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U.S. government real estate · 2,074 homes listed right now
The U.S. government ends up owning thousands of homes when federally-backed mortgages default, and it quietly resells them – sometimes for less than a used car. Right now 335 of them are listed under $100,000 across 38 states, 77 under $50,000, 15 under $25,000. Here they are on the map.
U.S. government homes under $100,000, mapped
334 homes owned by HUD, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, across 38 states. Pick your state to zoom in; click any dot to open the listing.
List price:under $10K$10–25K$25–50K$50–75K$75–100K
334 government-owned homes listed under $100,000 as of July 7, 2026. Sources: HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. Prices are current list/asking prices. Source: govauctions.app
The cheap houses cluster in the Rust Belt and the rural South – places where a foreclosed home can be worth less than the cost of demolishing it. 38 states have at least one government home under $100,000 on the market right now; the states with the most are IL (33), TX (26), PA (25), MO (22), OH (19). The typical government home isn’t dirt cheap: the median list price across all 2,074 of them is $210,000. However, the bottom of the market is just far lower than most people believe a house can go for. So what does a $3,000 house actually get you?
$3,000One of the cheapest houses in the country
420 E Dayton St, Flint, Michigan
A single-family house (3 beds, 1 bath, 1,056 sq ft, built 1924) that HUD took back in foreclosure and listed for $3,000 – about the price of a used car. It is sold strictly as-is: at this number the house almost certainly needs serious work, and you make an offer through a licensed agent (a HUD-registered broker) rather than in a live bidding war. But the list price is real, and it is public.
Photo & details: HUD (U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development), case listing.
And it’s not the only one
Cheap government homes aren’t a one-off. These are the lowest-priced government homes on the market right now:
What you need to know before you buy
- They’re sold as-is – and the cheapest ones are rough. A $3,000 house is priced for the land or a gut rehab. Assume roof, systems, and code work; budget for a contractor before you budget for the mortgage. Some are effectively teardowns.
- Check for liens and back taxes. HUD, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac convey a deed, but always run a title search – unpaid property taxes, water bills, or code-enforcement liens can follow the property. (We left out tax-lien and sheriff sales, which carry the worst of this, but do your own title work regardless.)
- You may not get inside first. Many are vacant and winterized with the utilities shut off. Some can be toured, some can’t; an inspection often means inspecting a cold, powerless house.
- You buy through an agent, not a live auction. These aren’t open-outcry – you submit an offer through a licensed real-estate agent (HUD requires a HUD-registered broker). Owner-occupants usually get a priority window before investors can bid.
- Financing is possible, but particular. The truly cheap ones are effectively cash deals; slightly nicer ones can use an FHA 203(k) rehab loan that rolls the repairs into the mortgage.
- The list price isn’t the final price. Some sell above ask; many sit for months and get cut. Treat it as a starting point, and verify condition, occupancy, and title with the listing agency before relying on any number here.
Look at the live listings yourself
Every dot on the map is a real home you can look up right now:
Method & sources
We took every real-estate listing on govauctions.app owned by the three federal housing agencies – HUD, Fannie Mae HomePath, and Freddie Mac HomeSteps – that is an actual dwelling (a bed count or explicit property type), and has a list price above $0. That’s 2,074 homes. 335 are listed under $100,000; 77 under $50,000; 15 under $25,000. The map plots the 334 sub-$100,000 homes with usable coordinates (38 states are represented; high-cost and very small states – most of the Northeast, plus Washington, Arizona, and the Mountain West – mostly have none this cheap), plotted on the same U.S. map our other research pages use. Filtering to a state zooms to that state’s own homes.
What these numbers are and aren’t. These are list / asking prices, not final sale prices. They are sold as-is, and offers go through a licensed agent, not a live open-outcry auction. We deliberately excluded tax-lien and sheriff-sale listings (which can carry redemption periods and occupied properties), raw land, and the mislabeled non-property “parcels” that appear in generic real-estate categories – so every home here is a deeded, agency-owned house you could actually buy. See What you need to know before you buy above before acting on any listing.
Data as of July 7, 2026, refreshed daily. Free to cite with attribution to GovAuctions. See also 40% of Government Surplus Gets Zero Bids and What Is Your State Government Selling?
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