A Palm Coast and Flagler County Homeowner Question

I’m current on my mortgage, but I can’t keep affording my house.
What are my options?

Seller questions › Current, but can’t keep affording it
Being current is the strongest place to start from.

Every option is still open. Here’s how to find out what actually changed, what the house really costs you each month, the help that exists in Flagler County, and how to put staying and selling side by side with your own numbers. Make the calls while you’re still current.

The short version

Find what changed.
Insurance, taxes, escrow, utilities, repairs or income. Each one has a different fix.
Add up the real monthly cost.
The mortgage payment is only part of what the house costs.
Some help exists.
Flagler County runs repair programs and emergency bill help, and the Tax Collector has a tax deferral program. Each has income rules, and the repair programs have a waiting list.
Call before you miss a payment.
Your mortgage company and a HUD-approved housing counselor have more room to work while you’re current.
Then compare staying and selling.
What the house costs you for the next year, against what you’d walk away with and what your next place costs.

What changed?

Most people in this spot didn’t do anything wrong. Either the house got more expensive to own, or the money around it got tighter. Pin down which, because each has its own fix.

Homeowners insurance: renewals can jump, and some insurers ask for a newer roof before they’ll renew. If you’re with Citizens and have wind coverage, a separate flood policy becomes required for all policies on January 1, 2027, in any flood zone.

Property taxes: a homestead’s assessed value can go up by as much as 3% a year. If you bought recently, the bill can jump once the previous owner’s capped value and exemptions come off. How property taxes work in Flagler County.

Escrow: if your taxes and insurance are paid through your mortgage, your payment moves when they do. Your mortgage company reviews the escrow account once a year. If it comes up short, you can be asked to repay the shortage over at least 12 months, on top of the higher ongoing amount. Why a payment climbs on a fixed-rate loan.

Utilities: in Palm Coast, water and wastewater rates went up 5.1% on October 1, 2026, and the stormwater fee went from $36.16 to $38.33 a month. Homes in Flagler Beach, Bunnell and the unincorporated county have different providers.

Repairs: a roof, an air conditioner, a water heater. They come in lumps, not monthly, which is why they break a budget that looked fine on paper.

Income or the household: a job change, retirement, a divorce, someone moving out, medical bills. The house didn’t change. The money around it did.

What keeping the house actually costs

Take the last 12 months of real bills, add up everything the house cost, and divide by 12.

1. Mortgage principal and interest
2. Escrow
Or taxes and insurance, if you pay them yourself.
3. Flood insurance
If it’s a separate policy.
4. HOA dues
5. Utilities
Power, water, sewer, stormwater, trash and internet.
6. Upkeep
Lawn, pest control and pool.
7. Every repair you paid for
Then add what’s coming in the next year: a roof the insurer flagged, an air conditioner near the end of its life, a tax bill that hasn’t caught up yet.

Here’s what most people don’t realize. The monthly payment is the number everyone watches. The renewals and the lump-sum repairs are what usually break the budget. Know the full number before you decide anything. To see principal, interest, taxes and insurance as one payment, use the mortgage calculator.

Ways to make staying work

If you want to keep the house, check these first. Each has its own rules, and none of them is automatic.

Shop the insurance. Ask a licensed independent agent to quote more than one company. Ask about a wind mitigation inspection: Florida requires home insurers to post their mitigation discount information on their websites, and the inspection form is good for up to five years. The state’s My Safe Florida Home program offers free wind mitigation inspections and, for homeowners who qualify, grants of up to $10,000 toward upgrades like a roof or impact windows. For questions about your policy, the state’s Insurance Consumer Helpline is free at 1-877-693-5236.

Check the tax bill. Make sure your homestead exemption is on. If your taxes are high compared to your household income, ask the Flagler County Tax Collector about the homestead tax deferral program. Applications are due each year by March 31.

Ask your mortgage company about the escrow. Ask for the latest escrow analysis. If it shows a shortage, ask to spread it over 12 months. If the tax or insurance figure in it doesn’t match your bill or your policy, ask them to correct it.

Help with bills. Flagler County Human Services can help low-income residents with past-due rent or utilities up to twice in 12 months, and says mortgage help may be provided. Palm Coast utility customers can call Palm Coast Customer Service at 386-986-2360 about a high bill or payment options.

Help with repairs in Flagler County

Flagler County runs repair programs for homeowners who live in the house, carry a homestead exemption and have household income up to 80% of the area median.

A roof can qualify when insurance requires replacement, the roof is leaking, or it has less than six years of life left: up to $25,000, as a loan forgiven over five years. A larger repair program covers roofing, electrical, plumbing, windows and wind protection, up to $80,000 forgiven over 15 years. Owners 60 and older can get up to $12,000 for changes like ramps, wider doors and grab bars.

