A reverse mortgage lets a Colorado homeowner turn part of their home equity into cash, a line of credit, or monthly income, with no monthly mortgage payment for as long as they live in the home. The standard FHA-insured version starts at 62; the jumbo programs I place start at 55 and reach the home values Colorado actually has.
People tell me the bank takes the house. They tell me the kids get nothing. They tell me it's what you do when you've run out of options. I hear it in the first ten minutes of almost every conversation.
Some of it used to be true. The product from the nineties earned its reputation. It's been rebuilt since — federally insured, independently counseled, non-recourse — and the version people are afraid of hasn't existed in a long time.
You're probably thinking some version of these. Fair. Here's my answer to each:
“This is how my parents’ generation got burned.”
Some of them were — by products and practices that don’t exist anymore. Today’s HECM is HUD-insured, requires counseling from someone who doesn’t work for me or the lender, and is regulated more tightly than any other mortgage.
“You’ll push me toward whatever pays you the most.”
A reverse mortgage is one of four things I can do with your equity, and nothing gets recommended until we’ve looked at your actual numbers together. The first call isn’t a pitch; it’s how we decide what to look at. Plenty of those conversations end with a plan that isn’t a reverse mortgage, and we get there together.
“I’ll lose the house.”
You keep the title. Nobody can make you move as long as you live there and keep up taxes, insurance, and upkeep. Your heirs never owe more than the house is worth. That’s federal law, not a promise I’m making.
It sounds like something like this is going on. The house is mostly or fully paid for. The income is fixed — Social Security, maybe a pension, maybe a little from an IRA. And everything around the house went up: the property tax bill after the last reassessment, the homeowners insurance renewal, the HOA, the furnace that finally quit. The mortgage payment, if there still is one, is the biggest line in the month, and it doesn't care that you retired.
Here's what I usually find when someone finally calls. They've been pulling a little more from the retirement account each year than the plan said — and paying tax on every withdrawal. They've put off the roof, or the knee, or the trip. They've quietly stopped doing a few things they used to do. And the kids don't know, because the kids have their own month to worry about.
These are the three questions I'll ask you:
How long has the month been tight — and what changed first, the income or the bills?
What are you covering it with right now: savings, the IRA, a credit card, or just not doing things?
If the mortgage payment disappeared next month, what’s the first thing that would change — the money, or the choices?
The retirement account runs down faster than it was built to, and the tax bill on the withdrawals comes along for the ride. The house — the thing you spent thirty years paying for — sits there holding more money than the account ever did, doing nothing. And the decision that eventually gets made is the one you least wanted: sell the place you meant to stay in, on somebody else's timeline, because the month finally won.
A reverse mortgage does one thing extremely well: it takes the biggest line out of the month and lets the house carry itself. If you still have a mortgage, that payment goes away the day the loan funds. If the house is paid off, you can set up a line of credit that sits there growing, untouched until you need it, so the IRA gets to stay an IRA. You keep the house. You keep the title. Taxes, insurance, and upkeep stay yours — and for most of the people I sit with, that's a fraction of what the payment was.
The product isn't the interesting part. What's happening in the house is. When the payment is the thing shaping your retirement, the question isn't whether a reverse mortgage is good or bad. It's what the month looks like with the payment gone.
— Bobby Friel · CO Home Equity
If the payment on the home you already own is the thing shaping your retirement, what would change first — the money you spend each month, or the choices you get to make with it?
A HECM is the federally insured reverse mortgage most people have heard of. It works, it's well regulated, and it has a hard floor: you must be 62, and the loan amount is capped by a federal limit that a lot of Colorado homes sit above.
The jumbo programs are privately underwritten, not FHA-insured, and available from 55. For a Colorado homeowner between 55 and 61, that's the whole difference between having this option and not. They also go well past the HECM limit, which matters more in Vail, Aspen, Boulder, and Summit County than almost anywhere in the country.
Best for: homes at or under the federal limit, and anyone who wants the federal backstop.
The Colorado difference
Best for: higher-value mountain and Front Range homes, and anyone 55 to 61.
| Factor | HECMStandard · 62+ | JumboProprietary · 55+ |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum age | 62 | 55+ in Colorado |
| Maximum loan | Federal HECM limit | Substantially higher |
| Mortgage insurance | Yes | No |
| Origination fees | Yes | Varies by program |
| FHA insured | Yes | No (privately funded) |
| Non-recourse | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly mortgage payments | None required | None required |
| Counseling required | Yes (HUD-approved) | Yes |
| Ongoing obligations | Property taxes, insurance, maintenance | Property taxes, insurance, maintenance |
| Best suited to | Lower-value homes, federal protections | High-value homes, or age 55–61 |
Enter your home value, mortgage balance, and age. Your equity and the programs you may be eligible for update as you type — no email, no gate.
