Prices and values for South Florida homes have generally seen an “across the board drop”, with some markets experiencing more drastic percentage drops than others.  The Palm Beach real estate market is actually one of the markets where prices and values are still doing significantly better in comparison and is therefore slightly less of an investment and/or buying risk than markets where prices continue to fluctuate.

On top of that, the state of Florida also seems to be eyeing Palm Beach with more confidence.  It recently bestowed the county’s local governments with its State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP) program, an $8.9 million dollar fund which, much like the name implies is intended to further develop programs and grants in order to boost homeownership among those with lower income and tackle foreclosure prevention by continuing to fund programs designed to assist distressed homeowners.

Receiving the SHIP funds does entail a few prerequisites however.  Programs designed to assist first time buyers and existing homeowners must already be in place and no neighborhood can have inflated mortgage rates that are higher than thirty percent of what the median value of homes in the neighborhood are currently at.  This removes the need to start from scratch and ensures that the funds are being used as effectively as possible.

The money does (and can) go beyond foreclosures and first time home buyer assistance.  Assuming the requirements have been met, governments may also choose to use the money to construct additional beachfront condos, take care of costly repairs or create additional assistance programs of some sort.

The more that can be done to help those people who don’t have six figure salaries or the homeowners drowning in mortgage debt, the better the chances of improving the country’s real estate market situation and SHIP can only work in favor of these buyers and homeowners.