Expected average mortgage interest rate on a reverse mortgage is the HUD lookup rate that sizes leftover cash. Jay Zayer, CRMP, is a reverse mortgage specialist at reversemortgage.coach. For an adjustable HECM, 24 CFR 206.3 sets it as the mortgagee’s margin plus the weekly average yield on 10-year CMT (or an additional SOFR index the Secretary has approved), then rounded to the nearest 0.125%. It is not the 1-month CMT figure you accrue after closing.
What this looks like in practice: Suki, 62, occupies a house in Surprise, Arizona, and a worksheet used yesterday’s 1-month printout as if it were EAMIR. Leftover cash was fiction. See how the interest rate is set for margin. Stay here for the expected-rate definition. Run the leftover-cash worksheet with a named assumption.
A HECM remains FHA-insured. EAMIR is not a public teaser rate.
What does 24 CFR 206.3 actually define, in the order underwriters use?
Find the 10-year CMT weekly average. Add the lender margin. Round to the nearest 0.125%. Look up the HUD principal-limit factor for youngest borrower age in that column. Multiply by maximum claim amount — lesser of value and $1,249,125 for 2026 case numbers (Mortgagee Letter 2025-22). Then subtract liens, 2.00% initial MIP of claim amount (Mortgagee Letter 2017-12), origination up to $6,000, third-party costs, and any LESA. That last remainder is leftover cash, commonly a mid-30s to low-50s percent of appraised value, depending on age and this expected rate.
This site’s published examples use 7.000% expected rate as of 22 September 2026: FRED 10-year CMT near 5.01% plus a 2.00% sample margin, rounded. Your file uses your margin. Do not interpolate HUD rows.
Counseling still costs $125–$175. The HUD certificate lasts 180 days. Arizona has no seven-day Civil Code 1923.2(k) hold; California files still do.
Why does rounding to 0.125% change leftover cash more than people expect?
HUD factors are not a smooth line. Crossing from 6.875% to 7.000% can change a cell. Skipping rounding is how a kitchen-table spreadsheet overstates leftover cash. Annual MIP of 0.50% of outstanding balance still accrues after closing. EAMIR does not re-run every month to resize the loan.
A second geography: a 68-year-old in Dana Point whose California broker skipped rounding and promised a prettier line. Same 24 CFR 206.3. Different honesty. Same leftover-cash gate.
If residual income requires a LESA, that set-aside is origination-only. Jay confirmed it cannot be modified after closing. A LESA does not change EAMIR. It changes leftover cash after EAMIR has already done its job.
A refinance gets a new expected rate; I still mention ~30 days as my average close on a complete new file, not as an EAMIR freeze. A refinance gets a new expected rate on a new 10-year printout plus the new margin.
How is EAMIR different from the note rate after closing?
Note rate on an ARM: 1-month CMT plus lender margin. EAMIR already locked the size of the loan. Proprietary programs Jay closes — HomeSafe, Longbridge Platinum, Finance of America, Mutual of Omaha Secure Equity — do not use HUD EAMIR tables. Compare a Loan Estimate.
If Suki’s heirs later keep the Surprise house, 24 CFR 206.125(a)(2)(i) still names the outstanding balance. EAMIR is not the keep price. See the principal limit factor.
What weekly 10-year printout does the shop actually use?
24 CFR 206.3 points at the weekly average yield on 10-year CMT, plus margin, then rounding. The shop’s lock desk or disclosure engine picks the printout date the overlay uses. I will not invent that date as HUD law. Suki should ask which weekly figure is on her Loan Estimate. This site’s 7.000% example as of 22 September 2026 is a worked assumption from FRED plus a 2.00% sample margin. It is not her lock.
If 10-year CMT moves enough to change a rounded cell before she is locked, leftover cash can move. That is the rate-lock overlay, not a defect in EAMIR. Annual MIP of 0.50% of outstanding balance still has nothing to do with which 10-year week was used. Note rate still follows 1-month CMT plus margin after closing. Keep those three rates in three columns.
Who should not treat yesterday’s 1-month CMT as EAMIR?
This path does not help a household that wanted a short-term index as a HUD column. Occupancy is still 24 CFR 206.39. I work with multiple lenders. I will originate when leftover cash after 2.00% of claim amount is useful at an honest expected rate. I will turn away a 1-month-as-EAMIR plan whose only thesis is a ticker.
If leftover cash after costs is decorative at a rounded 10-year-plus-margin rate, skip the HECM. EAMIR told you the capacity. It will not be talked into a larger cell.
Suki should ask which weekly 10-year CMT printout sits on her Surprise Loan Estimate. Rounding to 0.125% can change a HUD cell. Skipping rounding overstates leftover cash. 1-month CMT is still the accrual index after closing, not EAMIR. Keep those rates labeled. Then decide whether leftover cash after 2.00% of claim amount is useful. EAMIR sizes leftover cash once. It does not re-size every month. Suki still accrues 1-month CMT plus margin after closing, plus 0.50% annual MIP of outstanding balance. A Surprise ticker of yesterday’s 1-month printout is not a HUD column. Ask which weekly 10-year figure was rounded to 0.125% on her LE. If leftover cash only works before that rounding, the file was already a maybe.