Foreclosure rate in Boone County

From Columbia Business Times:

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Local foreclosures on record pace; However, numbers still small proportion of property total

by Jacob Barker

November 28,2008

Tom Schauwecker, Boone County’s assessor since 1989, and Greg Harmon, a veteran real estate agent, are both authorities on the subject of foreclosures. Both say they’ve never experienced anything like the current market, which is forcing a record number of people to lose homes and land.

For Tom Schauwecker and his staff, the downturn is giving them some down time for the first time in years. For Harmon the slowdown has swamped his Web site, which tracks and lists foreclosures in Boone County.

Schauwecker said for the past 19 years, “we’ve been so busy appraising and photographing new construction, that the decline in building permits has allowed us to step back and do a little analysis.”
Tom Schauwecker

Tom Schauwecker
Greg Harmon

Greg Harmon

His staff was able to compile a detailed list of property foreclosures in Boone County-expected to reach 300 this year-and develop a map showing their location. There’s been a lot of inquiry on the subject, he said, primarily from the media.

Rob Wolverton, president of R. Anthony Development, cautions that the local foreclosure rate should be put in perspective: it’s high for Boone County, but low relative to total property and to the national rates.

“For those 300 people, this is a catastrophe,” Wolverton said. “But there are more than 40,000 housing units in Boone County. It’s an issue, but it’s less than 1 percent of the market.”

An estimate from the Secretary of State’s office at the beginning of October put the total number of foreclosed homes in Missouri at 27,000. Nationally, for all FDIC insured institutions, the ratio of non-current loans and leases to total loans and leases in the second quarter more than doubled, to 2.04 percent.

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To read more:

http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com/2825/2008/11/28/local-foreclosures-on-record-pace-however-numbers-still-small-proportion-of-property-total/