1,401,176 HECM reverse mortgages insured by FHA since 1989.
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These are the questions people ask me every week, answered the way I'd answer them across the kitchen table. Short answer first, then the details.
Don't see yours? Ask below, or call us at 530-888-6000. If one person is wondering, a lot of other people are too.
No. Your home doesn't need to be paid off. A reverse mortgage pays off your existing mortgage and any other liens at closing, out of the loan itself. You do need enough equity that the reverse mortgage can cover those payoffs, and if it falls short, you'd bring the difference to closing from your own money or a gift. Whatever is left after the payoffs is yours to use.
No. A HECM reverse mortgage has no time limit, and living a long time is never a reason for the loan to come due. You can stay in your home for the rest of your life, as long as it's your primary residence and you meet the loan terms. If you chose tenure payments, they keep coming for as long as you live there, even if the balance passes the home's value. Outliving the math is the whole point.
Usually not. A reverse mortgage is a long-term tool, and its upfront costs are hard to justify if you'll sell within a year. A HELOC, a bridge loan, or simply waiting for the sale often costs less. But if you're selling to buy your next home, a HECM for Purchase may be exactly the right fit. As a broker with a full product lineup, we can look at all of it.
You can, and for some people that's the right call. But they aren't really either-or. Claiming at 62 locks in a permanently smaller monthly check, while waiting until full retirement age or 70 generally means a bigger one for life. Some people use a reverse mortgage line of credit to cover the years in between, so they can wait. That strategy has real costs, so it's worth running both ways before you decide.
Yes and no. On an adjustable-rate HECM, you can change how you receive your money after closing, for example from a line of credit to monthly payments, for a small fee capped by HUD. You can't switch the loan itself, like fixed to adjustable or HECM to jumbo, without refinancing into a new loan. On a fixed-rate HECM, you took a single lump sum at closing, so there's no payout plan to change.
The most you can get from a HECM is called your principal limit. It's based on three things: the age of the youngest borrower or eligible non-borrowing spouse, your home's value up to the HECM lending limit, and the expected interest rate. Older ages and lower rates mean more money. Any mortgage you still owe is paid off first, and HUD limits how much you can take in the first year. The quickest way to see your number is our calculator.
Yes. You keep the title, and you still own your home. The lender holds a lien on it, the same way a regular mortgage or a home equity line does, but the bank doesn't own your house. You can sell it whenever you want, with no prepayment penalty on a HECM, and keep whatever equity is left after the loan is paid.
Every borrower on the HECM must attend counseling, and so must a non-borrowing spouse. Anyone else on title who won't be a borrower generally has to be counseled too. If someone is acting on a borrower's behalf, like a power of attorney, conservator, or guardian, that person attends as well. Family members aren't required, but they're welcome, and I encourage it.
A reverse mortgage is a loan against your home where repayment is put off until later, usually when the home is sold after you move out or pass away. Instead of you paying the lender every month, you can receive money as a lump sum, monthly payouts, a line of credit, or a mix. There are no required monthly mortgage payments, but you must continue to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, maintain the home, and meet the other loan terms. The most common type is the FHA-insured HECM, for homeowners 62 and older.
Yes. A HECM reverse mortgage can be paid off in full or in part at any time, with no prepayment penalty. On an adjustable HECM with a line of credit, money you pay back generally becomes available to draw again, and it keeps growing. If you want to keep the line of credit open, don't pay the balance all the way to zero. Proprietary (jumbo) loans set their own payoff rules, so check yours.
No. Federal appraisal independence rules mean your lender orders the appraisal, usually through an appraisal management company (AMC), not you, a relative, or a real estate agent. An appraisal you order yourself can't be used for the loan, so you'd be out whatever you paid for it. Your brother-in-law can still help in other ways, like pulling recent sales or walking through the home with you before the appraiser arrives.
Often, yes. The manufactured home itself has to meet HUD's rules: built after June 15, 1976, with its HUD labels, on a permanent foundation, and classified as real property along with the land. The addition should be properly built and permitted, and the appraiser has to find comparable sales that support the value. If the appraiser can't find good comparables, or the addition raises structural questions, that's usually where these loans get stuck.
