A single unexpected expense and a missed mortgage payment can set off a string of events that snowball into a complicated problem. When you miss a payment, you have a short grace period, usually 10-15 days, during which you can pay without penalty. After that, a late fee will be assessed by the lender, which is often 5% of the amount overdue. It doesn’t take long for that one unaffordable mortgage payment to become even more out of reach, putting foreclosure proceedings into action.

Foreclosure involves many complex steps according to a timeline specified by Colorado law. When there is an opportunity for you to do something to avoid a Colorado foreclosure, do it as soon as possible and follow the instructions you are given to the letter. Even small errors can potentially derail you from keeping your home. Let’s take a look at how the foreclosure process unfolds and how you can respond at each step

This timeline is a simplified summary of the basic procedures under the foreclosure statute and does not attempt to cover all aspects. This is a complex statute and an attorney should be consulted before taking any steps, or making any decisions, regarding the foreclosure process.
Note that, unless otherwise stated, all references to “days” are “calendar days”. When calculating dates, if the specified date is a legal holiday, or a Saturday or Sunday, then the date is extended to next day that is not a legal holiday, Saturday or Sunday.
Pre-foreclosure

• Watch for FHA, HUD and VA loans for additional rules for when foreclosure can be commenced. For example, under HUD rules, foreclosure can be commenced only if at least 3 fully monthly installments are due and unpaid, subject to exceptions.
• At least 30 days before filing notice of election and demand and at least 30 days after default, the lender is required to mail a notice to the borrower containing the telephone numbers of the Colorado foreclosure hot line and the direct telephone number of the lender’s loss mitigation department.

Lender’s procedures on commencement of the foreclosure saleThe lender’s attorney will commence the sale by filing the following with the public trustee of the county where the property is:

• Original Notice of Election and Demand for Sale (NED).
• Original evidence of debt, and any endorsements or assignments. If the evidence of debt is mislaid, a lost instrument bond must be submitted, unless the lender is a financial institution that can provide an indemnity.
• Original recorded Deed of Trust, and any original modifications, or any partial releases, or certified copies of these documents.
• The combined notice for mailing to the persons on the mailing list.
• A deposit on the fees of the public trustee.
• Mailing list containing the names and addresses of owners, guarantors, lessees and occupants, (as shown by the public records or records of the lender), who will receive notice of the sale.
• An amended mailing list may be filed, not less than 60 days prior to the first scheduled sale date. If the amended mailing list is received by the public trustee after the mailing has been sent out, the sale will be continued for no less than 65 days after receipt of the amended mailing list. The public trustee shall send the mailing list no less than 45 days prior the actual date of sale.

Public trustee procedures on commencement of the foreclosure saleOn receipt of the request for sale, the public trustee must:

• Record the NED – no later than 10 business days after receipt of the request for sale.
• No more than 60 days and no less than 45 days prior to the first scheduled date of sale, advertise the sale in a newspaper once a week for five successive weeks (unless the deed of trust requires a longer period), only after the affidavit of posting of the deferment notice has been received. Sale is continued until this affidavit is received.
• Mail copies of the combined notice to the specified parties no less than 16 days, nor more than 30 days, after the lender has delivered the mailing list. If there is an amended mailing list, then mail the combined notice no more than 60 days and no less than 45 days prior to the first scheduled date of sale.
• Scheduled the sale of date that is not less than 110 days and not more than 125 days after the recording of the NED for non-agricultural property. For agricultural property, the date of sale must be scheduled no less than 215 days and no more than 230 days after the recording of the NED.

Note that unless otherwise stated, all references to “days” are “calendar days”. When calculating dates if the specified date is a legal holiday, or a Saturday or Sunday, then the date is extended to next day that is not a legal holiday, Saturday or Sunday.
Right to Cure:

• The borrower must give at least 15 days notice, prior to the sale, of the intention to cure.
• The public trustee must deliver a request for a statement of all sums to cure, to the lender at least 12 days prior to the sale- if not the sale is postponed for 2 weeks.
• The public trustee must receive the cure amount form the borrower by noon on the day before sale.
• The statement must be valid for at least 10 days after the date the statement is received by the public trustee, or until the last day to cure, whichever occurs first, but in any event no more than 30 days from the date of the last day to cure.
• Failure to provide the statement by the earlier of 10 business days after receipt of the request to cure, or 8 days prior to the date of sale:
  • Sale automatically postponed for 1 week and thereafter week to week until cure statement provided (but not continuance beyond 12 months from original date of sale).
  • Interest at the regular rate and not default rate during this period

Default cured:

• If the default has cured, then:
  • A formal withdrawal must be filed with the public trustee if the NED has been recorded.
  • All costs to date must be paid, including the fees of the public trustee, together with the withdrawal fee.
  • If a Rule 120 proceeding has commenced, this proceeding must be withdrawn, or the order vacated (if the order has been granted).
• If foreclosing party fails to withdraw the sale, the public trustee can withdraw the sale 45 days after the last possible date of sale, which is 12 months from the originally designated date of sale.

