Reverse Mortgage

Reverse Mortgage

What would a HECM actually put in your hands?

Most reverse mortgage calculators quote the gross number and hide the rest behind an email form. This one uses HUD’s actual factor table and takes the real costs out in front of you — so the figure you see is what’s actually available, not the sales pitch. No email or phone number required.

Why I built this

Reverse mortgages get sold hard to people who shouldn’t take them and explained badly to people who should. The math isn’t secret — HUD publishes the exact table every lender uses — but the TV shops bury it behind lead forms and lead with the biggest number they can print. This calculator runs the same table they do, then shows the deductions they save for later: the 2% FHA insurance premium, the origination fee, the closing costs, the payoff. If the honest answer is that a HECM leaves you too little to be worth it, this tool will tell you that too.

— Matt Mergo · NMLS #563819
yrs
HECMs require 62 or older. If a spouse is younger, their age is the one that counts.
$
FHA counts value up to the 2026 limit of $1,249,125, even if the home is worth more.
$
Any existing mortgage must be paid off from the proceeds first.
%
The 10-year Treasury plus the lender’s margin — typically between 6 and 6.75 percent right now. HUD rounds it to the nearest eighth.
$
Appraisal, title, counseling, recording. $2,500–$4,500 is a typical range; adjust if you have a quote.
Estimated net available to you
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After FHA insurance, fees, and paying off the current mortgage.
Value FHA will count (maximum claim amount)—
HUD principal limit factor for this age and rate—
Principal limit (gross borrowing pool)—
FHA upfront mortgage insurance (2% of claim amount)—
Origination fee (legal maximum — often less; see note)—
Other closing costs—
Current mortgage payoff—
Net available over the life of the loan—
Line today
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5 years
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10 years
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15 years
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Two honest footnotes. The origination fee above is the legal maximum — the figure the big reverse shops typically charge, and not what I typically charge. On a brokered HECM it’s often lower, so read that line as a ceiling, not a quote. And the growth table shows the unused credit line on the adjustable-rate HECM, growing at the note rate plus the 0.5% annual insurance rate — it’s borrowing capacity, not free money, and any balance you carry compounds at the same rate. The fixed-rate version has no credit line at all; it’s a single draw at closing.
Want the real numbers, not the estimate? Ask Matt

This calculator is an educational estimate, not an offer of credit. Principal limit factors are from HUD’s table for FHA case numbers assigned on or after October 2, 2017; the 2026 maximum claim amount of $1,249,125 is per Mortgagee Letter 2025-22. The credit-line projection uses your expected rate as a stand-in for the note rate, which adjusts over time. Your lender’s software produces the binding figures, and a HUD-approved counseling session is required before any HECM application. To see whether a HECM fits your situation at all — against a HELOC, downsizing, or doing nothing — read the reverse mortgage page. Forest Hills Mortgage · Matt Mergo, NMLS #563819. Equal Housing Lender.