Good Neighbor Next Door Program (50% off homes)
50% off Homes! You don’t have to be poor either!
How often does it occur? (spreadsheet - not very often, but often enough to create a saved search if you’re eligible)
Here it is on the HUD site directly:
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/housing/sfh/reo/goodn/gnndabot
https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/sfh/reo/goodn/gnndfaq
Owner Occupant Only
Buyer must live in the home for at least 36 months
No closing cost assistance allowed w GNND
Bid 100% of the list price - after 36 months of living there the silent second mortgage will be removed.
If back taxes are owed, HUD will not pay. They will not repair anything on the HOA inspection.
Good Neighbor Next Door Program - 50% off HUD homes for full time “EMTs, teachers, firefighters, and law enforcement.” Often you have to work with people in the area that you are purchasing, so you can’t be a teacher in Hampton and buy a home through the program in Norfolk. You have to serve the city that the property is located in. Here's one more catch "you may not own any other residential real property at the time you submit your offer to purchase a home; and for one year previous to that date."
https://investfourmore.com/2013/04/06/owner-occupants-guide-to-purchasing-hud-homes/
“What is the Good Neighbor Next Door Program?
The Good Neighbor Next Door Program (GNND) is a HUD specific program geared towards EMTs, teachers, firefighters, and law enforcement. HUD designates certain houses for this program and they will give a 50% discount to qualified buyers! In order to find these properties, go to Hudhomestore.com and click on Good Neighbor Next Door Program in the blue box. Then click on your state on the map to the right of the blue box. This will pull up all GNND properties in your state. Do not be surprised if there are not many properties available as HUD designates very few properties for this program.
HUD also has very strict policies regarding who can bid on GNND properties. The buyer must be a full-time employee in their field, work within a certain mileage of the property, and live in the property for three years. Bidding on a GNND is very simple. Your agent submits the full price in the GNND bid period and if HUD accepts your bid, they automatically discount the property 50%. These properties are not always in MLS, so check Hudhomestore.com frequently to find these listings.
HUD does not pay a commission on these properties to the listing or selling agent. Many times the agent representing the buyer will require the buyer to pay a commission directly to the buyer’s agent. If more than one buyer bids on these properties, HUD will randomly select the winner.”
Buyers’ agents do not get a commission for it but I still let people know about the program out of my love for deals, desire to serve buyers’ best interests, & recognition that business is not just about making a quick buck, but involves long-standing relationships & referrals. Buyers that want to use me as their buyer’s agent for it would pay me the greater of $2k or 2% of the contract price, which is usually (i.e. not a $30k property) less than the typical 3% commission.
Here are the only possibilities currently. At the time of this writing, there are only 2 homes in all of VA right now that qualify for this program, neither in Williamsburg. If you wanted a home sooner than when you pay off your car loan, this might be an option. One thing to keep in mind though is that the maximum amount of time when a listing in here is on the market is 1 week. There is an option though for notifications if you set up a free account with Hudhomestore.com during a time when a property is available. Set up the notification for the state, then if you eventually get a notification with a property for your city, set up one for that city/county specifically if the 1st property available in your city/county is not suitable for you.
One other thing that I could do would be to add a new search for HUD homes, but like the article said, these homes are not always listed on MLS. Also, it would show you all HUD homes, not exclusively those that were eligible for this program. Right now there are 4 HUD homes in Williamsburg & James City County, so it wouldn’t be that many homes to check if you did want me to set it up for you for automatic updates.
Here is the search criteria to find the eligible properties:
https://www.hudhomestore.com/Home/Index.aspx
(select state, buyer type is Good Neighbor Next Door)
It looks like the below when you pull it up for VA if nothing is available at the time throughout VA:
(image courtesy Hudhomestore.com)
List of past examples of Good Neighbor Next Door 4/19-11/21 categorized by region, city, and date & including other information (i.e. price, sq ft, beds, baths, year, etc.):
The # of HUD foreclosures has gone down in 2020/2021, so the # of GNND #s have gone down with it.