If you’re in one of fifteen Panhandle counties and you have an FHA loan, yes, for ninety days. If you’re anywhere else in Florida, including all seven of the counties I work in Northeast Florida, nothing about your mortgage changed this week.
FEMA approved a major disaster declaration for Florida on October 28, tied to Hurricane Isaias damage from October 6 to 12. That’s the step that actually starts a mortgage clock. An emergency declaration, which Florida already had, doesn’t do that on its own.
Which Counties Got the Declaration, and What Kind of Help Did They Get?
Fifteen counties: Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Walton and Washington. All of them got Public Assistance, which is money for governments and certain nonprofits: roads, schools, public buildings, debris removal. It doesn’t pay a homeowner anything.
Governor DeSantis had also asked for Individual Assistance, the household program, across eight of those same counties. That request wasn’t granted this time. FEMA’s release leaves the door open to add it later if damage assessments support it, but as of this week, it isn’t there.
Does the 90-Day Mortgage Pause Still Start Without Individual Assistance?
Yes, for an FHA loan. HUD’s rule ties the initial 90-day foreclosure pause to the disaster declaration itself, not to whether Individual Assistance comes with it. The clock on those fifteen counties started October 28, Individual Assistance or not.
What Individual Assistance buys is a second 60 days on top of that, and that part is still missing. If it gets added later, the extension follows. Right now it’s the plain 90 days.
A conventional loan runs on a different rule. Freddie Mac asks for a financial hardship plus one more thing: an insured loss on the house, a FEMA area eligible for Individual Assistance, or an employer in one of those areas. With no Individual Assistance designated yet, the insured-loss route is the one that’s actually open to a homeowner in those fifteen counties right now.
Does Any of This Reach Northeast Florida?
No. Duval, Clay, Nassau, St. Johns, Baker, Putnam and Flagler, the seven counties I work, aren’t on this list. I’ve been watching this move since October 18, when Florida’s request for the bigger step was still sitting in Washington, and I wrote on October 22 that an emergency declaration and a Major Disaster Declaration run two different clocks. This week the second one finally happened, for somebody else’s counties. Nothing changed for mine.
What Does a 90-Day Pause Actually Buy Somebody?
Time, not forgiveness. The payments that don’t get made during those ninety days don’t disappear. They sit there waiting on the other side of it.
Either way, the ninety days are real, and what happens with them is a choice. One option is starting the lender conversation, or a short sale conversation, while the window’s open. The other is waiting to see how the insurance and repair timeline shake out. Both are real options. What doesn’t change either way is that the arrears underneath a paused payment keep building the whole time.
In other news, the federal rule aimed at large investors picked up two actual numbers this week, and a deadline that matters if anyone wants to weigh in before it’s final.
Are There Exceptions to the New Investor Buying Ban?
I wrote about the ban itself here on October 27: a company controlling 350 or more single-family homes can’t buy another one starting January 7, 2027, with a carve-out for lenders working a foreclosure or a short sale. That part hasn’t changed.
Treasury’s proposal carves out two safe harbors on top of that. A renovate-to-rent purchase qualifies if at least 10 percent of what’s paid for the house goes into structural or core-system repairs. A homeownership-support purchase, built around eventually selling the house back to whoever’s renting it, qualifies at the lesser of $5,000 or 2.5 percent of the price, rising to 3.5 percent after seven years of renting.
Neither safe harbor is final yet. The public comment period runs through November 23, so anyone who wants a different number has until then to say so.
Jacksonville, Florida is my market, and distressed property is the bulk of what I work on. Happy to talk through where either one of these lands for your own situation.
JimArmstrong904@gmail.com, or (904) 671-4161 if a call’s easier.
Jim Armstrong, REALTOR® · Momentum Realty · SFR® (Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource) certified. This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.
Momentum Realty is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender.