Your equity
$600,000
Programs you may be eligible for
Both a standard HECM (FHA-insured) and jumbo proprietary programs may be available. Which one fits depends on your home value and goals.
Homeowners in your range typically access a meaningful portion of their equity — the exact figure depends on age, current rates, and the program. This calculator gives you a range. The exact number comes from your application, and we go through it together.
Schedule an Equity ReviewAn estimate, not an offer. Actual eligibility and accessible equity depend on your age, property type, current rates, and program factors. Property taxes, homeowners insurance, and home maintenance remain your responsibility.
A good fit
You plan to stay in this home for the long run.
The costs are front-loaded; over many years they earn their keep, over two they don’t.
The mortgage payment is what’s squeezing the month.
Removing it changes your cash flow the day the loan funds.
You’re between 55 and 61 with real equity.
The jumbo programs exist for exactly you, and most lenders won’t mention them.
You want to delay Social Security.
Every year you wait raises the benefit for life. A reverse mortgage can fund the bridge.
You have equity and no good way to use it.
A standard HELOC needs income to qualify. This doesn’t.
Not for everyone
You’re likely to move within a few years.
Sell instead. I’ll help you do that too.
You can’t comfortably cover taxes, insurance, and upkeep.
Those stay yours. Miss them and the loan can default. If the budget’s already breaking, this doesn’t fix it.
Your heirs need this house, not its value.
They can keep it by paying off the balance, but that’s a real bill and they should know it’s coming.
You need a small amount for a short time.
The setup costs make that a poor fit. A HELOC is the better tool; I place those too.
You haven’t talked to your family.
Not a rule. Just the thing I’ve watched go wrong most often.
Illustrative examples based on typical Colorado situations, not specific clients. Every program requires ongoing payment of property taxes, homeowners insurance, and home maintenance.
She kept the house in the divorce and the payment that came with it, on one income instead of two. At 59 she was three years short of a standard HECM. A jumbo program is available from 55. The remaining mortgage was paid off, the payment was gone, and a reserve was set aside — the first month in decades without a mortgage line in it. Taxes, insurance, and upkeep remain hers.
A retired couple owned their Vail home outright, worth several times the HECM limit, when a market drop hit their investments in the same year their property tax bill went up. Rather than sell stocks at the bottom to cover the month, a jumbo reverse line of credit carried living expenses while the portfolio recovered. No monthly mortgage payment; taxes, insurance, and upkeep continued as their responsibility.
She wanted to make the Evergreen house work for the long run — a ramp, a first-floor bedroom, a bathroom she could use in ten years — without draining the account that was supposed to last as long as she did. A standard HECM opened a line of credit for the work and left the rest growing as a reserve. She’s still in the home she loves; taxes, insurance, and upkeep remain hers.
A paid-off home in Park Hill and a fixed income that had stopped covering the taxes and insurance on it. He’d been quietly pulling from the IRA to close the gap and paying tax on every withdrawal. A HECM line of credit now covers the shortfall each month, the IRA stays an IRA, and he stays in the house he’s owned for decades. Taxes, insurance, and upkeep continue.
A free first conversation about what’s going on in the house and what we should look at together. Your adult children are welcome on the call.
Each path goes straight to the page that answers your question.
The costs are real and they're front-loaded: origination, mortgage insurance on a HECM, title, and the standard settlement charges. On a jumbo the structure is different — no FHA premium, but the pricing sits elsewhere.
That front-loading is why how long you plan to stay matters so much. Spread across fifteen years, the cost is reasonable. Spread across two, it isn't.
You see the full cost sheet on paper, at the strategy presentation, before anything is signed. If the numbers don't work, we'll both see it.
Most files run about four to six weeks from signed application to money in your account. The two things that set the pace are how fast you can get your counseling appointment and how fast the appraiser can get to the house. Here's the whole thing, in order.
We talk about what’s going on in the house and what you’re trying to protect. No numbers, no programs, no slides. By the end we’ve agreed on an action plan: what to look at, in what order, and whether it’s worth going to the next step at all. Some people leave this call with a different plan entirely. That’s fine.
