Buy a HUD home: Good Neighbor Next Door program for law enforcement officers

The Good Neighbor Next Door Program is one way to buy a HUD home if you are a law enforcement officer. If you qualify, you can get a home for half the listing price.

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) offers you help to buy a home if you live in specific areas or work in certain professions, like teaching, firefighting and law enforcement. HUD and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) may provide you with a low-cost home and financing. To buy HUD homes as a law enforcement officer, you have even more help through the Good Neighbor Next Door (GNND) program.

When the FHA guarantees a loan for a homeowner and that person defaults on the loan, the FHA takes back the property. HUD resells these homes through its website and authorized real estate agents. You can find homes for sale in every state across the country. If you qualify for the GNND program, you can buy these homes for half the listing price.

HUD introduced the Good Neighbor Next Door program as a way to help impoverished areas that need revitalization. That doesn't mean all the homes are in bad areas; even rural communities, small town, and well-known cities can fall onto the list of revitalization areas. HUD wants to help these communities bounce back and does so by helping dependable people like you buy homes in those areas. The GNND program is open to you if you work in law enforcement officers, education, emergency medical service, and other professions.

The only requirements to buy one of these homes are that you work in an approved field and you agree to live in the house for 36 months or longer. Once the three years pass, you can move into another home, sell that home, or buy other HUD homes. Law enforcement workers such as you and other police officers and sheriff's deputies, must pay for the home upfront or take out a mortgage on the home. HUD gives you up to 180 days to move in after closing on the home, which provides you with ample time to make any necessary repairs and get the house ready before the residency requirement begins. This is especially if you buy a HUD home because they often need repairs.

If you want to look at foreclosed homes in your area and other types of property listings, go to RealtyNow to find homes for sale. The FHA has many loan programs in addition to the GNND program to help you get a home loan.