A Home Equity Conversion Mortgage lets a homeowner aged 62 or older convert part of the equity in their home into funds while keeping title in their own name. You remain responsible for property taxes, homeowner's insurance, any HOA dues and keeping the home in repair, and you must continue to live there as your primary residence. The balance owed grows over time rather than shrinking, and the loan becomes due and payable when the last borrower dies, sells, or no longer lives in the home. I'm a Loan Officer with Saxton Mortgage and I will tell you plainly whether this fits — including when it does not.
Most people arrive here having been sold the upside. Start with the obligations instead.
Four things stay true for as long as the loan is in place: the property taxes are yours to pay, the homeowner's insurance is yours to keep current, the home has to be maintained, and you have to go on living in it as your primary residence. Falling behind on any of them can put the loan into default, and default on a reverse mortgage can mean losing the home. Anyone who skips past that part is selling, not advising.
Everything else follows from those four. If they are comfortably within reach, a reverse mortgage can be a reasonable way to use equity in retirement. If any of them is already a strain, it is usually the wrong tool, and I will say so rather than take the application.
Before any HECM can close, you must complete counseling with an independent HUD-approved housing counseling agency. That conversation is not with me and I cannot sit in it — which is exactly the point of it.
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About two minutes. No credit pull, no obligation.
HECM requires that the youngest borrower be at least 62 and that the home is your primary residence. Some proprietary programs start earlier in some states. This material is not from HUD or FHA and was not approved by HUD or any government agency.
Awards earned by Saxton Mortgage, the lender behind your file.
Age, occupancy and the obligations first. The money second. That order is deliberate.
The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage is the reverse mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration. The youngest borrower must be 62 or older and the home must be your primary residence. It is the most common version and the one with the most consumer protections attached.
Programs offered by individual investors rather than insured by FHA. Some begin at a younger age and some reach higher-value homes than the FHA limit allows. Availability varies by state and by investor, and I will tell you whether any apply to you rather than implying they all do.
Property taxes. Homeowner's insurance. HOA dues if you have them. Keeping the home in repair. Living in it as your primary residence. These continue for the life of the loan, and falling behind on them can lead to default and to losing the home.
It becomes due and payable when the last surviving borrower dies, sells the home, or stops living there as a principal residence — including a move to long-term care beyond the period the loan allows. At that point the loan is repaid, usually from the sale of the home.
They repay the loan or they sell the home. A HECM is non-recourse: if the balance exceeds what the home sells for, FHA insurance covers the shortfall rather than the estate. Heirs who want to keep the home may pay the lesser of the balance or a set share of the appraised value. Get this in writing from your own attorney, not from an advertisement.
Every HECM borrower must complete a session with an independent HUD-approved housing counseling agency before the loan can proceed. I am a mortgage broker, not a housing counselor, and I am not permitted to act as one. I will give you the list and stay out of that conversation.
A reverse mortgage can be used to buy a home rather than to draw on one you already own — usually by an older buyer downsizing or relocating closer to family. It is a single transaction instead of buying first and refinancing later.
A second mortgage or line of credit that leaves your existing first loan alone. A conventional cash-out. Selling and downsizing. Doing nothing for now. If one of those serves you better, that is the answer you will get, and it costs you nothing to hear it.
Working with a broker doesn't mean working with a small shop. It means you get both.
Saxton Mortgage, LLC holds lending licenses in 38 states under NMLS #1717191. I personally originate in thirteen of them: AL, AZ, CA, CT, FL, MD, MI, OR, PA, TN, TX, UT and VA. The company footprint is why the investor access behind your file is what it is; the thirteen is where I can take your loan.
Saxton is a Top 1% certified partner with United Wholesale Mortgage, the largest wholesale lender in the country — which affects pricing and turn times in ways a small independent shop cannot match.
I submit your file to multiple wholesale investors and bring the options back to you. A bank can only ever offer you the bank.
The institutional weight sits behind the loan. The relationship isn't outsourced — you work with me from the first call through closing, not a rotating queue.
Verify any of this yourself — I'd rather you checked than took my word for it.
As we were shopping around lenders, Mike was recommended by a realtor friend. We spoke to Mike and laid out our concerns and right away he made our worries feel at ease. All we did was ask if he could close on the date provided and he went to work. Mike definitely went above and beyond and he made sure to take care of his veterans. In the near future we would love to work with Mike again and would definitely recommend him to all our homebuyer friends.
Saxton Mortgage, LLC holds a 4.8-star average across 889 client reviews aggregated from Zillow and other sources. That rating reflects the company as a whole, across every loan officer.
Read them at Birdeye, see reviews specific to me on my Saxton profile, or look up NMLS #1666142 at nmlsconsumeraccess.org.
Yes. Title stays in your name. The lender records a lien against the property the same way any mortgage does — the home is not signed over to anyone.
Yes, in the same circumstances that put any mortgage into default: unpaid property taxes, lapsed homeowner's insurance, unpaid HOA dues, letting the property fall into disrepair, or no longer living there as your primary residence. Anyone who tells you a reverse mortgage removes that risk is misleading you, and regulators have fined companies for saying exactly that.
Monthly principal and interest payments are not required while you meet the loan's conditions. That is not the same as no obligations: property taxes, insurance, HOA dues and upkeep continue to be yours, and because interest and fees are added to the balance rather than paid down, what you owe grows over time and the equity remaining in the home shrinks.
When the loan becomes due they can repay it and keep the home, or sell it and keep whatever remains after the balance is paid. A HECM is non-recourse, so if the home sells for less than the balance, FHA insurance covers the difference rather than your estate. What your heirs cannot do is inherit the home free of the loan — the loan has to be dealt with.
No. A HECM is insured by the Federal Housing Administration, which is not the same as being offered by a government agency. This material is not from HUD or FHA, it was not approved by HUD or any government agency, and neither I nor Saxton Mortgage acts on behalf of either.
Not in the way it does on a conventional loan. There is a financial assessment that looks at your history of paying property charges and at your ability to keep paying them. A score alone neither qualifies nor disqualifies you.
There are origination costs, mortgage insurance on a HECM, third-party closing costs and interest that accrues on the balance. I will not put numbers in an advertisement, because the honest figures depend on your age, your home and the program — you will see them in writing before you are committed to anything.
Yes, for a HECM. It is with an independent HUD-approved housing counseling agency, it happens before the loan proceeds, and I have no part in it. I can give you the list of approved agencies.
Not at this stage. The questionnaire asks for your own estimate, and nothing touches your credit report until you ask me to proceed.
No, and nobody may tell you otherwise before reviewing your file. What I can commit to is a clear answer quickly, including a no.
So there are no surprises later.
I work remotely with clients across the states I'm licensed in. My office of record is Saxton Mortgage in San Diego — which in practice means you reach me directly rather than whoever happens to be at a branch desk.
I'm licensed in AL, AZ, CA, CT, FL, MD, MI, OR, PA, TN, TX, UT and VA. Kentucky is the notable exception — if your home sits on the Kentucky side of the Fort Campbell line I'll tell you at the outset and refer you to someone licensed there, at no cost.
Every HECM requires a session with an independent HUD-approved counseling agency before it can proceed. I will hand you the list and step out of that conversation.
If I'm not the right fit, I'd rather say so on the first call than three weeks in. That has cost me business occasionally. It's still the right way to do this.
About two minutes, no credit pull, and no obligation. You'll get a clear answer either way.
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