Foreclosure Process

What is a Foreclosure?

Foreclosure occurs when a homeowner is no longer able to make mortgage payments as required. This allows the lender to seize the property, removing the homeowner and selling the home, as stipulated in the mortgage contract.

When a foreclosure takes place, the following steps occur:

1. Notice of Election and Demand is recorded within 10 business days of receiving a packet from the lender's attorney.
2. Sale date is set between 110 through 125 calendar days after the NED was recorded (non-ag).
3. Combined Notice is mailed within 20 calendar days after the NED was recorded.
4. Second Combined Notice is mailed with 45-60 calendar days prior to first scheduled sale date.
5. Combined Notice published in local paper 45-60 calendar days prior to the first scheduled sale date.
6. Notice of Intent to Cure must be received at least 15 calendar days prior to the first scheduled sale date. A cure, in the form of a cashier's check, must be paid by noon the day before the sale.
7. The court order authorizing the sale and the signed and itemized bid must be received by noon two (2) business days prior to sale day.
8. The Pre-sale List is made available by 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday before Thursday's sale.
9. The sale is conducted at the Clear Creek County Courthouse, Office of the Treasurer & Public Trustee at 11:00 a.m. on Thursdays
10. The Certificate of Purchase is recorded within five (5) business days.
11. A Notice of Intent to Redeem must be filed by a junior lienholder within eight (8) business days after the sale. Foreclosures started in 2008 and newer do not allow for owner redemptions.

How to Start a Foreclosure in Clear Creek County: 

Pursuant to laws effective 1/1/2010,

In order to start the foreclosure process, the following is submitted to the Public Trustee's office along with a referral of the case and a Certificate of the Current Owner of the debt:

1. Original or certified copy of the recorded deed of trust.
2. Original promissory note or bond if original note has been lost. Some qualified foreclosing lenders may submit certain documentation in lieu of the note if they fall under the guidelines of C.R.S. 38-38-100.3(20) or if Qualified Holder: Copy of original promissory note and Certification of Qualified Holder, signed by attorneys representing holder.
3. Notice of Election and Demand for Foreclosure.
4. Mailing List, which includes names and addresses of parties to receive Combined Notice of the sale, rights to cure and rights to redeem.
5. Additional documents required under foreclosure statutes.
6. Payment of required fees.

The above documents are submitted to the Public Trustee by a Colorado-licensed attorney representing the lender of the loan in default. The Public Trustee records the Notice of Election and Demand (NED) and starts the foreclosure proceedings. This must be done within ten business days after receiving the documents from the lender's attorney.
A Combined Notice of Sale, Rights to Cure and Redeem is sent to parties listed on the mailing list or amended mailing list. The mailing list or lists must include all parties whose interests appear in an instrument recorded subsequent to the foreclosed deed of trust and prior to the recording of the NED. The notices are sent to the addresses shown on the recorded instrument. If there is no address, then by statute it is not necessary to send the notice in care of the county seat. The Public Trustee sets the sale date to be not less than 110 calendar days nor more than 125 calendar days from the date of recording of the NED for non-agricultural properties or not less than 215 calendar days nor more than 230 calendar days from the date of recording of the NED for agricultural properties.
Clear Creek County requires an initial deposit of $650 for all foreclosures

How to Determine Agricultural Status C.R.S. 38-38-108(2(a)(I)

1. If necessary the Clear Creek County Public Trustee shall make a determination immediately upon the opening of the foreclosure.
2. This office shall accept as evidence: 

a. Certified copy of recorded subdivision plat
b. Written statement from city or town clerk
c. Written statement from county assessor
d. Statements must be dated no more than 6 months before the NED was filed

3. Our determination is binding
4. Statements used in determining agricultural status no longer need to be recorded
5. Cost for determining status may be included as a portion of the fees and costs charged by the attorney
Please do not include copies of statutes for mailing. This is covered in the cost of postage and copies.

How to Cure a Foreclosure:

A cure amount is the amount necessary to bring a foreclosed loan current. The Public Trustee's foreclosure files only contain cure figures when an Intent to Cure has been filed and the figures have been received from the foreclosing attorney.

The only parties legally allowed to file an Intent to Cure include, but are not limited to: property owners, persons liable, grantor of evidence of debt and junior lien holders pursuant to C.R.S. 38-38-104(1). An Intent to Cure must be filed at least fifteen days prior to the date of the scheduled Public Trustee sale.

The Intent to Cure Form (PDF) may be filed by email, fax, mail or in person at the Office of the Clear Creek County Public Trustee (please call or email to verify that we received the document). There is no fee to file and does not obligate the filer. Cure funds must be received in the Public Trustees office by noon on the day before the sale, and must be in the form of cash or verifiable bank cashier's check.

Please do not expect to receive information of the amount due immediately after filing the form. The Public Trustee's Office must request that information from the lender or lender's attorney. Upon receipt of the figures from the lender or lender's attorney, the cure amount will be provided to you as requested. The figures may be good for only a limited time so if you do not cure by the valid figure deadline set forth in the statement, you will need to request an updated cure statement through the Public Trustee's Office.

To learn more about your foreclosure options, please call the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline at (877) 601-4673.

The above information is provided only as an informational tool and is not intended to serve as legal advice.

