Overall, the return to lower and more stable numbers following the dramatic spikes from 2009 to 2013 is good news, Bagley said.


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