HUD Guidelines? Truth or BS?

[Arthur Fuller II]

I recently came across a burn out on the mls... the asking price is $355k. I hopped onto propertyradar and found out that it is owned by FNMA. So I sent an email to the listing agent offering to purchase the property for around $180k. His response was that this house was under HUD guidelines and the price is firm at $355k.

I am very new to this so I'm just wondering if this is true? And if it is true who's going to buy a burned out property for that price when homes that have been rehabbed in the area are going for $400k tops?