As has been discussed ad nauseum on this blog and in other places, Florida (along with Nevada, California, and Arizona) was one of the states that was ravaged by the housing bubble. Property values fell precipitously when the bubble burst, and now 47 percent of Floridians with mortgages are underwater on their homes. Unemployment is currently at 11.5 percent, third-highest in the nation. Twenty-five percent of the country’s foreclosures are located in Florida. One in seven homes are in foreclosure, and one in five homeowners with mortgages are delinquent on payments.
Unfortunately, the situation does not look to be improving anytime soon. There are more than 440,000 unsold homes in Florida that are lingering in shadow inventory. Eventually these properties will come to market, and barring a swift change in fortunes, there will not be a lot of demand for them. This almost guarantees that home prices will continue to fall in Florida.
Despite the poor situation, there is some help on the way for unemployed homeowners. Starting on April 18th, some homeowners will be able to apply for help through the Florida Hardest-Hit Fund (click here for their website). The Hardest-Hit Fund is a program run through the Treasury Department that gave money to some of the states that suffered the most from the housing bubble. There are two programs in Florida:
The Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program provides funds to unemployed or underemployed homeowners to make mortgage payments or mortgage-related costs such as property taxes or homeowner’s insurance (up to $12,000).
The Mortgage Loan Reinstatement Payment Program grants funds to unemployed or underemployed homeowners to bring their past-due mortgages current (up to $6,000).
All funds are provided as a 0% interest. deferred-payment loan. The loan is forgiven at a rate of 20%, beginning 18 months after the loan is taken. Again, please check the Florida Hardest-Hit Fund website for complete details and eligibility requirements.
Given the size and scope of the problems in Florida, I don’t know if the limited amount of assistance that is available will make any real difference to those whose homes are worth tens of thousands of dollars underwater.
Loading ...
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment