Everything people actually ask us.

A reverse mortgage lets homeowners 55+ access tax-free equity with no required monthly payments, commonly up to about 55% of the home's value, sometimes higher under certain programs for older homeowners. The exact advance depends on age, property, location and product. Qualifying is based on the home and your age, not income or credit. There's no stress test.

Yes. You stay on title as the owner. Nothing about ownership changes. Your ongoing obligations are the ones you already have: keep the property taxes and home insurance current, and keep the home as your residence.

When the home is sold or the last borrower moves out. There's no fixed term and no required payments along the way. A no-negative-equity guarantee applies: neither you nor your estate ever owes more than the home's fair market value. The guarantee is the lender's, not ours (CHIP, Equitable Bank, Bloom and Home Trust each carry one), it holds as long as the mortgage's obligations are kept, and the product terms govern.

Compounding. With no payments, interest accrues onto the balance, so the debt grows while you stay. That's the product working as designed, not a trick. The real question is whether the equity you're consuming buys something worth more to you than the inheritance it reduces. We put the year-by-year math in front of you before any decision.

No required payments: that's the core of the product. But payments are optional, not forbidden: most lenders let you pay the interest monthly to keep the balance flat, and let you stop again whenever you like. Our calculator shows both paths side by side.

The advances are loan proceeds, not income, so they're tax-free and generally don't affect income-tested benefits the way investment withdrawals can. For the interaction with your specific benefits and estate plan, we encourage a conversation with your accountant or advisor, and we're happy to join it.

Plan for one-time closing costs paid from the advance: legal work (about $1,500–2,500), independent legal advice (about $400–800), and the appraisal. Independent legal advice, your own lawyer confirming you understand the product, is standard on reverse files. The broker is paid by the lender when the mortgage funds, so there is no fee to you for the conversation, the calculators, or arranging it.

Yes: Fraction's no-payment mortgage. Not a reverse mortgage, but it does the same job for a term: no monthly payments for 2, 3 or 5 years, interest added to the balance, no age requirement, and repayable in full at any time with no penalty. Partial prepayments are not accepted, it lends in BC, Alberta and Ontario, and it is a bridge rather than a lifetime product: the exit is a sale, a refinance or a new term, and Ramin models the balance against that exit before you sign.

The reverse mortgage lenders write for the home you live in: HomeEquity Bank, Equitable Bank, Bloom Finance and Home Trust all require an owner-occupied principal residence. Fraction's no-payment mortgage is the route for a mixed residential-commercial property: its rate sheet allows mixed use case by case, subject to its credit committee and at a premium to its standard rate, in BC, Alberta and Ontario. Ramin prices it against your alternatives the same way as any file.

Yes. Reverse-for-purchase pairs your down payment with a reverse advance on the new home, so you right-size without taking on a monthly payment. It's a common move from the family house to the easier-to-keep one.

If your income qualifies and the payment is comfortable, then often yes, and we'll tell you so. The reverse products earn their place when qualifying or cash flow is the problem: no stress test, no payment, no risk of a missed-payment default. We run both numbers before recommending either.

Yes, it has to stay your principal residence. The lenders' published rule is that you live in the home at least six months of every year; HomeEquity Bank, Equitable Bank and Bloom all state it. Winters away are fine. Bloom, for example, also allows up to twelve months away for medical reasons or a stay in a care home, and asks you to confirm occupancy once a year. Moving out for good, including into long-term care, is what makes the mortgage due.

Nothing changes for them. When both of you are on title and on the mortgage, the surviving spouse simply carries on as the borrower, with no re-qualifying, no forced sale and no payments, and the mortgage only comes due when the last of you sells, moves out or passes away. HomeEquity Bank, Equitable Bank and Bloom all publish this protection, and it is why every owner goes on the application from the start.

Yes. In October 2026 Ramin completed all eleven modules of the Certified Canadian Reverse Mortgage Consultant (CCRMC) program and passed its final exam with 90%. Ramin is on the program's public list of graduates, for British Columbia and Alberta. The designation sits on top of his mortgage broker licences in British Columbia and Alberta, which are what allow him to arrange your mortgage.

Check it yourself: the CCRMC graduates list ↗

Certified Canadian Reverse Mortgage Consultant: an industry designation, not a licence, for mortgage professionals who advise homeowners 55 and over on reverse mortgages. Its eleven teaching modules run from the Canadian reverse mortgage landscape and retirement income through lenders and products, suitability, the reverse mortgage process, compliance and real-world case studies, and the twelfth is the final assessment: a 50-question knowledge test that needs 70% to pass. CCRMC consultants are bound by a code of conduct: recommend a reverse mortgage only where it is demonstrably suitable, present the alternatives, and never use pressure or artificial deadlines.