A housing report from the Coloradoan. "Throughout much of the year, Colorado led the country in the number of foreclosures. Mortgage lender Lou Barnes said most of the foreclosure activity stemmed from loans that required little or no down payment or was in areas with soft housing markets. He said soft markets in Larimer, Weld and Adams counties and in eastern Longmont have come to be known as the 'foreclosure belt,' where a glut of new housing has depressed prices of existing homes."

"'That means the buyer from three years ago who's in trouble now can't get out of their house,' he said. 'If you've got less than 5 percent equity in your house and prices aren't appreciating, you can't afford to sell your house."

"In Larimer County, 1,748 homes were listed in either pre-foreclosure or foreclosure on a Web site. Weld County listed 3,036 homes in foreclosure in 2006. Nearly 800 Boulder County residents defaulted on their mortgages in 2006, making for the highest number of foreclosures in the county in nearly 20 years."

The Denver Post. "Foreclosures blighted entire neighborhoods from Pueblo to Greeley. They also caused home values to fall for mortgage-paying homeowners across the Front Range."

"Critics inside and outside the mortgage industry say certain loan terms increase borrowers' risk of default. In its reporting, The Post found a correlation between 100 percent loans and foreclosures. Of nearly 1,000 foreclosures during one month in Adams, Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, more than half involved no-down-payment loans."

"Currently, 'the mortgage broker will find an appraiser he likes to use' on every sale, said Ivor Hill, an appraiser on the attorney general's mortgage fraud task force. That makes it too easy 'to influence the appraiser to the desired value.'"

"'The perspective on the street is that no one is looking. In the off chance you get caught, nothing will happen to you,' said Chris Holbert, president of the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association."

"Homes nestled in the foothills close to Denver usually have gorgeous custom layouts and are built on large lots with spectacular views."

"But those unique features haven't been enough to keep the real estate market from slowing in recent months in the hills above Boulder, around nearby Nederland and in places like Evergreen and Conifer in Jefferson County, according to Metrolist. The housing market in Estes Park is 'off 10 percent,' said Tom Adams, a real estate broker in the town."

"'We're picking up the bad PR off the Front Range, in my opinion,' he said. 'They don't understand this is a good market to buy real estate, especially if you are a baby boomer looking to retire.'"

"Homes in all price ranges sat vacant this fall in Evergreen and Conifer as Realtors scratched their heads, trying to figure out how to entice buyers."

"Two houses priced in the low $300,000s went unsold, as did one at $895,000. In fact, only half as many homes in Evergreen-Conifer sold during October as sold in the same period the year before, according to Realtor Tupper Briggs. 'Our market had the rug pulled out from underneath it in September. October was very slow,' Briggs said."

"In the second quarter, home sales in Conifer ZIP code 80433 dropped 18 percent over the previous year, although sellers got nearly 98 percent of their asking prices. In Evergreen ZIP code 80439, a total of 131 homes sold in the $500,000 range, but prices dropped almost 10 percent from the year before."

"'I can't blame the buyers that are waiting on the sidelines. They didn't want to buy a property today that would be worth less six months from now,' Briggs said."

"Nederland appears to have been hit a lot harder, according to data for ZIP code 80466 from Metrolist. The mountain town west of Boulder, near Eldora ski area, experienced a more than 14 percent price drop on homes averaging $330,000 in the second quarter, and a 30 percent drop in sales, according to Metrolist."

"Higher-end properties have 'been very slow,' said (broker) Bill Goodacre. 'There was a foreclosure in Boulder County (of a house) that was over $1 million. It was overpriced,' Goodacre said."