← Reverse mortgages in Colorado
Do you still pay property tax with a reverse mortgage in Monument? Yes, and here that answer carries more weight than it does most places. The effective rate in town runs about 0.58%, against 0.41% across El Paso County. So the median Monument bill is roughly $3,667 while the county median is $1,874, and on a reverse mortgage that bill has to stay current for the life of the loan.
Monument is a young town with new houses, which is not the usual starting point for this conversation. The median home went up in 2006, only 10.9% of the housing stock predates 1980, and just 12.9% of residents are 65 or older against 15.6% statewide. So a reverse mortgage in Monument is often an early conversation rather than a late one, and about as often it starts with an adult child instead of the homeowner. It is the right move in some situations and the wrong one in others, and I will tell you which this is. See how Monument compares on my Colorado aging-in-place overview.
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On this page
- Local reverse mortgage broker in Monument
- Aging in place in Monument
- What is my Monument home worth?
- Reverse mortgage calculator
- Cost of aging in place
- Is a reverse mortgage right for me?
- Learn how reverse mortgages work
- Reverse mortgage options in Monument
- How much a reverse mortgage costs in Monument
- Covenants and metro districts
- Reverse mortgage FAQs
Reverse Mortgage Specialist in Monument, CO
Who is a local reverse mortgage broker in Monument, CO? Christopher Gibson (NMLS #1910430) is an independent broker with C2 Financial Corporation (NMLS #135622). He helps Monument homeowners age 55 and older (age 62+ for the government-insured HECM) turn home equity into funds for retirement. Because the funds are loan proceeds rather than income, they are generally not subject to federal income tax.* Call or text 720-449-6622.
Aging in place in Monument, at a glance
The honest pros and cons, every measure I track, sorted by which way it cuts. Full detail below.
| Works in your favor | Neutral or mixed | Plan around it |
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Figures: U.S. Census ACS 2024 5-Year (tables B25032, B25034, B25035, B25077, B25081, B25088, B25103, B19049 and profile DP05); NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals; El Paso County Assessor and Treasurer; HUD/FHA. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
Why a reverse mortgage appeals to Monument homeowners 55+ attempting to age in place
Monument sits at 6,982 feet on the southern slope of the Palmer Divide, at the base of the Rampart Range with Pike National Forest along its western edge. Incorporated in 1879, it stayed small for a century and then nearly doubled between 2010 and 2020. So almost everything you see is new: a median build year of 2006 and a typical value of $636,700, well above El Paso County’s $461,000. In short, this is a recently built town, and its mortgage picture follows from that.
Together, two numbers set this page apart from the rest of the cluster. Only 12.9% of Monument residents are 65 or older, well under the state’s 15.6% and the national 17.2%, and the median age is just 38.3. Meanwhile only 20.0% of owner-occupied homes are owned outright, against 28.4% across El Paso County. So the typical owner here is younger than average and still making a payment, which changes both the timing and the purpose of the conversation.
Monument reverse mortgage facts and figures
Monument values run about 38% above the El Paso County median while its effective tax rate runs about 41% above it too. So here are the numbers worth having in front of you:
Home values, property tax and housing age: U.S. Census ACS 2024 5-Year. HECM limit: HUD/FHA 2026. Mill levies: El Paso County Treasurer. Figures change, so ask me for today’s numbers on your home.
What is your Monument home worth today?
Curious what your home could be worth, and how much equity you have to work with? Use my free home-value tool below. Enter your address for an instant Monument estimate you can track over time, at no cost and no obligation.
Reverse Mortgage Calculator
Let’s calculate how much equity you can unlock.
A reverse mortgage is a loan. The balance grows over time and is repaid when the last borrower leaves the home. You keep the title, and you remain responsible for property taxes, homeowners insurance, and upkeep.
Aging in place in Monument with a reverse mortgage: what it really costs
Price and rate are the easy part. These are the numbers that actually decide whether a reverse mortgage in Monument makes sense, and I would rather you see them before we talk about a loan.
Why the Monument tax bill is not the El Paso County tax bill
First, the number that surprises people. The Census puts the median annual property tax here at $3,667 on a $636,700 home, an effective rate of about 0.58%. Across El Paso County the median bill is $1,874 at about 0.41%. So Monument owners pay roughly two dollars in tax for every dollar and a half a typical county homeowner pays, before anyone talks about value.
Some of that is simply higher home values. However, the rest is the stack of districts a Monument parcel sits in. Namely the town’s own levy of 2.0 mills, El Paso County at 23.459, Lewis-Palmer School District 38 at 49.5, plus fire, water and in many newer subdivisions a metropolitan district carrying its own debt levy. So two houses a mile apart can have very different bills. Look yours up before you plan around it.
El Paso County metro district maps →
That matters for one specific reason. Taxes and insurance must stay current for the life of a reverse mortgage, and a lender may require a life expectancy set-aside when the numbers look tight. Rather than discover that at underwriting, we run it at the kitchen table.
New houses, and what that actually means at 80
The median Monument home went up in 2006, and only 10.9% of the housing stock predates 1980 against 39.7% across Colorado. Just 1.7% was built before 1940. So the usual aging-in-place worries here are not the ones I write about in older towns: the wiring is modern, the plumbing is modern, and the insulation is generally fine.
