For homeowners 62 and older
Reverse Mortgages
Use part of your equity as cash flow, with no required monthly mortgage payment, and stay in the house or right-size on your terms. Here's how it works, what it costs, and when it's the wrong tool.
Most of my clients over 62 aren't in trouble. They're house-rich. They bought in Yorba Linda, Placentia or Anaheim Hills decades ago, the mortgage is paid off or close to it, and the house is now worth more than they ever expected. The retirement accounts are fine. The monthly cash flow is tighter than they'd like.
A reverse mortgage is one way to fix that. It turns part of your equity into money you can use, and it doesn't require a monthly mortgage payment. It's a cash-flow tool with real tradeoffs, and I'll walk you through both sides before you decide anything.
How a HECM works
The most common reverse mortgage is the FHA-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, or HECM. You have to be at least 62, and the home has to be your primary residence. The amount you can access depends on your age (or the younger spouse's age), your home's value up to the FHA limit, and current interest rates.
You can take the money a few different ways, or combine them:
- Lump sum. One draw at closing. Useful if you're paying off an existing mortgage or a large bill.
- Monthly draws. A set amount each month, either for a fixed number of years or for as long as you live in the home.
- A line of credit. You draw only what you need, when you need it. The unused portion of a HECM line grows over time, so the available credit can get bigger the longer you leave it alone.
That last feature is the one most people don't know about. A retiree who opens a HECM line at 63 and barely touches it can have noticeably more borrowing room at 75. It works a bit like a spare tire that gets bigger every year it sits in the trunk.
There's no required monthly mortgage payment. Interest and insurance get added to the balance, so the loan grows over time instead of shrinking. You can make payments if you want to, and some people do, to slow that growth.
HECM limits in Orange County, and the jumbo option
For 2026, the FHA HECM maximum claim amount is $1,249,125, and it's the same everywhere in the country. Your proceeds are calculated on the lower of your home's appraised value or that number.
In a lot of the country, that limit never comes into play. In North Orange County, it does all the time. Plenty of the 1970s and 1980s homes in the Yorba Linda hills and Villa Park are worth far more than the limit, which means a HECM only "sees" part of the house.
Illustration: a Yorba Linda homeowner, age 72, with a home worth $1,900,000 and no mortgage. A HECM calculates proceeds as if the house were worth $1,249,125. The other $650,000 or so of value doesn't count toward what the HECM can offer.
That's where a jumbo reverse mortgage (also called a proprietary reverse mortgage) comes in. These are private products, not FHA-insured, built for higher-value homes. They can calculate on a much larger home value, and because they aren't FHA-insured, they don't carry FHA's mortgage insurance premiums. The tradeoffs are different too: the draw options, the rate structure and the rules can vary a lot from one lender to the next.
When a client's home sits above the limit, I run it both ways. Sometimes the HECM still wins because of the growing line of credit. Sometimes the jumbo product clearly does more. You see the side-by-side.
Buying your next home with a reverse mortgage
A lot of my 62+ clients don't want to stay in the two-story house with the long driveway and the stairs. They want a single-story home, maybe closer to the kids, maybe in a 55+ community. The HECM for Purchase lets you buy that next home with a reverse mortgage built into the purchase, so you put down a large chunk from the sale of your current home and don't carry a monthly mortgage payment afterward.
It's one of the most useful tools for right-sizing in Orange County, and it's still underused. I wrote a full guide on buying your next home with a reverse mortgage, including how the down payment is figured.
Refinancing an existing reverse mortgage
If you took out a HECM years ago, it may be worth another look. Home values in North OC have climbed, and the HECM limit rises most years. A refinance of an existing reverse mortgage can sometimes open up more available credit or move you to better terms. FHA has rules to make sure a HECM refinance gives you a real benefit, and it has to clear those before it makes sense. I'll run your current loan against what's available now and tell you if it's worth doing.
What you keep, and what you still owe
This is where most of the myths live, so let's be precise.
You keep the title. The house stays in your name. The bank doesn't take it. The lender records a lien, like any other mortgage.
You still pay:
- Property taxes, on time.
- Homeowners insurance (and any other required coverage). In the fire-exposed parts of Yorba Linda, Anaheim Hills and Brea, insurance can be the harder part of the conversation, and it needs to be in place before closing.
- HOA dues, if you have them.
- Basic upkeep, so the home keeps its value.
If you stop paying taxes or insurance, or you move out for good, the loan can come due. Lenders usually run a financial assessment up front to make sure those bills are covered, and sometimes they set aside part of the proceeds to pay them for you.