Probably not as things stand. A reverse mortgage is secured by the property described in your title documents, so a garage on a separate parcel usually can't be counted in the appraisal. Even if the appraiser misses it, the underwriter will usually see two parcels in the title report and ask for a fix, which can delay the loan or lower the value. The usual fix is a lot line adjustment or lot merger that puts the home and garage on one parcel before the appraisal. Talk with us before you order anything.
You can start planning and even do your counseling today, and on a HECM you can apply a couple of months before your 62nd birthday. You just can't close until you turn 62. Counseling is good for 180 days unless an FHA case number is assigned first, so time it carefully. If you can't wait, some proprietary (jumbo) programs accept younger borrowers in some states, including Finance of America's HomeSafe Standard at 60 in Washington. Let's look at which path fits.
Sometimes. FHA lets counseling be waived on a HECM to HECM refinance, but only when every condition is met, including applying within five years of your original HECM's closing date and passing the five times cost test. Counseling can never be waived in 13 states, including California and Texas, even when FHA's conditions are met. And if the refinance adds a borrower or a non-borrowing spouse, counseling is required.
In most cases, yes, wait until the change is final. When we order your FHA case number, the property type is set from the details we have that day. If the home is still legally a condo, it will need HUD condo approval, either for the project or for your unit. Once the county records the change and your legal description reflects it, the condo approval step usually goes away, which can save time and some headache.
Yes. On an adjustable-rate HECM, the unused part of your line of credit grows over time, at the same rate as the loan balance, which is the note rate plus annual FHA mortgage insurance. Only the unused part grows, so if you draw every dollar, there's nothing left to grow. The lender can't freeze or reduce a HECM line of credit as long as you meet the loan terms. Fixed-rate HECMs have no line of credit, and proprietary programs set their own rules.
Yes. A HECM reverse mortgage is a non-recourse loan, which means the home is the only thing that secures it. If the home sells for less than the loan balance when the loan comes due, neither you nor your heirs pay the difference out of pocket. FHA insurance covers the shortfall. If there's equity left after the loan is paid, it belongs to you or your heirs.
Yes, in most cases. A HECM for Purchase only requires that the new home becomes your primary residence within 60 days of closing; it doesn't require you to sell the old one. But you'll need to show you can afford both homes, including any mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, and HOA dues on the one you keep. And if your current home has an FHA loan, it may have to be paid off first, because FHA generally limits you to one FHA-insured mortgage at a time.
A HECM is for your primary residence only, so your servicer has to confirm each year that you still live in the home. The occupancy certification is how they do it. Fill it out, sign it, and send it back by the deadline. If you don't, the servicer will usually follow up, and an unanswered certification can eventually lead to the loan being called due, so don't set it aside.
No. Your home still passes to your heirs the way you've planned, through your will or trust. When the loan comes due, they can keep the home by paying off the loan, or sell it and keep whatever equity is left after the loan is repaid. On a HECM, if the home is worth less than the balance, they don't have to pay the difference out of pocket. What a reverse mortgage does change is how much equity is left, because the balance grows over time.
Since HUD's Mortgagee Letter 2024-06, for case numbers assigned on or after April 29, 2024, sellers and other interested parties can contribute up to 6 percent of the sales price toward a HECM for Purchase buyer's costs. That money can go toward origination fees, other closing costs, prepaid items, and the upfront mortgage insurance premium. It can't be used for discount points or rate buydowns, and the lender and loan originator can't contribute. Costs a seller normally pays by law or local custom don't count toward the 6 percent.
There isn't a set waiting period. A HECM can be possible during or after a Chapter 11, as long as any liens on your home and any federal debts are paid off, and you have a court order, signed by the bankruptcy judge, saying you don't need to pay off the bankruptcy first and may go ahead with the reverse mortgage. The lender will also review your credit and payment history in the financial assessment. A recent bankruptcy can mean part of your loan is set aside to pay property taxes and insurance.
Generally, no. Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare aren't based on your income or savings, and reverse mortgage money is a loan, not income. Needs-based programs are different. SSI and Medicaid don't count loan money as income, but money you keep past the month you receive it can count toward their resource limits. If you get SSI or Medicaid, or may need them, talk with a benefits professional before you draw large amounts.