How to Bid at a Foreclosure Sale:

Preparing in advance: 

It is your responsibility to do research before coming to the sale to bid on a property. The Public Trustee cannot and does not guaranty that the deed of trust being foreclosed is a first lien – it could be a second or third lien. The Public Trustee does not know the condition of the property, or if the property taxes or assessments have been paid or if there are any other liens against the property. If you do not know how to check the "condition of title" or the "chain of title" to the property, you may wish to hire someone to do the research for you.

You can obtain the foreclosure case number for the property by looking it up at our website, Foreclosure Search.

On Tuesday, two days before sale, we will have posted in our office by approximately 2:00 p.m. listing of properties scheduled to go to sale that week (Thursday). The lender's written bid is required to be provided, in writing, to the Public Trustee prior to the posting of the Pre-Sale Continuance List (foreclosure search, foreclosure reports). The bids are public information and you may search our foreclosure search, sale information, bid, to see the opening bid amount. Bids received from the lenders may be amended at the time of sale so long as the lender's representative is personally present at sale and re-executes the amended written bid.

Be advised: The lender or its attorney, or the Public Trustee, may pull or continue a property from the sale list at any time up until the sale begins Thursday morning.

Check in on sale day:

The Clear Creek County Public Trustee holds foreclosure sales on Thursday's promptly at 11:00 a.m. – Sales are held at the Clear Creek County Treasurer & Public Trustee's Office, in the Clear Creek County Courthouse, 405 Argentine Street, Georgetown, Colorado. See Map (PDF)

If you intend to bid on a property, you should arrive at the office about 15 to 20 minutes early to complete a Bidder Registration Form (PDF) with your name, address, etc. This information will be used for the Certificate of Purchase, please be sure it is accurate and legible.

Those interested in bidding must personally attend the sale. We do not take over-bids by phone, fax or e-mail. If you are appearing at the sale to bid on behalf of someone other than yourself or another entity that you do not own or control, you need to have written authorization, a letter of agency notarized pursuant to CRS 15-14-607, and verbally state that your bid is being entered on behalf of that other person or entity at the time the bid is made.

Bidding at the sale proceeds in increments of $5.00 – if the lender has submitted a bid for $150,000.00, for example, you must bid at least $150,005.00 in order to be the successful bidder.

You will also be required to have sufficient funds with you to bid on the property. Payment of successful bid amounts must be made in the form of a verifiable bank cashier's check. Checks must be payable only to the "Clear Creek County Public Trustee". We cannot accept third party checks. The Public Trustee will strike and sell the property to the successful bidder after bidding has ceased and funds have been provided.

Pursuant to laws in effect on January 1, 2008 for cases started after that date, the successful bidder will not get an original Certificate of Purchase at the time of sale. Successful bidders will be provided with a Receipt from the Public Trustee after the sale is completed. A Certificate of Purchase will be issued in the name and address of the successful bidder as shown on your Bidder Information Form and recorded (within 5 business days) by the Public Trustee's office and retained in our office records.

As the grantee named in the Certificate of Purchase, you do not have immediate right of access to the property. A Certificate of Purchase does not transfer title to you, it merely evidences your investment made at the time of sale.

The Redemption Process:

A junior lien holder has 8 business days after the sale to file an intent to redeem. The most senior lien may redeem 15 to 19 business days after the sale, but no later than noon the final day. If multiple lien holders file an intent to redeem, each additional lien holder will receive a five day redemption period.

If you are contacted for redemption figures, interest is calculated at the rate specified on the note and additional expenses are limited to those allowed by statute. Please be prepared to provide receipts for expenses incurred. Redemption figures must be received within 13 business days after the sale. The statement must specify all sums needed to redeem including the amount of per diem interest and the interest rate. The statement may be amended up until 2 business days before the start of the next applicable redemption period. Your statement of redemption must comply with 38-38-302 C.R.S.

If redemption occurs, the Certificate of Purchase holder is paid the bid amount, interest at the rate specified in the Deed of Trust and Note being foreclosed, and any other allowable costs as specified by Colorado Revised Statutes (receipts must be supplied) as provided in C.R.S. 38-38-107 and as included in your redemption statement. Thereafter, upon written request and payment of the required fees, the Public Trustee's office will issue a Confirmation Deed to convey title to the last redeeming party.

If no Notice of Intent to Redeem is filed and no redemption is made by anyone, you must request, in writing, that our office issue your Confirmation Deed, no sooner than 15 business days after the sale. You must pay a $30.00 fee, plus recording costs, for issuance of the recorded Deed. The Confirmation Deed shall be issued by the Public Trustee and recorded with the Clerk & Recorder's office. If you are the grantee of that Deed, you will then have ownership of the property.

Notice to an owner in foreclosure: 

If your property goes to foreclosure auction sale and is purchased for more than the total owed to the lender and to all other lien holders, please contact the Public Trustee's office after the sale because you may have funds due to you.

The Public Trustee's office does not provide legal advice and we do not do any eviction proceedings. Once the Confirmation Deed is issued by this office and recorded, the Public Trustee's file is closed.

IF THE BORROWER BELIEVES THAT A LENDER OR SERVICER HAS VIOLATED THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT IN SECTION 38-38-103.1 OR THE PROHIBITION ON DUAL TRACKING IN SECTION 38-38-103.2, THE BORTROWER MAY FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE COLORADO ATTORNEY GENERAL, THE FEDERAL CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU (CFPB), OR BOTH. THE FILING OF A COMPLAINT WILL NOT STOP THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS.