{"id":14700,"date":"2013-01-11T15:57:11","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T22:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=14700"},"modified":"2013-01-11T15:57:11","modified_gmt":"2013-01-11T22:57:11","slug":"what-were-reading-8-5-billion-and-a-lot-of-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2013\/01\/11\/what-were-reading-8-5-billion-and-a-lot-of-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"What We&#8217;re Reading: $8.5 Billion, And A Lot Of Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_14720\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"A lock hangs from the front door of a foreclosed home.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2013\/01\/1-11-Foreclosure.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14720\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2013\/01\/1-11-Foreclosure-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2013\/01\/1-11-Foreclosure-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2013\/01\/1-11-Foreclosure-620x413.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">John Moore \/ Getty Images<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A lock hangs from the front door of a foreclosed home.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Idaho&#8217;s housing market underwent a dramatic turnaround in 2012.\u00a0 The state&#8217;s foreclosure rate began to come down.\u00a0 Single family homes began to make up some of their staggering loss in value.\u00a0 Now, Boise is showing stronger signs of recovery than most metro areas, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/research\/interactives\/metromonitor#US-recovery-overall-nv\" target=\"_blank\">according to the Brookings Institution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But 2011 &#8212; when Idaho posted one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation &#8212; is not yet a distant memory.\u00a0 That&#8217;s part of why we&#8217;ve kept a close eye on this week&#8217;s news of an $8.5 billion foreclosure settlement between banks and federal regulators.\u00a0 <!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/04\/12\/little-by-little-idahos-hard-hit-housing-market-begins-to-revive\/\">Little By Little, Idaho&#8217;s Hard-Hit Housing Market Begins To Revive<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2011\/10\/25\/in-the-wake-of-foreclosure-a-debt-that-wont-die\/\">In the Wake of Foreclosure, a Debt That Won&#8217;t Die<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2011\/10\/12\/in-idahos-depressed-housing-market-dueling-dreams\/\">In Idaho&#8217;s Depressed Housing Market, Dueling Dreams<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2011\/08\/PhillipSpears_Getty-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/housing-market\/\">Your Guide to Idaho&#8217;s Housing Market<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The settlement drew immediate criticism.\u00a0 Since it was announced Monday, it&#8217;s been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/01\/09\/opinion\/another-slap-on-the-wrist-for-big-banks.html\" target=\"_blank\">called a &#8220;slap on the wrist&#8221;<\/a> for the 10 banks involved.\u00a0 Homeowner advocates have<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nclc.org\/images\/pdf\/pr-reports\/pr-banks-settlement-forecl.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"> said<\/a> the $3.3 billion in cash payments to be distributed among 3.8 million borrowers is &#8220;wholly inadequate.&#8221; And <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em> has <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424127887323706704578229973583372266.html\" target=\"_blank\">explained<\/a> why the deal is a win for banks: settling early in 2013 allows them to put the costs on their fourth-quarter financial reports.\u00a0 That gives them a clean slate for this year.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When certain events occur after the end of a fiscal quarter or year but before that period&#8217;s earnings have been disclosed, U.S. accounting rules require companies to count the impact of those events in that period&#8217;s results.<\/p>\n<p>That means the banks&#8217; 2013 results will be free of those big obligations, giving major lenders better 2013 results to present to investors at a time when sentiment on bank stocks is turning more positive. &#8211; The Wall Street Journal<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Today, a <em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/01\/11\/business\/bank-deal-ends-flawed-reviews-of-foreclosures.html?hp&amp;_r=0\">report<\/a> <\/em>in <em>The New York Times<\/em> details the many problems with the agreement.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a valuable read.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s a sliver of the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/01\/11\/business\/bank-deal-ends-flawed-reviews-of-foreclosures.html?hp&amp;_r=0\" target=\"_blank\"> full piece<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Because they have no idea how many borrowers were harmed, the regulators are spreading the cash payments over all 3.8 million borrowers \u2014 whether there was evidence of harm or not. As a result, many victims of foreclosure abuses like bungled <a title=\"More articles about loan modifications.\" href=\"http:\/\/topics.nytimes.com\/your-money\/loans\/loan-modifications\/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier\">loan modifications<\/a>, deficient paperwork, excessive fees and wrongful evictions will most likely get less money. &#8211; The New York Times<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The deal announced Monday is distinct from the <a title=\"Where Idaho Borrowers Stand in Today\u2019s Mortgage Settlement\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/02\/09\/where-idaho-borrowers-stand-in-todays-mortgage-settlement\/\">$25 billion mortgage settlement<\/a> reached nearly a year ago.\u00a0 Idaho&#8217;s share of <em>that<\/em> settlement was about $13.5 million dollars.\u00a0 As <em>StateImpact<\/em> has <a title=\"Housing Settlement Dollars Go Toward Tax Revenue Gap, Not Homeowners\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/06\/08\/housing-settlement-dollars-go-toward-tax-revenue-gap-not-homeowners\/\">reported<\/a>, most of that money went into Idaho&#8217;s general fund, not toward housing programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Idaho&#8217;s housing market underwent a dramatic turnaround in 2012.\u00a0 The state&#8217;s foreclosure rate began to come down.\u00a0 Single family homes began to make up some of their staggering loss in value.\u00a0 Now, Boise is showing stronger signs of recovery than most metro areas, according to the Brookings Institution. But 2011 &#8212; when Idaho posted one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":14720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[40],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14733,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14700\/revisions\/14733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}