Yes, a home near power lines can support a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage when it remains a marketable dwelling you occupy. Jay Zayer, CRMP, is a reverse mortgage specialist at reversemortgage.coach. Voltage is not a published HUD deny. A recorded easement that makes the house unoccupiable, or an appraisal that cannot support value, can stop the file.
A common scenario: Pilar, 76, occupies a paid-off house in Perris under a transmission corridor. The prelim may show a standard utility exception. The appraiser may need comps that also sit near lines. Neither fact is, by itself, a 24 CFR Part 206 bar. A corridor that crosses the living room is not a standard exception.
A HECM remains FHA-insured. Power lines are not a government energy program attached to the loan.
Does HUD publish a setback distance that kills HECM eligibility?
No. I will not invent a HUD foot-count. 24 CFR 206.45 is still an eligible dwelling. 24 CFR 206.47 is still soundness and sanitation. Marketability sits in the appraisal. If Pilar’s value supports a useful principal limit after costs, the file can proceed. If the corridor soaks the value, leftover cash can be a token. Paying 2.00% initial MIP of claim amount for a decorative line is a poor fee.
This page is proximity. Easement is the recorded right. Stay here when the live question is the towers, not the five-foot rear strip.
Leftover cash still models in the mid-30s to low-50s of value after age and expected rate, on the value the appraiser can support. I will not quote a live cell. Type that value, not a corridor-free Zillow number.
When does a utility easement, not the view, stop the file?
When the exception lets the utility occupy or remove the dwelling, when title will not insure a first lien, or when overlay refuses that corridor form. Confirm unusual easement overlays with the underwriter. I will not invent them as HUD tables.
Mortgagee Letter 2017-12 still charges 2.00% of maximum claim amount as initial MIP on a power-line house. Annual MIP is 0.50% of outstanding balance. 2026 files still use the $1,249,125 cap in Mortgagee Letter 2025-22. Origination is still capped at $6,000 under 24 CFR 206.31. Towers do not discount MIP. They can haircut value.
If residual income requires a LESA, that set-aside is still origination-only. It does not move the towers.
Counseling still costs $125–$175. The HUD certificate lasts 180 days. California Civil Code 1923.2(k) still adds seven days after counseling on Pilar’s Perris file. Do not start that clock on an unread easement.
How should an appraiser treat a house under a corridor?
With comps that share the same influence when they exist. A “line-free” comp across town is how value gets fought. A reconsideration will not erase a recorded easement.
A second geography: a 65-year-old in Casa Grande whose Arizona rural lines sit across the wash. Same HUD dwelling test as Perris. The recorded exception, not the desert sky, decides title.
An adjustable HECM near lines still accrues at 1-month CMT plus lender margin. Expected rate still rounds to 0.125% under 24 CFR 206.3.
Jay still quotes about 30 days on a complete refinance after value is supportable, not while the corridor exception is unread.
Who should not originate on a Zillow value that ignores the towers?
This path does not help a household that wants me to pretend the corridor is a tree line. I will not. Occupancy is still 24 CFR 206.39.
Heirs who later keep a power-line HECM house repay the outstanding loan balance under 24 CFR 206.125(a)(2)(i). Transmission towers do not rewrite that subsection.
I work with multiple lenders. I will originate when title is insurable and value is real. I will turn away a corridor house whose only value is a line-free listing.
Does an EMF survey HUD never asked for help or hurt the appraisal?
It can confuse a file that needed comps, not a science exhibit. HUD does not publish a voltage setback that kills HECM eligibility. Pilar’s Perris corridor is a marketability and easement file. Casa Grande rural lines across a wash are the same 24 CFR 206.45 dwelling test. I will not invent a HUD foot-count. If two nearby sales under transmission lines exist, use them. If they do not, leftover cash can be a token after value is haircut. Paying 2.00% of maximum claim amount as initial MIP for a decorative line is a poor fee.
A corridor that crosses the living room is not a standard rear-lot utility strip. Title, occupancy, and 24 CFR 206.47 soundness can all fail on that fact. A five-foot PG&E exception in the back yard usually cannot. Read the easement. Do not treat every pole as the same stop.
Can I escrow a landscaping screen to “fix” the towers for the appraiser?
No. Bushes do not move a recorded transmission easement. Pilar’s Perris value is what corridor comps support. A landscaping bid is not a 24 CFR 206.47 required repair unless the appraiser listed actual safety work. Cosmetic screening is taste. It is not a HUD voltage cure.
If leftover cash after a supported corridor value is a token, skip origination. An adjustable note will still accrue at 1-month CMT plus lender margin on whatever balance exists. Expected rate still rounds to 0.125% under 24 CFR 206.3. Neither input erases the towers. Casa Grande lines across a wash get the same honest appraisal, not a desert-sky Zillow number.