If we’re going forward, you complete the application through my secure client portal, or by phone if that’s easier. It gives me what no conversation can: the actual value, the actual balance, the actual income, and the age of the youngest borrower. You’ll gather a short list — ID, Social Security card, your Social Security or pension letter, a mortgage statement if there’s a balance, the homeowners insurance page. I send the list; you send photos.
Now there’s something real to look at. The lender’s proposal comes back within a day of the request, and we go through it together: the programs side by side, what each one does to the month, and the full cost sheet on paper. This is where the decision gets made — and it gets made by both of us, with your family on the call if you want them there.
Federal rules require a session with an independent HUD-approved counselor before the loan can move. I give you the list; I’m not allowed to pick the agency, book it, or sit in — that’s the point. It’s usually a phone call of about an hour, and your spouse or an adult child can join. You get a certificate when it’s done. This is the step that most often sets the calendar, so book it as soon as we agree to go forward. (In Colorado the application can be taken before or after counseling; the lender can’t order anything until the counseling certificate is in hand, so booking counseling early keeps the calendar moving.)
An appraiser visits the house. FHA sometimes requires a second appraisal on a HECM; if it does, the lender uses the lower value, and I’ll tell you the moment we know.
The underwriter approves the file with conditions, or asks for something specific. A processor works the list and I keep you posted every few days. If your credit history has a rough patch, this is where a letter of explanation goes; a HECM has no minimum credit score.
Once conditions are cleared, we schedule signing with a title company that knows reverse paperwork — it’s different from a regular mortgage, a HUD-1 instead of a closing disclosure. You sign; I’m there or on the phone.
Federal law gives you three business days after signing to change your mind on a refinance — no penalty, no questions. On the fourth day the lender wires the funds, pays off any existing mortgage, and the payment is gone. (No waiting period on a purchase.)
After the strategy presentation, I'll tell you where the file is every few days without you asking. That's the job.
I'm based in Edwards and I live and work in the valley — Edwards, Avon, Vail, Beaver Creek, Eagle-Vail, Minturn, Eagle, and Gypsum. I meet valley clients in person. Everywhere else in Colorado — Denver, the Front Range, Summit County, the Roaring Fork Valley, the Western Slope — we work by video and phone, and the loan is the same.
Not on the list? Every Colorado homeowner is. Call.
In partnership with
Direct Insurance Services
Every reverse mortgage requires active homeowners insurance with full replacement-cost coverage, and in Colorado — hail on the Front Range, wildfire pricing in the foothills and mountains — coverage gaps are common. Before signing day, our insurance partner runs a full review across dozens of carriers, so the lender's requirement is met and there are no surprises in the file.
In the valley where I live and work, plenty of retirement-age homeowners are sitting on a lifetime of equity that's doing nothing for them while the month gets tighter. The stigma is from a product that existed a generation ago. Today's version is federally regulated, independently counseled, non-recourse, and lets you stay in your home for life.
Colorado is unusual because of our home values, and the jumbo programs that start at 55 open the door for a whole group of homeowners a standard HECM would turn away. That seven-year head start is the part almost nobody tells you about.
It isn't free money. Taxes, insurance, and upkeep don't go away. What goes away is the mortgage payment, and for most of the people I work with, that's the biggest line in the month. The first call is never a presentation. It's a conversation about what's going on and what we should look at, and adult children are welcome on it. What's the one concern that keeps coming back? That's where we start.
A free first conversation. No presentation, no numbers yet — just what's going on in the house and what we should look at together. If it makes sense to keep going, we do the application, I get real data, and the strategy presentation is where the options go on paper. Your adult children are welcome on both.
No monthly mortgage payment required. Borrower must continue paying property taxes, homeowners insurance, and home maintenance.
Bobby Friel is a licensed Colorado mortgage broker (NMLS# 332039) and licensed real estate agent, founder of CO Home Equity and Friel-Good Mortgage, Inc. (NMLS# 1901977), based in Edwards in the Vail Valley. He places reverse mortgages — FHA HECM, jumbo proprietary programs from 55, HECM for Purchase, and senior-focused HELOCs — for homeowners across Colorado, and has 42 five-star Google reviews. Phone (720) 799-2202 · info@cohomeequity.com · Mon–Fri 8am–6pm MT.
Bobby Friel · NMLS# 332039 · Friel-Good Mortgage, Inc. · NMLS# 1901977 · Edwards, Colorado