No, he doesn't have to be a borrower. But as long as you're legally married, HUD treats him as a non-borrowing spouse on a HECM, even if you're separated. If he no longer lives in the home, he would generally be an ineligible non-borrowing spouse, which means his age isn't used to figure your loan amount and he wouldn't have the right to stay in the home after you're gone. Once your divorce is final, he's no longer part of the picture at all, so the timing of your application matters.
On a HECM with a case number assigned on or after August 4, 2014, an eligible non-borrowing spouse can stay in the home after the last borrower dies through what HUD calls the deferral period. To qualify, the spouse must have been married to the borrower at closing and stayed married, been disclosed and named in the loan documents, and lived in the home as their primary residence. To keep the deferral, they must keep living there and continue to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, maintain the home, and meet the other loan terms. Since 2021, the spouse no longer has to prove they hold title or a legal right to stay, which the old 90-day rule required.
A HECM counseling certificate expires 180 days after the date you completed counseling, unless an FHA case number has already been assigned to your loan. Once your lender has a case number, the certificate stays tied to that loan, so it's fine if the 180 days pass while your loan is still in process. If no case number was assigned in time, you'll need to complete counseling again. If your case number later expires and a new one is needed, the lender can generally link a still-valid certificate to the new case number.
An eligible non-borrowing spouse is married to a HECM borrower, isn't on the loan (usually because they're under 62), and lives in the home. If the borrower dies or moves into long-term care, the loan's due date can be deferred, so the spouse can generally keep living there. To keep that protection, they must stay married to the borrower, keep living in the home, and continue to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, maintain the home, and meet the other loan terms. The tradeoffs are that the younger spouse's age lowers how much money is available, and no more money is paid out after the borrower dies.
Because California law requires a cooling-off period. Under California Civil Code section 1923.2, a lender can't accept a final and complete reverse mortgage application, or charge you any fees, until 7 days have passed since your counseling session. In practice, that means the 8th day after counseling is the earliest your full application can be accepted. The wait is there so nobody rushes you from counseling straight into a loan.
An ineligible non-borrowing spouse is married to a HECM borrower but isn't on the loan and doesn't meet HUD's requirements for the deferral period, most often because they don't live in the home as their primary residence. Their age isn't used to figure how much money is available, which can mean more money at closing. The tradeoff is real: they have no protected right to stay in the home, and the loan can come due when the last borrower dies or moves out. Both spouses sign a certification at closing saying they understand this.
There isn't a set waiting period for a HECM refinance after a Chapter 13. You can even get one while you're still in the plan, as long as liens on the home and any federal debts are paid off at closing or the bankruptcy court approves the new loan. For a HECM for Purchase, at least 12 months of your Chapter 13 payout period must have passed, every plan payment must have been on time, and the court must give written permission. Either way, the lender reviews your credit and payment history, and that review can lead to part of your loan being set aside for taxes and insurance.
Sometimes. On a HECM, every appraisal goes to FHA for a collateral risk review, and if FHA flags it, a second appraisal is required. When there are two, the lower value is used to figure your loan. Some proprietary (jumbo) reverse mortgages also require a second appraisal when the home is worth more than a set amount. Your loan officer will usually know within a few days of the first appraisal whether you need a second one.
It depends on whether your HECM is on the home you already live in or a HECM for Purchase. For a HECM on your current home, HUD doesn't set a waiting period once a Chapter 7 is discharged. For a HECM for Purchase, at least two years must have passed since the discharge when the FHA case number is assigned, or at least 12 months if the bankruptcy was caused by circumstances beyond your control and you've handled your finances well since. Either way, the lender reviews your credit and payment history, and that review decides whether part of your loan is set aside to pay property taxes and insurance.
ZYNG Mortgage, Inc., NMLS #76801. A reverse mortgage has no required monthly mortgage payments and uses your home's equity. Fees, mortgage insurance and other costs can be added to the loan balance, and the balance grows over time as interest is added, so your equity typically decreases. When the loan becomes due, the home may need to be sold, or the loan repaid from other funds. Interest is not tax-deductible until it is paid, in part or in full. You keep title to your home and must keep paying property taxes, homeowners insurance and upkeep, and meet the other loan terms; not doing so can make the loan due and could lead to foreclosure.
This material is not from HUD or FHA and was not approved by HUD or a government agency.
HECM count at the top of this page: HUD data through September 2026 (source, opens in a new tab).
