Floridians will see a 45-day home foreclosure grace period during the 2008 Holiday Season.  Last week, Governor Crist joined officers of the Florida Banking Association and the Florida Credit Union League to announce the start of the Holiday foreclosure relief period.

Financial institutions across the Sunshine State volunteered to participate in the 45-day period, agreeing to stop filing new foreclosure petitions and scheduling foreclosure sales for homestead properties.  Non-homesteaded properties, businesses and second homes are not included.

Over 150,000 Florida households were impacted by the foreclosure process in October. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently made a similar announcement, suspending foreclosure and eviction proceedings from November 26, 2008 through January 9, 2009.

BOTTOM LINE: The foreclosure grace period is the right thing to do to give Floridians more time to get back on their feet.  Additional help will come from the Streamlined Modification Program, ready to launch on December 15, which gives homeowners the ability to modify their mortgages into lower monthly payments, hopefully avoiding foreclosure.