A reverse mortgage consultation is a fit conversation about occupancy, leftover cash, and whether a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage should exist at all. Jay Zayer, CRMP, is a reverse mortgage specialist at reversemortgage.coach. It is not HUD-approved counseling under 24 CFR 206.41. It is not a closing. I work with multiple lenders. My role is not to convince you. It is to see whether the file is honest before anyone pays $125–$175 for a certificate that lasts 180 days.
Consider what happens when Amara, 66, occupies a paid-off house in Santa Barbara and books a consult because an adult child flew in for the weekend. We will name the goal. We will test occupancy. We will run leftover cash. If the house is a weekend visit and the facility is home, I will say no. If leftover cash after MIP is a token, I will say skip it.
A HECM remains FHA-insured. A consult is not a government enrollment session.
What will we actually talk about in that first meeting?
Goal. Occupancy under 24 CFR 206.39. Who is on title. Youngest borrower age under 24 CFR 206.33. Property type. Liens. Whether a LESA is likely. Whether a proprietary note is even in the conversation. See about for how I work. Stay here for the meeting itself.
Amara’s leftover cash still tracks the mid-30s to low-50s of value after age and expected rate. I will not quote a live cell. I will not interpolate HUD rows. I will show the calculator, not a seminar floor.
How is the consult different from counseling, application, and closing?
Counseling is a HUD-approved agency. Application is underwriting. Closing is signing. The consult is the screen that decides whether those rooms are worth entering. California Civil Code 1923.2(k) still adds seven days after counseling on Amara’s Santa Barbara file. That pause is why we do not treat the consult as counseling. Arizona files skip the statute. They do not skip the distinction.
Mortgagee Letter 2017-12 still charges 2.00% initial MIP of claim amount if we later originate. 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. A pleasant consult does not discount MIP.
If residual income requires a LESA, I will say that in the meeting. The set-aside is still origination-only. It cannot be added later because taxes surprised someone in year two.
Jay still quotes about 30 days on a complete refinance after the consult becomes a real file. The consult itself is not that clock.
What should I bring so the consult is not a second guessing session?
Who occupies tonight. Who is on title. A goal in one sentence. A live payoff if there is a first. Insurance declarations. A prior deny letter if one exists, as a checklist, not as a lawsuit. See process start to finish for what comes after. See documents needed when we decide to apply.
A second geography: a 78-year-old in Peoria, Arizona, whose consult is a phone call because travel is hard. Same occupancy test. No seven-day pause. Same need to tell the truth about the facility.
An adjustable HECM if we later close still accrues at 1-month CMT plus lender margin. Expected rate still rounds to 0.125% under 24 CFR 206.3.
Heirs who later keep a house that closed after an honest consult repay the outstanding loan balance under 24 CFR 206.125(a)(2)(i). A meeting note does not rewrite that subsection.
Who should not book a consult expecting a yes?
This path does not help a household that wants me to bless a vacant house because the child is in town for 48 hours. Occupancy is still 24 CFR 206.39. I work with multiple lenders. I will use the consult to say no when the file is a poor fit. I will turn away a sales-call expectation whose only plan is to leave with a certificate.
Will I leave the consult with a counseling certificate?
No. Amara’s Santa Barbara consult is a fit meeting. Peoria phone consults follow the same occupancy test. The certificate comes from a HUD-approved agency after you decide the file is worth the $125–$175 fee. I will not pretend the consult is 24 CFR 206.41. I will say no when the house is a weekend visit. I will show the calculator. I will not quote a live PLF cell.
Bring a goal in one sentence. Bring who occupies tonight. That is the meeting. Closing is a later room.
Will you run numbers on a house I do not yet occupy?
I will show the calculator as a worksheet. I will not treat it as a file. Amara’s Santa Barbara consult still starts with who sleeps in the house tonight. A Peoria phone consult follows the same occupancy test. A planned move-in after funding is not 24 CFR 206.39. Leftover cash on a vacant house is a curiosity. It is not origination. I will say no in the meeting if occupancy is still a plan. That is the consult doing its job.
Counseling still costs $125–$175. Do not spend the 180-day certificate on a house you visit on weekends. Bring the occupancy story in one sentence. If that sentence is honest and leftover cash is real, we talk about counseling next. If it is not, we stop. Closing is a later room. The consult is allowed to be a no.
A HECM remains FHA-insured. A consult worksheet is not a government approval.