Rule 120 Hearing (Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 120):

• The notice of the Rule 120 proceeding must be served on the borrower, record owner of the property, and all other person who may have an interest in the property at least 14 days prior to the date set for the hearing.
• The hearing must be scheduled at least 16 days prior to the sale.
• The order must be received by the public trustee by noon on the second business day prior to the date of the sale. If the order is not received in time, the sale will be automatically postponed.
• The public trustee will not go to sale without this order, and a sale held without this order is invalid.

Sale of Property by the Public Trustee:

• The lender must submit its bid not later than 12 noon on the second business day prior to the date of sale. If this deadline is missed, the sale is continued for 1 week.
• The public trustee will auction the property at the time and place stated in the notice of sale, but no less than 16 days after the date of the scheduled Rule 120 hearing.
• On completion of the sale, the public trustee will issue a certificate of purchase to the successful bidder, and record copy within 5 business days of the sale.

Rescission of the Sale:

• The sale can be rescinded without a court order, if the holder of the certificate of purchase is the foreclosing party.
  Rescission must be requested within 8 business days after the sale.
• If the sale has been rescinded, the Lender can commence a new foreclosure sale scheduled not less than 30 days and not more than 45 days after the request for a new sale.

Redemption for junior lienors:

• All lienors must file notice of intention to redeem with the public trustee within 8 business days after the sale, with copies of the instruments evidencing the lien and a statement of the amounts required to redeem this lien.
• The public trustee, within 1 business day of receipt of the notice of intention to redeem, shall request the amount to redeem from the holder of the certificate of purchase.
• The lienor having the most senior party may redeem no earlier than 15 business days and not later than 19 business days after the date of sale.
• Thereafter, the lienors holding the next junior lien may redeem within 5 business days from the expiry of the previous lienor’s redemption period.
• The redemption period must be paid to the public trustee no later than 12 noon on the last day of the redemption period.
• The certificate of redemption must be recorded no earlier than 15 business days following the sale, but no later than 5 business days following the receipt of the redemption amount.
• Special redemption periods apply for liens filed by (1)The Internal Revenue Service (redemption period is 120 days from date of sale), (2) the federal government (redemption period is 1 year from the date of sale).
• No redemption period is shortened or altered by the fact that a prior lien redeemed prior to the end of that lienor’s redemption period.

Vesting of title:

• Title automatically vests at the end of all redemption periods in the holder of the last certificate of redemption.

Confirmation Deed:

• The public trustee must execute and issue a public trustee’s deed no earlier than 10 business days after both the vesting of title and the date that the public trustee has received all fees and costs.

​It’s a crazy market out there. Buyers are doing anything they can to secure a home, but inventory is low because potential sellers don’t want to be buyers in this market. And when a seller does list their home, their biggest fear is they won’t be able to find a new home in the time they must be out of their old one. A post-closing occupancy agreement might just work for your buyer who’s looking to make a stand-out offer, and your seller who’s worried about the timeline.

What is a post-closing occupancy agreement?
A post-closing occupancy agreement is when a seller retains occupancy of the property for up to 60 days after closing occurs, the tactic isn’t often used, but in this market, brokers consider it an ace in the hole, if navigated correctly.

Evaluate
Not all buyers are good candidates for the post-closing occupancy agreement, and it’s important to understand the clients’ current living arrangements. If the buyers are living at an extended-stay hotel, Airbnb, month-to-month apartment, etc., and can lengthen their stay or find another budget-friendly, temporary living arrangement, the post-closing occupancy agreement could be something to consider.

Similarly, there’s a note of caution on the seller’s side. Again, not all buyers can accommodate a post-closing occupancy agreement. If you list it as an upfront requirement, you run the risk of decreasing the number of offers you receive.

​Eight hundred thousand dollars is certainly not an unheard of price in the world of residential real estate, as prices shoot up in hot markets such as New York, the District of Columbia, and the San Francisco Bay area.

But what that amount buys in San Jose, a main node of Silicon Valley and its soaring estate prices, drew a second look: a debilitated, burned shell of a home on a small overgrown lot of the type your parents might have warned you to stay away from.
The median home value in San Jose is $1,078,300. That's up 23.9% over the past year, and is predicted to rise 8.4% over 2018. The fact that severe fire damage only bumped that average down to $800,000 says a lot about the area's market, where available housing is sparse and residents prioritize proximity to their employment.
PS: I just checked about an hour ago, so by the time you read this article know that the house is already under contract. I guess Metro Denver and Centennial prices are not that high after all :(

​The three largest credit-reporting agencies will begin cleaning up credit reports in July, which could help lift the credit scores of about 12 million consumers.

