Solar and Energy Loan Fund<\/a>, or SELF, to finance the work.<\/p>\n\u201cEspecially since you have a business you\u2019re running in here,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cSo it\u2019s very important. And when you may not have the funds to do certain things when your home breaks down.\u201d<\/p>\n
SELF loan program manager Richard Montoya said air conditioning is a critical need for Florida homeowners.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Florida, one thing that we always say is in this state, air conditioning is not a luxury, it\u2019s a necessity,\u201d Montoya said.<\/p>\n
He added the need extends beyond air conditioning. He said rain has led more homeowners to seek financing for roof repairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now with the rain currently, my phone is ringing off the hook for roofs because people will put them off as long as they can,\u201d Montoya said.<\/p>\n
SELF is a nonprofit community development financial institution that finances home repairs and helps borrowers connect with vetted contractors. The organization said more than 500 households in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County have received financing through the program. Montoya said SELF evaluates borrowers differently than many traditional lenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re looking for is for that person to have disposable income,\u201d Montoya said. \u201cSo we do not have a minimum credit score requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Borrowers still have to show they can repay the loan, including being current on their mortgage, property taxes and installment loans. Montoya said qualifying borrowers receive the same interest rate regardless of credit score.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe interest rate is the same for everybody,\u201d Montoya said.<\/p>\n
For Jenkins, restoring the air conditioning meant keeping her home-based child care business running.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause this is my income as well,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cAnd you got to have, you know, running lights, water, air for the kids to be comfortable while they\u2019re in your home.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the repair completed, Jenkins said she is looking at ways to grow the day care business her home makes possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can go large now,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cAnd when you go large, you go from six to 12 kids and you have to hire an employee.\u201d<\/p>\n
SELF said its home-repair financing is available year-round across Florida.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit also finances repairs for manufactured and mobile homes, where owners can face fewer traditional financing options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 A nonprofit lender is helping Florida homeowners finance major home repairs, including air conditioning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[274,558,2375,28,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":["post-428691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-fadia-patterson","tag-florida","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}