Business
High Foreclosure Rates In Boise
April 22, 2009 
Boise made another list today when the Associated Press noted the city of trees ranked #27 in the nation when it comes to home foreclosure rates. Much of that reason is thanks to inept government at tall levels and greedy developers.
Local politicos worked hard to accommodate developers and builders with one stop shopping at development services, and a host of crimes aimed at encouraging growth–including annexation and approval of really bad planned communities and subdivisions.
Meanwhile bankers and assorted mortgage brokers falsified incomes, net worth, and inflated values of property.
Big businesses like Micron and Albertson were given tax breaks helping Boise get on “business friendly” city lists. One big reason Boise and Idaho were so “business friendly” was low unemployment taxes.
What a rip-off! The big employers got special tax treatment and didn’t pay much of anything for unemployment tax on their large labor force. Now those of us who manage to run a profitable business are forced to pay more than double the unemployment rate to take care of the greedy big companies. To make it worse, Micron sends jobs overseas and qualifies its idled workers for two full years of unemployment–most of it at expense of others.
Same old story. There is no free lunch and the big guys control the little people who run our governments. Despite what you may hear from the Chamber of Commerce, businesses simply do NOT locate in Boise so they can pay higher wages. They come for cheap labor and electricity and if they can find cheap elsewhere, they will go there.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Apr 22, 2009, 12:02 pm
“Meanwhile bankers and assorted mortgage brokers falsified incomes, net worth, and inflated values of property.”
So does government…last year the city overvalued my home by $15K…I am waiting for this years ‘value’. Which is the more immoral, lying like a rug to get folk into homes or lying like a rug to extract tax money from those folk?
Apr 22, 2009, 7:01 pm
I wonder what zip code has the most foreclosure notices. Guardian can you find out and let us know? TIA.
Apr 22, 2009, 7:25 pm
Raised in Boise, I have been an employee of Albertsons (now Supervalu) for more than 3 decades. My office job has been outsourced to India. In a few short days, I too will join the ranks of the unemployed. Yet the company still receives their tax breaks. Supervalu employs thousands of people—in India. Think about that the next time that you buy your American Made groceries in your American owned store.
Apr 22, 2009, 7:50 pm
B.B.B. I feel your pain, my husband has been Albees for more than 20 years, on the store level, and everyday I wonder if he will have a job. But with all the jobs being out sourced to India, at least U.S. exports are doing well …
Apr 22, 2009, 9:14 pm
Please be sure as you read stories like this to put things in context of the bigger picture. The foreclosure rate in the Treasure Valley as reported by the news media (who got their information from RealtyTrac) is 1 in 42 homes. This equates to a 2.4% overall rate, meaning 97.6% of the homes are NOT being foreclosed on.
Also please take into consideration that a lot of these foreclosures are coming from poor real estate investments being made by people thinking they could buy houses and flip them. Unfortunately you can’t buy high and sell low on a flip and come out ahead. I research the real estate listings almost daily and there are a ton of half-remodeled homes in the valley that investors thought they could make some easy money on.
Having said that, there is also no question that the real estate prices in the entire valley are grossly overinflated which is stagnating home sales. I own two older (well over 50 years old) properties in Ada County and have watched their values soar to completely unrealistic figures over the last 6 years – 60% increases in value. There is no way I could sell either one for what the assessor says they are worth. Older homes in the Boise city limits, even after losing some value and including short sales and foreclosures, are still typically selling for between $100 and $250 dollars a square foot depending on location. These amounts are pretty premium prices for a ‘depressed’ market and houses are selling albeit at a slower pace comapred to 2-3 years back. Smaller commercial real estate locations are disappearing off the market extremely quickly meaning that investor interest in this area is very high.
I agree about the unemployement taxes. I also run a business in Boise and between them and the workers comp it takes your breath away. What Micron has done to Boise is reprehensible as well. They should have taken away their stupid tax breaks for outsourcing.
Apr 23, 2009, 1:14 am
Wow! The world is ending. I agree with both the original post and the comments.
Apr 23, 2009, 6:08 pm
Does Albertsons/ Supervalue still get a tax break for outsourcing jobs overseas? I heard they take Rupees and Dollars at Albee’s.
Apr 24, 2009, 8:35 pm
“What Micron has done to Boise is reprehensible as well. They should have taken away their stupid tax breaks for outsourcing.”
Oh well–if tax breaks for irresponsible businesses bother you, then how about the humongous tax breaks the Leg. voted to offer French-government-owned AREVA if they would build a dirty uranium reprocessor over in Idaho Falls.? AREVA went for it. Now idaho can look forward to being a sacrifice zone for radioactive wastes produced by reprocessing. This waste stays in Idaho, nowhere else to put it.(Ever hear of Hanford?) Having polluted most of France, AREVA is getting ready with the help of the Leg. to pollute Idaho.
Apr 25, 2009, 10:50 am
Uh…Yucca Mountain….You know, the place we built that Reid refuses to let us use….
Apr 25, 2009, 10:25 pm
Yucca Mountain–Reid? He’s right, and so are the majority of Nevada citizens opposing opening Yucca Mtn.
The place leaks, and it’s over an active volcanic zone. Even if it were open, it could not accommodate the tons of stuff still buried at INL and contaminating the Snake River acquifer– which DOE so far has stonewalled about removing–much less the new more excessive waste that would result from the AREVA reprocessing deal.
May 20, 2009, 4:57 pm
The forclosures on commercial properties is starting to heat up. One is up for auction near my house. But who cares, they don’t contribute much to the tax base in Boise anyway.
Jun 17, 2009, 4:51 pm
Many of you seem aware that Developers, not Local Government controls growth in Idaho.
Having the Development & Banking Industries in control of our legislature has terminated all Citizen reform efforts to replace Forced Growth with Voting Rights for those effected.
Knowing ‘who’ your bought Legislators are is key to the cure. Same Corporate Lobbyists are responsible for the National housing collapse.
This information is available on the http://www.voteforabetteridaho.org website.
SOLUTION;
In my years of dealing & lecturing on this issue, I spoke with a gentleman in Alaska who was successful in unseating several public Officials & Legislators on Oath of Office ‘Contract’ violations.
The Voters Guide on the above website documents all Idaho legislators who have Voted for or against their constituent’s Right to Vote. This was Annexation Reform legislation that would have given ‘you’ the right to vote concerning Growth, Taxation & your Property Rights.
Voting records don’t lie & Taxation Without Representation is a worthy cause.
I recently joined the Boise OATH KEEPERS chapter.
Perhaps one day this patriotic organization will consider Oath Enforcement as a worthy Solution. we citizens would have little to complain about if our Public Servants honored their Oath.
Idaho ranks 3rd from the ‘bottom’ Nationwide concerning Political Ethics required to hold a Public Office. We get the kind of rulers we’re willing to tolerate !!