The Sunset and the Richmond are full of owners who bought when a teacher’s salary could buy a house in San Francisco — and stayed fifty years. Their houses became fortunes; their incomes didn’t. That gap is exactly what this tool closes.
San Francisco holds the sharpest house-rich, income-modest divide in California. Zillow’s citywide average near $1,394,000 — up strongly this year — sits above the 2026 FHA HECM limit of $1,249,125, so the typical single-family file here compares a limit-capped HECM against proprietary jumbo programs that lend on actual value to $4 million from age 55. In the Sunset, the Richmond, the Excelsior, and Bernal, where a rowhouse bought in 1978 now carries seven figures, that comparison decides real money.
Property type is destiny in this city, so let me be direct: tenancy-in-common (TIC) interests are not eligible for reverse mortgages — no FHA insurance, no mainstream proprietary program. Condominiums are eligible with FHA project or single-unit approval for a HECM, or under a jumbo lender’s own review. Single-family homes and, for HECMs, 2–4 unit buildings where you occupy a unit — a genuine San Francisco specialty — are routinely eligible. If you own a flat, the first question is what you legally own; I sort that before anything else.
The San Francisco client also arrives with the state’s deepest bench of professional advice — estate attorneys, fiduciary advisors, CPAs — and my practice is built for that table. The math goes to your advisor in writing; the trust goes to the lender’s counsel early; and if the answer is that selling under Prop 19 portability beats borrowing, you’ll hear that from me first.
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.
Fifty-year tenures make San Francisco the Prop 13 capital of California — assessments from the Carter administration on homes worth $1.5 million. A reverse mortgage leaves the assessment untouched. Proposition 19 gives owners 55+ statewide portability of that base, up to three times — which is why ‘borrow and stay’ versus ‘sell, port the base, and right-size’ is the genuine strategic fork here, and I’ll model both sides of it with your advisor.
No — TIC interests aren’t eligible for HECM or mainstream jumbo reverse programs. If the building later converts to condominiums, eligibility opens up (with FHA or lender approval of the project). I’d rather tell you this in one minute than let anyone string you along for six weeks.
The opposite — it’s a classic San Francisco HECM. FHA allows 2–4 unit properties when one unit is your primary residence. The downstairs rent keeps arriving; your mortgage payment, if any, goes away at closing. Tenant and rent-ordinance questions stay exactly as they are — the loan doesn’t change your obligations as a landlord.
At $1.6M the HECM computes proceeds as if the home were worth $1,249,125; the jumbo computes on $1.6M with no FHA premium and, if relevant, eligibility at 55. The jumbo usually generates more; the HECM answers with its growing credit line. Both go on one page for you and your advisor.
Sometimes yes — and under Prop 19 you’d carry your low tax base anywhere in California. That’s a life decision wearing a financial costume. My job is to price the ‘stay’ option accurately so you’re choosing between real numbers, not guesses; several clients a year hear me say selling wins.
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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.
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