Ben and Lori Jensen of Meridian say they were stunned to receive a lawsuit from their bank months after they lost their home to foreclosure.
Month in and month out, Idaho’s foreclosure rate remains one of the highest in the nation. For many, losing a home is the definition of hitting bottom. But some former homeowners are finding themselves in an even tighter spot than they thought possible. They’ve lost their homes and wrecked their credit ratings. Now lenders are pursuing them for the debt that remains.
The day Ben Jensen found out that he and his wife, Lori, were being sued for more than $140,000 is fixed in his mind, like the slow-motion moments before a car crash. It was a weekday afternoon, and he’d just come home from work. “My wife and I were standing in the kitchen talking,” he remembers. “There was a knock at the door, she went to get it. And as she was walking back she had a really perplexed look on her face.”
Idaho has the unwelcome distinction of having one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. Nearly 2,000 Idaho homeowners lose their homes each month, according to RealtyTrac’s count of foreclosure filings. But that’s not the whole story. Even as many homeowners work their way through foreclosure, low prices draw new buyers in. It’s a cycle of dreams lost and dreams gained.
Not long ago, Carmel Crock made a drive that she had avoided for much of the last year. She turned onto a steep road that winds into the hills above Boise, past homes she knows well. “This is Jenny and Ray’s house,” she said. “I watched Ian be born, and I’ve known Corey since he was teeny tiny. And this house, the second one on the corner, is my house. Was my house.”
Molly Messick / StateImpact Idaho
Carmel Crock, in the backyard of her new home. Since her move, she has been trying to make the new house feel like a home by planting flowers and a small vegetable garden.
It’s a simple 1960s ranch, white with green trim. Crock says it was the sunset views and the peacefulness of this spot above the city that made her and and her husband, Ken Harris, want to live here. At night they could hear foxes barking, and wild turkeys calling to one another. “And quail!” she said. She and Harris used to joke to one another, complaining about the noise. “That was our laughter lying in bed with the windows open! A cacophony of wildlife.” Continue Reading →
Governor Butch Otter speaking at the annual Buy Idaho conference, October 5, 2011
Buy Idaho launched in 1986, with support from then newly elected Lieutenant Governor Butch Otter, as a way to market Idaho-made products. The member driven marketing cooperative celebrated its 25th anniversary this week. Governor Otter calls the 1,100 member Buy Idaho effort a “great success”. Still, he told attendees at Buy Idaho’s annual conference the group needs to be more aggressive.
“We’re going to continue to go to those marketplaces, go to those buyers that are not only in the U.S. but around the world, and say, ‘Folks we have things we think you need, and we in Idaho would be more than happy to supply those for you.’ And you never know what these marketplaces are looking for until you start demonstrating your products and how it might be applicable to their operation,” said Otter.
The governor is also urging local companies to ramp up hiring. With about 70,000 Idahoans out of work, Governor Otter asked Buy Idaho members to look at the recently passed tax credit program known as the Hire One Act as an incentive to add new jobs. Continue Reading →
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