Ask Jay is a Q&A library of homeowner questions about FHA-insured HECMs and proprietary reverse mortgages in California and Arizona. The first 100 rewritten pages cover eligibility, costs, heirs, servicing, and comparisons. It is not a HUD form, not a Loan Estimate, and not legal advice.
Jay Zayer, a Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional licensed in California and Arizona, writes these pages so a household can see the rule before anyone books counseling. A HECM is FHA-insured. It is not a government benefit, and this library is not a ranking, a traffic report, or “the most comprehensive” anything.
If you are an adult child researching for a parent: start at the Ask Jay hub, pick the question that matches the actual blocker — age, title, a HELOC, an heir clock — then run the calculator only when proceeds or eligibility math is the next step. Do not read 100 pages as a substitute for a counselor.
What is the first 100-page set actually covering?
The rewritten set is a library, not a campaign. Pages cluster around the questions people actually type: who can originate, what a HECM costs, what heirs do after death, how servicing letters work, and how a HECM compares to a HELOC, a sale, or a proprietary note.
Start from the hub when you do not already have a slug. Use a topic page when you do. Questions to ask a reverse-mortgage advisor is a checklist for any originator, including me. Who qualifies is the five-test order so you do not pay for a dead file.
Each page should stand alone. Headings are follow-up questions. Citations name 24 CFR Part 206, a Mortgagee Letter, Civil Code section 1923.2, TILA, SSA, or IRS when a figure or a duty is claimed. Dates matter. The HECM claim-amount cap on these pages is $1,249,125 for 2026 case numbers (Mortgagee Letter 2025-22). Initial MIP is 2.00% of that claim amount (Mortgagee Letter 2017-12). Counseling typically costs $125 to $175. The certificate is valid for 180 days.
I work with multiple lenders. The library is not a reason to pick one of them. It is a reason to know what a Loan Estimate has to show.
How should you read a page without treating it as your Loan Estimate?
Read the first paragraph for the answer. Then read the heading that matches the follow-up you actually have. If the page names a calculator, use it for a range. If it names a sibling page, go there instead of forcing this slug to cover a different statute.
Do not collect 12-word sentences as if they were a personal underwriting memo. Your age, your vesting, your payoff, and your occupancy are not in the article. Ask Jay illustrations use a 7.000% expected-rate column as of 22 September 2026. I do not publish a live principal-limit percentage in the library. Two houses in the same ZIP can produce different leftover cash.
California readers still have Civil Code section 1923.2(j)–(k): a list of at least ten HUD-approved agencies and seven days after counseling before a complete application. Arizona readers skip that statute and still need 24 CFR 206.41. The library will keep repeating that split because the two states are not the same file.
What can go wrong: someone prints a page, highlights a dollar figure, and takes it to a parent as “what you will get.” That figure was an illustration on a stated home value, or it was a HUD cap, not a personal proceeds quote. Reg Z still needs a Loan Estimate for the live offer.
What can these answers not do for a live file?
They cannot approve a loan. They cannot assign an FHA case number. They cannot produce personalized proceeds. They cannot replace the financial assessment in Mortgagee Letters 2014-21 and 2014-22. They cannot sign a trust certification or issue letters testamentary.
They cannot give a Medi-Cal, SSI, or IRMAA opinion for your return. When a page cites SSA POMS or the IRS senior-taxpayer FAQ, that is attribution. The next call is still SSA, a CPA, a county worker, or an elder-law attorney.
They cannot waive occupancy (24 CFR 206.39), age (24 CFR 206.33), or title (24 CFR 206.35). A well-written paragraph about a rural well does not inspect your septic.
Use the calculator when you want a modeled range on age, value, and a payoff. Use the Ask Jay hub when you need a different question. Come back to a topic page when the blocker is specific. Then stop reading and book HUD-approved counseling if you are actually originating.
A second reader: a 66-year-old in Yuma who already has a counseling certificate and wants the library to “confirm the proceeds.” The certificate is good for 180 days. The library does not confirm proceeds. The originator’s Loan Estimate and HUD’s tables do. If the certificate is about to expire, do not spend the last week rereading FAQs. Finish the file or recounsel.
Who should not skip counseling because they finished the library?
This library does not help a person who wants to skip 24 CFR 206.41 counseling because they “already read 100 answers.” Counseling is independent. The originator cannot sit in. In California, the seven-day wait still runs after the session, not after the hundredth article. I will not accept a complete California application the next morning because someone finished the hub.
I also will not claim these 100 pages are the most complete set in the industry, the highest-traffic set, or a HUD-endorsed curriculum. They are rewritten homeowner questions with named sources. That is the whole credential.
A follow-up: if a page is silent on your fact — a tribal lease, a recorded PACE lien, a new marriage after a HECM already closed — do not invent the answer from a nearby slug. Ask. Mortgagee Letter 2017-18 still makes remaining PACE ineligible. 24 CFR 206.55 still will not add a spouse after closing. Silence in the library is not permission.
Another follow-up: can a referral partner treat the 100-page set as a client handout instead of a conversation? They can send a link. They cannot skip the partner’s own suitability talk. I turn unsuitable files away. The library should make that easier, not harder.
If the next step is a live file, book a counselor from the official list, then compare Loan Estimates. If the next step is “this house should not have a reverse mortgage,” stop. Doing nothing is a legitimate outcome. The first 100 pages exist so you can see that outcome before anyone charges you for an appraisal.