A straight answer
My parent had a reverse mortgage and passed away. Can I keep the house?
The direct answer
Yes. Heirs can keep the home by paying off the reverse mortgage balance, and I place the loan that does it, in your name, once you hold title.
You are not stuck. I help people in exactly this spot. Losing a parent and then facing a due-and-payable notice is a lot at once, and the notice reads colder than the rules behind it. I'm Zach von der Linden (NMLS 1652805), a mortgage broker with West Capital Lending, based in San Clemente. The CFPB puts the basic timeline plainly: “Once your heirs receive a due and payable notice from the lender, they have 30 days to buy, sell, or turn the home over to the lender to satisfy the debt,” and “it might be possible for the timeline to be extended up to six months so your heirs can sell the home or obtain their own loan to purchase the home.”
Here is what happens next. You text me what the notice says and where the estate stands, I ask a few questions about title, your income and the payoff, and I tell you honestly whether a loan in your name fits and what it would take. No credit pull happens from a conversation. I work with homeowners in California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona, and eligibility depends on the property, your credit and your income. This page is not from HUD or FHA and has not been approved by either; it quotes their published rules so you can check them.
Zach von der Linden, mortgage broker and Branch Manager, West Capital Lending · NMLS 1652805
Wholesale pricing · California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona
5.0 across 66 reviews on Experience.com (read on 2026-09-24) · Text reaches Zach directly · Last updated 2026-10-03
No credit pull happens from a conversation. Texts go to Zach's cell.
What has to be true
The loan has come due for a reason the regulation names. Under 24 CFR 206.27(c), the balance becomes due and payable in full if a borrower dies and the property is not the principal residence of at least one surviving borrower, with a deferral for an eligible non-borrowing spouse.
You have, or will have, the right to the home. A loan in your name needs you on title, which usually means the estate, probate or a trust administration has to reach that point. Your attorney or the trustee tells you where that stands; I do not.
You qualify for the loan on your own income and credit. The reverse mortgage was your parent’s; the new loan is yours, as a purchase or a refinance, and I place it.
What the lender checks
The payoff. The regulation requires the servicer to notify the estate and the heirs that the mortgage is due and payable and to give them time to pay the outstanding balance in full, sell the home for an amount HUD sets by notice, or provide a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Get the payoff figure in writing from the servicer; it is the number any new loan has to reach.
Title and the estate. Who holds title today, whether probate is open, and whether a trust controls the home.
You. Income, credit and the home’s value, the way any purchase or refinance loan is reviewed. Whether a loan in your name fits your file and the servicer’s timeline is confirmed before you rely on it.
Limits
The timeline is the servicer’s and HUD’s, not mine. The CFPB describes thirty days from the notice and a possible extension of up to six months; nothing on this page promises either, and nothing here changes what the servicer does or the dates in its notice. If a notice of default or sale has been recorded, talk to an attorney and a HUD-approved housing counselor now, and keep talking to the servicer.
The estate is not personally liable. The regulation says “the borrower shall have no personal liability for payment of the outstanding loan balance,” the lender “shall enforce the debt only through sale of the property,” and no deficiency judgment is permitted. The CFPB adds that heirs “will eventually have to pay back the loan, usually by selling the home.” Keeping the home means paying the balance; walking away means the home, not you, satisfies the debt.
No rate, payment, fee or loan size appears on this page. The percentage of appraised value that the rules use for a sale by heirs is deliberately not printed here; ask the servicer for its written figure.
Three ways this ends
You keep the home by paying off the balance with a loan in your name, as a purchase or a refinance, once you hold title. The CFPB describes heirs obtaining their own loan to purchase the home as one way that happens. That is the loan I place, and the conversation I have with you.
You sell the home and the sale pays the balance, with anything left going to the estate. If you keep the home and want to understand what a reverse mortgage or another no-monthly-payment route would mean for you later, the page on cash from your equity with no monthly payment lays them out.
You hand the lender a deed in lieu of foreclosure and walk away with no personal liability. None of these three is wrong; the right one depends on the equity left, your income, and what you want.
Questions people ask next
How long do heirs have to pay off a reverse mortgage?
The CFPB says heirs have thirty days from the due-and-payable notice to buy, sell or turn the home over, and that the timeline “might be possible” to extend up to six months so heirs can sell or obtain their own loan. The servicer grants or denies the extension, not this page. Ask for the extension in writing as soon as you decide to keep the home.
Can I take over my parent’s reverse mortgage instead of getting a new loan?
The regulation makes the balance due when the borrower dies and no surviving borrower lives in the home, with a deferral only for an eligible non-borrowing spouse. Keeping the home means paying that balance, usually with a loan in your own name, which I place as a purchase or a refinance. Ask the servicer in writing what it will accept.
Am I personally responsible for my parent’s reverse mortgage?
No. The regulation says the borrower has no personal liability for the balance, the lender enforces the debt only through sale of the property, and no deficiency judgment is permitted. If you choose not to keep the home, the home satisfies the debt.
The house is still in probate. Can I get a loan on it?
A loan in your name needs you on title, and probate or a trust administration is what gets you there. Where that stands is a question for the attorney or trustee. Text me anyway; knowing the timeline and the payoff early helps, and I will tell you honestly what fits.
Does the loan come due if my parent moved to a nursing home before passing?
The regulation also makes the balance due when the property stops being a borrower’s principal residence for reasons other than death and no other borrower lives there, or when a borrower fails to occupy the home for longer than twelve consecutive months because of illness. Which event applied to your parent’s loan is in the servicer’s file; ask for it in writing.
