San Diego rewarded the people who stayed — the Navy families in Clairemont, the engineers in Rancho Bernardo, the teachers in Allied Gardens. Their homes now hold the retirement fund nobody set out to build.
San Diego sits at the fulcrum: Zillow’s citywide average of about $1,008,000 lands under the 2026 FHA HECM limit of $1,249,125, keeping the mid-century neighborhoods — Clairemont, Serra Mesa, Allied Gardens, much of Rancho Bernardo — in full-value HECM territory, while Point Loma, La Jolla, and the coastal strip run past the limit into jumbo range, where proprietary programs lend to $4 million from age 55. Few cities require the two-program comparison as routinely as this one.
San Diego is also a military town, and I’ll say the important thing directly: there is no VA reverse mortgage. Veterans and military retirees use the same HECM and jumbo programs as everyone else — and with the pension and healthcare picture many retirees here already have, the reverse mortgage’s job is usually precise: eliminate a remaining payment, or build a standby line for the later-care years. Anyone marketing a “veteran’s reverse program” deserves your skepticism.
The county’s 55+ landscape matters too — from Rancho Bernardo’s Seven Oaks and Oaks North to the broader right-sizing migration toward single-level living. HECM for Purchase carries real weight here: it lets the move happen with roughly half down and no required monthly payment, keeping the rest of the sale proceeds liquid for the years ahead.
Same broker, same phone number, three different instruments. I run the ones that apply to your home side by side — the numbers pick the winner, not the sales pitch.
Who qualifies: homeowners 62+ for the FHA HECM (55+ for many jumbo programs), living in the home as their primary residence, with sufficient equity and a financial assessment showing capacity to meet the obligations below. Independent counseling with a HUD-approved agency is required before a HECM — you choose the agency freely from the HUD roster (national line: 800-569-4287), and California adds its own consumer protections, including a cooling-off period.
What you must keep paying: property taxes (every line of the bill), homeowner’s insurance, reasonable home maintenance, and HOA dues where applicable. No monthly mortgage payment is required while you live in the home and meet these obligations — but failing to meet them can cause the loan to become due and payable. I structure set-asides when automating these payments is the safer plan.
What protects you: title stays in your name or your trust; the loan is non-recourse, so neither you nor your heirs can owe more than the home’s value; and heirs keep every dollar of remaining equity when the home is sold.
Long-tenure San Diego owners hold Prop 13 assessments that a reverse mortgage will not disturb — no reassessment, no title change. Proposition 19 adds the mobility piece: owners 55+ can transfer the low base to a replacement home anywhere in California, up to three times, which pairs naturally with a HECM for Purchase move to single-level living in Rancho Bernardo or beyond.
No — the VA does not offer one, and marketing that implies otherwise is a red flag. Veterans use the standard FHA HECM or proprietary jumbo programs. Your VA pension and benefits are unaffected by either; both are non-means-tested.
That's clean HECM territory — under the federal limit, so the calculation uses your full value, and the HECM’s growing line of credit and tenure-payment options are all on the table. I’ll still show you the jumbo comparison, but at that value the HECM usually carries the day.
HECM for Purchase: sell the two-story, put roughly half the new price down from proceeds, finance the balance with no required monthly principal-and-interest payment, and keep the remaining cash liquid. In the 55+ communities, I also verify FHA condo approval where applicable before you write an offer.
Before any HECM application, you complete an independent session with a HUD-approved counseling agency — by phone or in person, about an hour, typically $145–$200. You choose the agency freely from the HUD roster (I’m required to give you a list and prohibited from steering you). HUD’s national line is (800) 569-4287.
Every page on this site is written and maintained by me — the same person who answers the phone, runs your numbers, and handles your file start to finish. No call center, no hand-offs, no lead-selling. More about how I work →
Fifteen minutes on the phone and you’ll know what your home and age actually produce — HECM and jumbo, side by side, in writing. If it doesn’t serve you, I’ll be the first to say so.
(818) 674-7284Request the free California reverse mortgage guide — delivered instantly, no sales calls attached.
Get the Free Guide