Counseling comes first
Before you can apply for a HECM, you meet with a HUD-approved counselor. They're independent. They don't work for me or for any lender, and they walk you through the costs, the alternatives and what happens down the road. It usually takes about an hour. I'd rather you go in with good questions, so I'm happy to talk through the numbers with you first.
For the complete checklist, including property types and age rules, see everything a lender checks for a reverse mortgage.
What your heirs can do
The loan comes due when the last borrower on the loan leaves the home, whether they move out permanently or pass away. At that point your heirs have options:
- Sell the house, pay off the loan, and keep whatever equity is left.
- Keep the house by paying off the loan, often with their own mortgage. For a HECM, if the balance is higher than the home's value, they can generally pay it off for less than the full balance, based on the appraised value.
- Hand it back to the lender, through a deed in lieu, and walk away.
A HECM is a non-recourse loan. Neither you nor your heirs will ever owe more than the home is worth when it's sold. FHA's insurance covers the gap. Heirs get a set window to decide, and extensions are common when a sale is underway.
What it costs
Reverse mortgages have real costs, and they're front-loaded. A HECM carries an upfront FHA mortgage insurance premium and an annual premium that accrues on the balance. There's an origination fee, capped by FHA, plus the usual closing costs: appraisal, title, escrow and recording. Most of these can be paid from the loan proceeds rather than out of pocket.
That front-loading is why a reverse mortgage usually makes the most sense when you plan to stay put for a while. If you might sell in two or three years, the math often doesn't work. The full breakdown, including the tradeoffs I'd weigh if it were my own parents, is in the costs and tradeoffs, laid out.
When a HELOC is the better tool
Being 62 doesn't mean you need a reverse mortgage. If you have steady income from a pension, Social Security and investments, need a moderate amount of cash, and are comfortable making a monthly payment, a home equity line of credit can cost less to set up and leave more equity untouched. The catch is that a HELOC requires a payment and has to qualify on income, and its credit line can be frozen or reduced. A HECM line can't be frozen for those reasons and keeps growing.
I'll put both next to each other. You pick the one that fits the next twenty years, not just the next twelve months.
Why I shop this for you
I spent seventeen years at Chase, and I've been in the mortgage business since 2002. A bank offers the reverse product it has, if it offers one at all. As a broker I compare HECM and jumbo reverse pricing across lenders and show you what each one actually delivers: cash at closing, line of credit, and what's left in equity over time.
Brian was very informative and explained the process so I was able to understand it. The whole process overall was very smooth efficient
Great person to deal with for business; you understand and put no pressure. He talk like he knew me for years and he was honest.
Quoted word for word from my Experience.com profile (5.0 stars from 8 reviews).
Serving North Orange County
I live in Yorba Linda and work with homeowners across North OC and nearby.
Let's look at your numbers
Bring your home's rough value, your current mortgage balance if you have one, and the age of the youngest borrower. That's enough for me to show you what a HECM and a jumbo reverse would each do. Call or text (714) 713-3133 or book 15 minutes. If your kids want to join the call, bring them.
Questions people ask
Do I give up ownership of my home with a reverse mortgage?
No. The title stays in your name. The lender records a lien, the same way it would with any mortgage. You keep living there, and you keep paying property taxes, homeowners insurance and upkeep.
What is the 2026 HECM limit, and what if my Orange County home is worth more?
The 2026 FHA HECM maximum claim amount is $1,249,125 nationwide. A HECM calculates your proceeds on the lower of your home's value or that limit. If your home is worth well above it, a jumbo or proprietary reverse mortgage may give you more to work with, and I compare both.
Is counseling really required?
Yes, for a HECM. Before you apply, you meet with a HUD-approved counselor who works independently of me and the lender. It usually runs about an hour, by phone or in person, and you get a certificate that goes in the file.
What happens to the house when I pass away?
The loan comes due when the last borrower leaves the home. Your heirs can sell it and keep whatever equity is left, pay off the loan and keep the house, or hand it back to the lender. A HECM is non-recourse, so they never owe more than the home is worth.
Can I still leave the house to my kids?
Yes. The home passes through your estate like any other asset. What changes is how much equity is left when it does, because the loan balance grows over time. Many clients bring their kids into the conversation early, and I encourage it.
Let’s look at your numbers
Fifteen minutes. Your real numbers. No pressure.
Call or text my cell, or book a time. You’ll get a written comparison with real terms and an APR on every option, and if your current deal already wins, I’ll tell you.