1,401,176 HECM reverse mortgages insured by FHA since 1989.
Your reverse mortgage options in about 2 minutes. No Social Security number or credit check.
Reverse mortgage question
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.
No. This question comes up with nearly every client of ours, and with their adult kids. Your family doesn't lose the house to the bank. You still own it, and it still goes to whoever you've chosen in your will or trust.
What changes is how much equity is left over, and that's worth understanding.
A reverse mortgage comes due when the last borrower dies or permanently moves out, unless an eligible non-borrowing spouse is still living there. At that point, your heirs have choices:
They get time to decide. Heirs generally have 30 days to respond to the servicer and about six months to sell or pay off the loan, with extensions possible if they're actively working on it. See Reverse Mortgages and Heirs for the full timeline.
A HECM is a non-recourse loan. If the balance grows larger than what the home is worth, your heirs don't pay the difference out of their own pockets. FHA insurance covers it.
If they sell, the home can generally be sold for at least the lesser of the balance or 95 percent of its appraised value to settle the loan, even if the balance is higher. If they want to keep it and the balance is more than the home is worth, they generally pay the lesser of the balance or 95 percent of the appraised value.
I won't pretend there's no effect. Every month, interest and mortgage insurance are added to the balance, so there's less equity left over the longer the loan runs. If you draw a lot of money early, that adds up faster.
That's the honest trade: you use some of your home's value while you're alive, so you have money when you need it, and your heirs get what's left. For many families, that trade makes sense, especially if the alternative is the kids helping pay your bills or you selling the home you want to stay in.
There are no required monthly mortgage payments while you live there. You must continue to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, maintain the home, and meet the other loan terms.
I'm happy to sit down with you and your kids together, in person, by phone, or on video, and walk through the numbers. Call us at 530-888-6000 or get your estimate.
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).
