Can you really buy a HUD home for $1?

How the Dollar Homes program actually works

HUD ends up owning a lot of houses through FHA foreclosures. Most sell on hudhomestore.gov within weeks. A few do not sell at all: homes in places with no market, homes that need more work than they are worth, homes where the numbers just do not add up. After six months on the market with no acceptable bid, and only if the as-is appraised value is $25,000 or less, HUD can offer the home to the local government for $1.

The city or county buys it, plus normal closing costs, and takes on a set of obligations. The home has to be used to create housing for low- and moderate-income families or address a specific community need. It cannot be flipped for profit, handed to an investor, or turned into something that is not housing. Some governments rehab the house and sell it to a qualified family at cost. Some partner with a nonprofit. Some hold it as rental.

So the $1 is real. It is just not a price you can pay.

Why you almost never see one in Colorado

• The $25,000 ceiling. The cheapest HUD homes in Colorado right now are in the $110,000 to $140,000 range, in Pueblo and the Eastern Plains. Metro Denver HUD homes start well above $140,000. Nothing on the Front Range appraises at $25,000.
• Six months unsold. Colorado HUD homes generally sell inside the first two bidding periods. Sitting for six months takes a home that nobody wants at any price.
• Where they do exist. Dollar Homes are a Rust Belt and rural phenomenon: cities with empty blocks and homes worth less than the cost to demolish them. That is not the Colorado housing market.

The $1 home ads are not this program

If you have seen “buy a home for $1” online, it is usually one of three things. A lead-generation site collecting your information to sell to lenders. An overseas program in a shrinking town in Italy or Japan, with renovation obligations that cost far more than $1. Or an outright scam asking for a “processing fee.” HUD does not sell homes to individuals for $1 and never charges a fee to see listings. Everything HUD has for sale is on hudhomestore.gov, free, with the real prices attached.

What Colorado buyers can actually get

• Good Neighbor Next Door. 50% off the appraised value for full-time teachers, law enforcement, firefighters and EMTs who live in the home for 36 months. This is the real deep discount, and it is a lottery, so you need an agent watching daily.
• The $100 down incentive. On some FHA-financed owner-occupant purchases, HUD accepts $100 down instead of 3.5%. Not on every listing; ask about the one you want. Financing a HUD home explains how it fits.
• CHFA down payment assistance. Colorado’s own program layers on an FHA loan and covers most of the down payment for buyers under the income limits. CHFA and FHA together.
• Buying a HUD home at all. Priced at appraised value, sold with owner-occupant priority, agent paid by HUD. For most Colorado buyers this is the discount, and it is a real one. How to buy a HUD home.

If you work for a city or county

Dollar Homes are offered to the local government where the home sits. If you are the housing or community development office for a Colorado municipality and want to know whether any HUD home in your jurisdiction is approaching eligibility, call us. We watch the state inventory every day and can tell you what has been sitting and for how long.

Where to go next

• Good Neighbor Next Door in Colorado
• Buying a HUD home on a budget: which incentives still exist
• Down payment help that pairs with a HUD purchase
• HUD homes for sale by city
• Find a HUD-registered agent
• HUD home FAQs
• Search current HUD listings on our main site