Colorado Foreclosures can be judicial or non-judicial in nature. The Colorado foreclosure process is overseen by the public trustee and the proceedings take place out of court. The normal time taken for the proceedings to happen is 6 months.

In Colorado, the foreclosures are conducted through a public trustee. There is a public trustee for each county and are either elected by public vote or appointed by the governor. The Colorado non-judicial foreclosure process starts when the lender files all the required documents with the public trustee. The filing is done to request the sale of the foreclosed property. The public trustee has to officially record this request for foreclosure and once that takes place, the sale or auction can be scheduled.

After a date has been decided for the auction, the lender will have to obtain a court order to allow the sale/auction to take place. The court will first schedule a hearing so that the matter or foreclosure in question is considered in a legal light and then it informs all the parties affected. In a situation where there is no one contesting that the borrower has defaulted, the court will move forward without a hearing and allow the auction to take place.

In a situation where the borrower wants to pay the amount he/she owes on the loan to stop the Colorado foreclosure, then he/she will have to first submit his/her intention to the public trustee 15 days prior to the sale. Once the borrower is able to pay the amount he owes then he/she can discontinue the Colorado foreclosure process. All this has to be done before noon the day prior to the sale.

The public trustee can schedule the Colorado foreclosed property sale 45-60 days from the date of the recording of the initial foreclosure document. A foreclosure auction can’t take place without the notice of sale, which has to be published in one of the local newspapers for five consecutive weeks. It is also the duty of the public trustee to mail a copy of the notice of sale to the homeowner/borrower.

Normally, the public trustee conducts the auction at the courthouse. During the sale, the trustee can read the written bids, which have been submitted by the various parties and the lender. The bidder who wins the property will have to pay the entire bid amount to the trustee by cashier's check or by paying cash once the sale is over. In return, the winning bidder will get a certificate of purchase.

Although officially the sale may be over, but the borrower will still have approximately 75 days to redeem his/her property. He/she can redeem it by paying the amount of the winning bid and interest.

If you need more information about Colorado foreclosure laws, you should contact a foreclosure lawyer, or contact us so we can recommend one for you.