A couple of years ago RealtyTrac was in some hot water for over-inflating foreclosure statistics for the state of Colorado. According to one Foreclosure Article in The Seattle Times, published online on June 16, 2007, “RealtyTrac reported 54,747 foreclosures last year — one of the highest in the nation. The state’s Division of Housing, however, said the actual number was 28,453 and publicly chastised the firm for inflating numbers.”

The article titled, “Numbers from foreclosure statistics company questioned,” continued by stating the company doubled, even triple-counted foreclosures for a single property.

The article was just one in a slew of articles that offered somewhat of a public outcry for more accurate figures. The main concern, that the figures being reported by non-governmental, for-profit companies were being used in governmental review, and eventually considered in proposed law to help curb the onslaught of foreclosures.

Now two years later, in response to these inaccuracies, Colorado has signed into law a new housing bill, aimed to collect and report its own statewide foreclosure statistics. A Colorado Springs blog reporting on the issue states, “concerns have been raised that foreclosure numbers for Colorado are inflated versus other states that have already implemented standardized reporting procedures. This can put Colorado at a disadvantage when national numbers are analyzed and compared.”

The new housing bill (HB 1196) will help regulate foreclosure reporting, at least for government and media use in the future.