These are not emergency repairs. The county says a wait of six months to a year is common. If you sell before the loan is forgiven, the rest is repaid at closing. Homes in foreclosure or behind on the mortgage don’t qualify. Details on the county’s Home Repair Assistance page, or call 386-586-2324.

Call before you miss a payment

Call the number on your mortgage statement and ask what options the owner of your loan allows. Some loans can be reviewed for a change in terms before a payment is missed. The rules are narrow: usually a hardship like a death in the family, a disability or a divorce, plus limited savings. The answer depends on who owns your loan, so ask.

Before that call, talk to a HUD-approved housing counselor. In Flagler County, Mid-Florida Housing Partnership is HUD-approved and helps with budgets and mortgages: 386-274-4441. The county lists their homeowner workshops on the third Saturday of each month at the Southern Recreation Center in Palm Coast, with registration required. To find another HUD-approved counselor, call HUD at 800-569-4287.

What to have ready

1. Your latest mortgage statement and escrow analysis
2. Your insurance renewal and this year’s tax bill
3. Proof of income
Pay stubs, benefits letters, last year’s tax return.
4. A list of your monthly expenses
5. What changed
When it changed, and whether it’s temporary or for good.

Never pay anyone up front to save your house

Anyone who charges a fee before doing anything, or asks you to sign the deed over and rent it back, is running the oldest scam aimed at people in this spot. Housing counseling is free. More on this on the behind on payments page.

Staying or selling: put them side by side

Once you have your numbers, compare the two plainly.

Option One

Keeping it

Your full monthly cost for the next 12 months, plus the repairs that are due, minus any help you’ve actually been approved for, not just applied for. Then the question: can the household pay that every month without the savings running down?

Option Two

Selling it

The sale price, minus every loan payoff, minus the cost of selling. What’s left is your money. Then what it costs to move, and what the next place costs each month.

The comparison that usually decides it: what this house costs you each month, next to what your next place would cost.

If I sell, will I have enough left to move?

Start with what the house would really sell for, then take out:

1. Every payoff
The mortgage, any second loan or HELOC, liens, and any county repair loan not yet forgiven.
2. Agent commission, if you list
3. Closing costs
Including Florida’s deed stamps of $0.70 per $100 of the price.
4. Repairs or credits a buyer asks for
5. Holding costs
Mortgage, insurance, taxes and utilities until the day it closes.

What’s left is your proceeds. That’s a different number from what you need afterward. Moving takes movers, a deposit and first month on a rental, or a down payment and closing costs on the next home.

Two things that help if you sell. If you buy another Florida home and file for homestead, you can carry up to $500,000 of your Save Our Homes tax savings with you, as long as the new homestead is set up within about three years. And if you lived in the house for 2 of the last 5 years, up to $250,000 of profit is generally free of federal tax, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly.

See what you’d actually walk away with

A free calculator that puts your payoff, other liens, any back payments, repairs, commission, closing costs and the months until it sells against what the house would sell for. Then add your moving and next-home costs to see what’s really left.

No email required, nothing to sign.

Run your numbers →

How this works in Flagler County

Who answers which question.

Your loan options and escrow
Your mortgage company, at the number on your statement.
Budget and mortgage counseling
Mid-Florida Housing Partnership, 386-274-4441, or HUD’s counselor search, 800-569-4287.
Repair programs
Flagler County Home Repair Assistance.
Past-due bills
Flagler County Human Services.
Your tax bill and the deferral program
Flagler County Tax Collector.
Homestead exemption and carrying it to a new home
Flagler County Property Appraiser.
Water, sewer, stormwater and trash in Palm Coast
City of Palm Coast Customer Service, 386-986-2360.
Insurance questions
The Florida Insurance Consumer Helpline, 1-877-693-5236.
Free wind mitigation inspection
My Safe Florida Home.

What I’d do first

Pull the last 12 months of bills and add up what the house really costs. Then call a housing counselor and your mortgage company while you’re still current.

Then decide with real numbers. Keep it with help, lower what it costs, or sell on your own timeline and keep the difference. Which one is right depends on your numbers.

Robert T. Szigeti

Still not sure where to go from here?

That’s okay. Some people just need to talk it through out loud with someone who knows the numbers. I buy houses. If your numbers say keep it, keep it. If selling turns out to be the right answer, tell me, and we’ll look at it together, on your timeline.

Not sure yet? Let’s talk it overNeed to sell quickly? Talk to me

Robert T. Szigeti · Investor · Problem Solver · Palm Coast, FL
robert@therobertszigeti.com386-307-3179
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Where this comes from · checked October 21, 2026
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