What if the balance is more than the house is worth?
Then the estate is not on the hook for the difference. The lender collects only through the home, and no deficiency judgment is allowed. Keeping the home in that case means paying more than it is worth, which is a family decision, not a financing one. I will say so plainly if the numbers point that way.
Who do I call first?
The servicer, to get the payoff and the timeline in writing. Your attorney or the trustee, for title. A HUD-approved housing counselor, whose contact information the servicer must be able to give you, if a default or a sale has been noticed. And me, for the loan in your name and an honest answer on whether it fits the servicer’s timeline.
What clients say
Zach was so easy to work with. He made a stressful situation into a very positive experience for us and did push us one way or another. He listened to what we hoped we could accomplish and made it happen.
Word for word from Experience.com. Read all reviews.
Sources and checked dates
Sources: Confirmed by Zach, Sept 2026 (checked 2026-09-26) · Supplied by Zach, September 9, 2026 (checked 2026-09-09) · CFPB, With a reverse mortgage loan, can my heirs keep or sell my home after I die? (checked 2026-09-26) · 24 CFR 206.27(c), Date the mortgage becomes due and payable (checked 2026-09-26) · 24 CFR 206.125(a)(2), Acquisition and sale of the property (checked 2026-09-26) · 24 CFR 206.27(b)(8) (checked 2026-09-26) · CFPB, What is a reverse mortgage? (checked 2026-09-26) · HUD, FHA Reverse Mortgages (HECM) for Seniors (checked 2026-09-26) · CFPB, What is a HELOC? (checked 2026-09-27).
Show each claim on this page, what it depends on, and the date it was checked (9)
| What we say, and what it depends on | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Zach places a loan in an heir’s name, as a purchase or a refinance, to pay off a parent’s reverse mortgage so the heir can keep the house. | Confirmed by Zach, Sept 2026 | 2026-09-26 |
| Zach reports placing loans through more than one wholesale lender and program via his broker channel: the standard home equity line described on this site, plus conventional, government, bank statement and investment-property options. Individual lender names are kept off the public pages until the executed broker agreement for each is on file (California 10 CCR 2848(a)(3)). | Supplied by Zach, September 9, 2026 | 2026-09-09 |
| The CFPB says: “Once your heirs receive a due and payable notice from the lender, they have 30 days to buy, sell, or turn the home over to the lender to satisfy the debt.” It adds: “It might be possible for the timeline to be extended up to six months so your heirs can sell the home or obtain their own loan to purchase the home.” | CFPB, With a reverse mortgage loan, can my heirs keep or sell my home after I die? | 2026-09-26 |
| 24 CFR 206.27(c): the loan balance becomes due and payable in full if a borrower dies and the property is not the principal residence of at least one surviving borrower (with a deferral for an eligible non-borrowing spouse), or if “the property ceases to be the principal residence of a borrower for reasons other than death and the property is not the principal residence of at least one other borrower,” or if “for a period of longer than 12 consecutive months, a borrower fails to occupy the property because of physical or mental illness and the property is not the principal residence of at least one other borrower.” | 24 CFR 206.27(c), Date the mortgage becomes due and payable | 2026-09-26 |
| 24 CFR 206.125(a)(2): when the loan is due and payable the lender must notify the borrower, eligible non-borrowing spouse, estate and heirs, and give them time to pay the outstanding loan balance in full, sell the property for an amount set by HUD through notice, or provide a deed in lieu of foreclosure. | 24 CFR 206.125(a)(2), Acquisition and sale of the property | 2026-09-26 |
| 24 CFR 206.27(b)(8): “The borrower shall have no personal liability for payment of the outstanding loan balance. The mortgagee shall enforce the debt only through sale of the property. The mortgagee shall not be permitted to obtain a deficiency judgment against the borrower if the mortgage is foreclosed.” | 24 CFR 206.27(b)(8) | 2026-09-26 |
| The CFPB says: “Unlike a traditional mortgage, with a reverse mortgage loan, borrowers don’t make monthly mortgage payments.” It adds: “With a reverse mortgage loan, the amount the homeowner owes to the lender goes up–not down–over time. This is because interest and fees are added to the loan balance each month. As your loan balance increases, your home equity decreases.” And: “The homeowners or their heirs will eventually have to pay back the loan, usually by selling the home.” | CFPB, What is a reverse mortgage? | 2026-09-26 |
| HUD’s HECM page says the federally insured reverse mortgage is the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, available through FHA-approved lenders, that “HECM borrowers may reside in their homes indefinitely as long as property taxes and homeowner’s insurance are kept current,” and that a counselor can be found through the HECM Counselor Roster. | HUD, FHA Reverse Mortgages (HECM) for Seniors | 2026-09-26 |
| The CFPB describes a HELOC as an open-end line of credit for borrowing repeatedly against home equity, says draw and repayment periods vary, and warns that falling behind could cost you your home. | CFPB, What is a HELOC? | 2026-09-27 |
Written for and accountable to: Zach von der Linden, Mortgage broker and Branch Manager, West Capital Lending.
Last updated 2026-10-03.
Verify him: NMLS Consumer Access, ID 1652805 · 66 reviews on Experience.com.
Sources for product claims are listed on this page, with the date each was checked.
Talk it through with Zach
No credit pull happens from a conversation. Texts go to Zach's cell.