If you’re in one of eight Panhandle counties, the federal government will lend you the money. Not give it to you, lend it. The Small Business Administration published the terms this week: 3 percent if you can’t get credit anywhere else, 6 percent if you can, and the application window closes December 28.
Is This a Loan or a Grant?
A loan. The SBA published two notices in the Federal Register on November 4, both tied to the disaster declaration for Hurricane Isaias. The one that reaches homeowners is a physical damage loan, and it works like any other loan: you borrow it, you pay it back, with interest.
What Does It Actually Cost?
The rate depends on whether you can get credit somewhere else first. If you can’t, it’s 3 percent. If you can, it’s 6 percent. Businesses pay more, 4 percent or 8 percent depending on the same test, and private non-profits pay 3.625 percent either way. For comparison, a 30 year mortgage is averaging 7.18 percent this week. That’s a different kind of loan for a different purpose, but it tells you the SBA rate isn’t nothing. It’s still a payment you didn’t have before the storm.
How Long Do I Have to Apply?
Physical damage loans close out December 28, 2026. A second deadline, July 27, 2027, applies only to Economic Injury loans, which are a separate program for lost income rather than storm damage. Don’t mix the two up. Applications for either one go through the MySBA Loan Portal at lending.sba.gov, or by calling 1-800-659-2955.
Does This Apply to My County?
Only if you’re in Bay, Escambia, Gulf, Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton or Washington County. All eight sit in the Panhandle. None of them are up here. If you’re in Duval, Clay, Nassau, St. Johns, Baker, Putnam or Flagler, this round doesn’t reach you.
It’s still worth knowing how the program works, because it runs the same way every time a disaster gets declared, and Florida gets a few of these most years. The next one might land closer to home.
Does Taking This Loan Make My Mortgage Problem Worse?
A grant is money. A loan is a payment, on top of whatever you’re already paying the mortgage company every month. If your insurance already came up short on the repair, this fills part of the gap with debt rather than cash, and the balance on your house doesn’t move an inch to match it. For a homeowner who takes the loan and then can’t carry both payments, the house could end up selling a year or two from now anyway, and if the repairs never got finished, it sells as a damaged house. That’s not a knock on anybody who takes this money. Sometimes it’s the only option on the table. It’s just not the same thing as the problem going away.
In other news, mortgage rates fell again this week, and buyers still didn’t show up.
Rates Dropped Again. Does That Mean My House Will Finally Sell?
Not yet, at least not by the numbers. Freddie Mac put the 30 year fixed at 7.18 percent as of November 5, the third straight weekly drop. A year ago that same rate was 6.22 percent, so even with three weeks of declines, borrowing is still a full point more expensive than it was last November.
And the buyers aren’t moving. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s own survey, for the week ending October 30, put purchase applications 19 percent below the same week a year ago. Refinance applications are down 60 percent over the same stretch. More people are reaching for an adjustable rate loan too, 11.4 percent of applications, the highest share since September 2025, which is usually what happens when the fixed payment doesn’t pencil out for somebody.
Three weeks of small rate drops haven’t produced a buyer yet. If you’re sitting on a house you owe more than it’s worth and waiting on rates to fix that, the data so far says the wait isn’t paying off. That cuts harder on a short sale than on an ordinary listing, because a lender’s valuation on a short sale file only holds for so long, and the file has to find a buyer before it expires.
Jacksonville is home base, and distressed property is most of what I work. Happy to talk through your own situation whenever it’s useful.
JimArmstrong904@gmail.com, or (904) 671-4161 if talking beats typing.
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.
