The one door

There is one place to apply, and this is it.

Takes you to our secure application site at my1003app.com.

Reverse mortgage

Thirty years of payments went into this house. A reverse mortgage borrows some of it back.

A reverse mortgage lets an older homeowner turn part of the equity in their home into money — as a lump sum, as a monthly amount, as a line of credit, or as a combination — without making a monthly principal-and-interest payment for as long as they live in the home and keep up its obligations.

This page is the kitchen-table version: what it is, what it is not, and what stays yours to keep up.

How it works

The mechanics, without the jargon.

It is a loan, and the balance grows

A regular mortgage starts big and gets smaller as you pay it. A reverse mortgage starts small and grows, because the interest and the mortgage insurance are added to the balance rather than billed to you each month. The money you receive is loan proceeds. It is borrowed, not earned.

You still own the home

The title stays in your name. The lender holds a lien, exactly as with any other mortgage — and, as with any other mortgage, the loan carries conditions you have to keep.

It comes due when you leave

The loan is repaid when the last borrower sells, moves out permanently, or passes away. Usually the home is sold and the balance is paid from the proceeds, with anything left over going to the estate. If the balance has grown past the value, there may be nothing left over.

The HUD-insured version is non-recourse

On a HECM, neither you nor your heirs owe more than the home is worth at the time it is sold to repay the loan. That protection is what the mortgage insurance on the program pays for. It caps what is owed. It does not mean the home can never be lost.

What stays your responsibility

This is the part a good lender says first, not last.

There is no monthly principal-and-interest payment. There are still obligations, and they are the ones that keep the loan in good standing:

Property taxes, paid on time
Homeowners insurance, kept in force
HOA or condo dues, where they apply
The home itself, maintained in reasonable condition
Living there — it has to remain your principal residence

If those are not kept up, the loan can become due and payable, and you can lose the home. That is the plainest way to say it, and it belongs at the front of the conversation.

Royal will build these into the conversation from the first meeting, including whether a set-aside from the proceeds is the right way to cover taxes and insurance.

Who this is for

And, just as usefully, who it is not for.

This is your page if

You are an older homeowner with substantial equity in the home you live in
This is the house you intend to stay in, not one you expect to leave soon
The monthly mortgage payment is the pressure, and removing it would change your month
You can comfortably keep up taxes, insurance, dues and upkeep — or a set-aside would cover them
You have talked to the people who would be affected, or you are willing to

This is not your page if

Leaving the house to your family intact is the priority. A reverse mortgage works against that goal
You expect to move within a few years. The up-front cost will not have earned itself back
Keeping up the taxes and insurance is already a struggle, and nothing in the plan changes that
You can carry a payment and only need money in stages — a line of credit may cost less
Somebody else is pushing you toward it. Nothing here has a deadline

Reverse, a line of credit, or selling

Three real answers. Find the sentence you would actually say out loud.

This is my house and I intend to die in itReverse is built for staying
The monthly payment is what is squeezing meReverse removes that payment
I can carry a payment and need money in stagesHELOC
I want to leave this house to my children, intactReverse works against that
Honestly, I would be happier somewhere smallerSelling may beat every loan
I am likely to move within a few yearsThe costs will not earn back

If two of those sentences are both true, that is the conversation worth having. Touch the gold bubble in the corner, or bring the whole thing to a person — we would rather explain it twice with your family in the room than once without them.

What to have ready

Nothing you do not already have in a drawer.

The house

The homeowners insurance declaration page, the current property tax bill, and the HOA or condo dues if they apply.

Any loan still on it

The statement for your existing mortgage, and for anything else recorded against the property. A reverse mortgage pays those off first.

Identity and age

A government photo ID and proof of date of birth for every borrower, plus your authorization to pull credit.

Income and benefits

Award letters, pension and retirement statements. The financial assessment looks at whether taxes and insurance can be kept up.

Who else lives there

Names and ages. A spouse or partner who is not on the loan has specific protections and specific limits, and that has to be settled before closing.

Your own advisers

We are not tax advisers or benefits counselors. How the proceeds interact with your taxes or with any benefits you receive is a question for yours.

How it runs

Five stages, and one of them is deliberately not ours.

Age and equity The HUD-insured HECM is for homeowners aged 62 and older. Some proprietary reverse programs begin earlier and go higher on value. How much you can access depends on age, on the value of the home, and on rates.
Independent counseling Before a HECM application can move forward, you meet with an independent HUD-approved counselor. This is not a Royal step and we do not sit in it. It exists so you hear the product described by somebody with nothing to sell.
Choosing the payout Lump sum, monthly tenure payments, a growing line of credit, or a combination. We will walk through what each one does to the balance before you choose.
Appraisal and underwriting A financial assessment looks at your ability to keep up taxes and insurance. A licensed underwriter reviews and signs, same as every other file here.
Closing, and then quiet After closing there is a rescission period. Then the monthly principal-and-interest payment stops being something you owe — while the taxes, the insurance and the upkeep stay exactly where they were.

The honest trade-off

The whole product in one sentence, and then the parts of it.

You are trading equity for the payment. The balance grows every year the loan runs, the equity shrinks by the same movement, and what is left at the end is smaller than it would have been. That can be exactly the right trade. It should just be a decision, made with your eyes open.

The balance grows. Interest and mortgage insurance are added to it rather than billed to you, so it compounds instead of shrinking.
Equity spent now is equity not inherited later. Your heirs may inherit a home with little or no equity left in it.
The up-front costs are real. A reverse mortgage rewards staying and punishes moving in a couple of years.
Taxes, insurance, dues and upkeep stay yours. Falling behind on them can make the loan due and payable, and the home can be lost.
The proceeds are loan proceeds, not income. How they interact with your taxes or with any benefits you receive is a question for your own tax professional and benefits adviser, not for us.
A non-borrowing spouse has limits. Get that clear in writing before closing, not after.

If the honest answer is that downsizing or a line of credit serves you better, you will hear that from us, even though it means we do not write this loan.

Royal Reverse

There is a whole house for this one.

RoyalReverse.ai is the dedicated surface, written to be read slowly and at the kitchen table. It is the same company, and the application is still taken here.

royalreverse.ai

Takes you to royalreverse.ai, another Royal site.

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