In a survey by the Federal Trade Commission, one in four people say they spot errors in their credit reports, most commonly concerning tax liens and civil judgments. Up to half of tax lien data on a credit report is inaccurate or incomplete. Civil judgments—which means a court has ruled a person owes money—also tend to be ripe with errors or omissions on a credit report, experts say. Consumers can dispute the errors, but the process can be cumbersome.

Beginning July 1, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion will automatically exclude tax lien and civil judgment records from credit reports if they are missing a person’s name, address, Social Security number, or date of birth. Claims that do contain this key information, however, will remain on credit reports.

Six percent of Americans with a credit score—or 12 million— likely will see their score go up once the new policy takes effect. About 11 million could see an increase of about 20 points. “A lot of people who have liens or judgments against them already have crummy credit to begin with,” says Keith Gumbinger, vice president at HSH.com, a mortgage resource website. “A 10- or 20-point increase isn’t going to make a difference for a lot of borrowers.”

But borrowers who are on the cusp of qualifying for a home loan may stand to benefit the most. For example, Gumbinger says, a would-be buyer with a credit score of 570 who receives a 10-point uptick may be able to qualify for an FHA loan. FHA loans require a minimum 580 credit score.

​
​Whether a home survives a wildfire is not random, nor is it a function of luck, most homes that exhibited attributes promoted by the FireSmart program -- including keeping combustible vegetation away from the house, uncluttered yards and low-flammability roofs and surfaces -- survive fires.

It seems clear that the survival of homes was a function of resistance to ignition and not a random event or a matter of luck, Beyond doubt, risk mitigation (FireSmart) guidelines demonstrated their effectiveness in mitigating risk under the harshest of wildfire conditions.
Most homes caught on fire as the result of embers from the forest fire landing on their property. "Based on site visits, no instances were observed where home ignition could confidently be attributed to direct contact by flames of the burning forest, and there were very few observations where home ignition was likely due only to radiant heat from the forest. Other studies have shown that embers generated by burning vegetation are common at distances of 300 to 1500ft, can occur at distances as far away as 8 miles and have been recorded as far away as 15 miles.

A new FireSmart Home Development Guide was recently released to help homeowners reduce the risk from wildfire. It's produced by FireSmart Canada, a national program designed to reduce wildfire risk that is administered a non-profit coalition called Partners in Protection.

The guide recommends that homes in wildfire-prone areas should have a simple roof design, made of non-combustible materials such as clay tile, concrete tile, metal or asphalt shingles. It should have few places where embers or combustible materials can accumulate. Proper maintenance of dormers, skylights and solar panels is recommended. Roof vents should be screened. Soffit vents can pull embers into the home during a fire so they should be screened as well.

It says some types of siding, such as vinyl, can melt when exposed to high temperatures, allowing the fire to reach the underlying wall components. Stucco, brick, fiber cement boards/panels and poured concrete offer better fire resistance. Multi-pane, tempered glass windows are recommended. Garage doors should fit properly with no gaps to allow for embers to enter.
Maintaining and removing combustible debris (such as lumber, stored vehicles, branches, grass and leaves) and firewood near the exterior walls will reduce a building's vulnerability to ignition during a wildfire, It is important to inspect your vents and openings regularly to ensure the vents are in good repair and remove any combustible debris.
Gutters and downspouts should be made of non-combustible material and should have a metal drip edge and a gutter guard.
For decks and porches, "the materials used to build the deck, combustible materials you store under your deck and the vegetation around it all contribute to how vulnerable you deck will be," says the guide. It suggests sheathing the underside of the deck or balcony with fire-resistance sheathing. Surround it with materials such as rock mulch, gravel, brick, concrete pavers or stones to prevent vegetative growth.
Landscaping is also an important part of making the home more fire resistant. The guide says there should be a 5ft horizontal non-combustible surface perimeter along the outer walls of the house.

Within 30ft of the structures, avoid using any woody debris such as mulch. Plants to avoid are cedar, juniper, pine, spruce and tall grass.

"A mowed lawn is a fire-resistant lawn. Grasses shorter than 1/2 inch in height are less likely to burn intensely," says the guide.

Any place where conditions allow for ignition and spread of fire between structures and vegetation -- the wildland-urban interface -- people are more exposed to the risk of wildfire and that needs to be considered and managed by all stakeholders. Preparing for the threat of a wildfire is a shared responsibility that will only grow in importance as climate change and other factors continue to increase the risk.
By Jim Adair