The unemployment rate is big news. On the one hand, the Labor Department stated that U.S. employers added 163,000 jobs last month. On the other hand, the nation’s unemployment rate went up to 8.3 percent. (For more statistics, you can click here.)
We know that many Floridians are grimly job searching. The applications, the resumes, the interviews, are all part of the hamster wheel of hunting for new employment. These facets turn the job of hunting for a job into the most difficult type of work in existance.

On top of the stress of actual job-hunting, comes the fact that, yes, your largest bill, the home mortgage, is still due.

That is why we are concentrating this blog on some special programs for Floridians hit by the slump in the job market. Florida Housing Finance Corporation (Florida Housing) created Hardest-Hit Fund (HHF) programs to for assisting unemployed, laid off, or underemployed homeowners.

This Florida program is supported by more than a billion dollars from the federal program TARP(Troubled Asset Relief Program.)

Steve Auger, executive director of Florida Housing, stated, “We’re now in the position to offer this financial assistance statewide to the people out there who are desperately struggling to stay in their homes,”

If you are an unemployed home owner, then as part of HHF, The Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program (UMAP) could provide you up to $12,000 up to six months for mortgage payments and accompanying expenses. Yes, they will even include taxes and insurances.

This is not just a “free ride,” homeowners involved in UMAP will still be required to pay “25 percent of their monthly incomes, with a minimum of $70 a month.”

Another program, MLRP Mortgages Loan Reinstatement Payment Program is also part of the HHF. This program gives as much as $6,000 to qualified homeowners with past-due mortgages.

The programs often allow these loans to be paid off over a five-year period with no interest.

David Westcott, the director of homeownership programs at Florida Housing, stated, “These changes could allow Florida Housing to provide financial assistance to nearly 40,000 homeowners statewide — twice as many as we previously estimated could be helped.”

Perhaps you have no need for such a program, but we invite you to pass the information to someone that you know who has recently become unemployed. Maybe your neighbor down the street, or your recently “laid off”cousin on the other side of Orlando would like to know that HHF extends a helping hand. The programs are a for homeowners in temporary mortgage payment trouble as they job hunt.

“This temporary relief from their mortgage payments will provide some ‘breathing room’ so they can focus on being re-employed at a level that will allow them to resume making payments on their own,” said Auger.

Click here to visit the official website, learn more about the programs and see why Palm State Mortgage thinks it is a “hand-up,” not a “hand-out.”

HFF is only one of the many programs we understand at Palm State Mortgage. We have dedicated many years of experience and vigilant attention to financial events in order to bring our best skills to our clients and friends.  We hope you will remember that we are here to help you find the best mortgage or refinancing help possible. We will assume the role of your “personal shopper” and find you the “best fit” for your mortgage needs.