news-record.com

Some public employees in the Triad could win a potential real estate jackpot by buying a home for half-price under a federal program that expands to Rockingham County next month.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Good Neighbor Next Door initiative specifically targets law enforcement officers, pre-K through 12th-grade schoolteachers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians with the goal of helping them become owners of single-family homes in areas in need of revitalization.

Sale prices of the homes are based on an “as is” appraisal. For a home appraised at $120,000, a buyer pays only $60,000 — plus interest, if the buyer chooses to finance half the price of the home. Buyers also pay for closing costs, renovations and real estate commissions.

Rockingham County applied and qualified for the HUD program, according to Karen C. Cox, executive officer of the Rockingham County Association of Realtors. The national program already operates in areas in Guilford, Forsyth and Alamance counties.

In Rockingham, the program will initially provide homes for sale in northern and western Reidsville, Ruffin, Eden and Madison, according to Theresa McCollum, a Realtor with Kriegsman and Associates who started an effort to get the program.

Good Neighbor Next Door helps revitalize distressed low and moderate-income urban neighborhoods. Participants must be pre-approved by a lender before making an offer on a qualified property. Buyers also must live in the home as a sole residence for three years, and can use mortgage programs backed by the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs, conventional mortgages, or cash.

There are a number of guidelines.

• While Good Neighbor Next Door is not restricted to first-time homebuyers, participants may not own any other residential property in the year before an offer is submitted.

• Buyers sign a second mortgage on the discounted amount. No interest or payments are required on this mortgage, which is forgiven at the end of the 36-month occupancy period.

• Buyers must use a broker or Realtor to purchase the home. Also, HUD will not alter the list price and does not pay closing costs or real estate commissions.

Harrington, Moran & Barksdale Inc. in Charlotte acts as HUD’s management and marketing contractor for the GNND program in North Carolina. Properties are listed weekly online by HMBI (hud3.towerauction.net/NC.htm) at 8 a.m. on Friday mornings and remain listed for five calendar days. Prices vary by location, but a recent perusal showed a range of $40,000 to $140,000.

Qualified buyers submit an offer through a HUD-registered broker. If more than one buyer submits an offer, the winning offer is randomly selected and posted online on Wednesday morning.

For qualified Rockingham buyers, the program may be just the boost they’ve been seeking, especially when coupled with the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, available for home sale contracts entered by April 30 and closed by June 30.

“I think there are a lot of teachers, firemen, EMTs and police officers out there who are new in their professions and are probably not making a lot of money and this should appeal to them,” McCollum said. “If they stay three years, all the profits are going to be theirs.”

Greensboro firefighter Bryan Marshall, 27, agrees. The proud new homeowner used the GNND program to buy his first home for $120,000 in southwest Greensboro in July.

Marshall contacted Greensboro Realtor David A. Dalton, owner of Triad Homes Realty, who has sold several Good Neighbor Next Door program homes.

Dalton notes that HUD’s 50 percent discount is a great incentive. “It’s really better than reducing the price. When appraisers and other buyers and sellers in the neighborhood look for comparable sales, the Multiple Listing Service says this house sold for $120,000, not for $60,000. So it helps to preserve and stabilize home values in the neighborhood.”

Marshall’s neat three-bedroom, two-bath home has 1,276 square feet of living space and is on a cul-de-sac. “It took me 11 offers to finally get a home,” he said. “Patience is key.”

Marshall also qualified for the $8,000 tax credit, which he used to install new laminate flooring and crown molding, tile backsplashes in the kitchen and master bathroom, interior paint and new kitchen appliances.

Asked what he likes most about his home, he replied, “that it’s mine. And I can afford it. Being a fireman, I’d be living paycheck to paycheck if this program did not exist.”