Instead the question is the floor plan. A lot of what got built in the 2000s put the primary bedroom upstairs, and stairs are what actually ends independent living. So the useful work in Monument is usually a main-floor bedroom and bath, a curbless shower and better lighting, rather than a systems overhaul. My free Aging-in-Place Home Scorecard scores any home in about 15 minutes and tells you which one you are dealing with.
A young town, which changes who I usually talk to
Only 12.9% of Monument residents are 65 or older, well under the state’s 15.6% and the national 17.2%, and the median age is 38.3. Meanwhile the town nearly doubled in population between 2010 and 2020. In other words, most of Monument is not thinking about this at all, and the people who are tend to be either planning several years ahead or helping a parent.
That second case comes up here more than anywhere else I work. Adult children generally want three things: to understand whether the house can fund staying put, to know what happens to it afterward, and to be sure nobody is being sold something. Naturally I am happy to have that conversation with the whole family on the call, and I will say plainly when the answer is no.
Most Monument owners still carry a mortgage
Only 20.0% of owner-occupied homes here are owned free and clear, against 28.4% across El Paso County and 30.6% statewide. Because so much of the town was bought recently, the equity that exists is mostly appreciation rather than decades of paydown. So a reverse mortgage in Monument frequently starts by retiring the loan that is already there, which removes the required monthly principal-and-interest payment.
Once that payment is gone the running cost is modest. The Census puts monthly owner costs on a paid-off home at $880, or about 13% of the typical 65+ household income of $79,154. However, you need enough equity to cover the payoff first, and that is the first thing I check rather than the last.
Level III twelve miles south, Level I about twenty
UCHealth Memorial Hospital North on Briargate Parkway is a Level III trauma center roughly twelve miles down I-25, and UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs is a Level I trauma center, one of only four in Colorado, about twenty miles south. Comparatively that is good access for a town this size, although neither is in town and I-25 over Monument Hill closes in bad weather more often than people expect. Before you assume, check any hospital’s current star rating on Medicare’s Care Compare.
What care costs against a Monument income
Namely, those are Genworth’s 2024 Colorado medians set against the local income figure, and the arithmetic is worth doing slowly. Assisted living at $5,877 a month is about $70,500 a year, which is roughly 89% of the typical 65+ household income in Monument. So income alone does not cover a move to care here, and that gap is the honest reason most people in this town end up asking about equity. Figures are educational, not a quote.
Where to start locally
The Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging covers El Paso County for in-home services, caregiver support and benefits counseling, and its Yellow Book is the most complete local directory of senior services I know of. Both are free to use and neither of them sells anything.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS 2024 5-Year; Genworth 2024 Cost of Care (Colorado); HUD/FHA 2026 HECM limit; El Paso County Assessor and Treasurer 2024 mill levies; UCHealth. Assessment rates and mill levies are set annually and change. Figures are educational, verify your own before relying on them. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
Quick guide: is a reverse mortgage right for me?
First, answer four short questions, and the guide will point you toward the resource that fits your situation. Of course, it is general guidance for learning, not an approval or a quote, and nothing you tap is stored.
Free guide: Your Home Can Help
My complete guide to reverse mortgages for Colorado homeowners, the retirement squeeze, the myths, your options, real client stories, and what it really costs. No email required.
Learn how reverse mortgages work
Want the full details before we talk? These guides cover everything, no local sales pitch, just the facts.
Reverse mortgage options in Monument: HECM vs. jumbo
With a median value near $636,700, every Monument home sits comfortably inside the 2026 FHA HECM limit of $1,249,125. So the government-insured HECM is the tool here, and the proprietary jumbo only enters the picture on the largest acreage properties west of town. If you want it in plain English first, start with the types of reverse mortgages and then the comparison table.
Buying a home? Consider a HECM for Purchase (H4P)
A HECM for Purchase lets you buy your next home with a reverse mortgage: you put down a portion and finance the rest with no required monthly principal-and-interest payment. In Monument the usual version is moving out of a 2000s two-storey into a single-level home in the same school district, close to the same grandchildren, without picking up a new payment on the way. The tax and metro-district picture can change street to street, so price the new bill before you fall in love with the house.
How much you can access depends on age, rates, and value. Start your own estimate with the reverse mortgage calculator above.
How the process works, step by step
Consultation, HUD counseling, application, appraisal, closing, with a three-day right to cancel. Typically a reverse mortgage in Monument funds in 30 to 45 days. However, if there is an existing loan to pay off, and here there usually is, the payoff demand can add a few days, so ask your servicer early. Here is how a reverse mortgage works, step by step.
How much a reverse mortgage in Monument costs
The biggest cost is FHA mortgage insurance: 2% of the home's value upfront plus about 0.5% a year on the balance, and that upfront premium funds the FHA insurance behind that non-recourse protection. On a typical Monument home at $636,700 that runs roughly $12,734 at closing, and in practice most of it rolls into the loan rather than coming out of pocket. Every fee, itemized.
The honest trade-offs (the balance grows, you still cover taxes and insurance, and it rewards a longer stay) are the same anywhere. I lay them all out in the pros and cons of a reverse mortgage.
Why work with a mortgage broker, not a bank
A reverse mortgage in Monument is priced, not fixed. Naturally, a bank quotes you whatever is on its own sheet that morning. Instead I shop the same loan across more than 30 wholesale lenders. At this value the product is almost always a HECM, yet the same HECM is priced differently lender to lender, and the margin difference compounds against your balance for as long as you keep the loan. C2 Financial Corporation, NMLS #135622.
What happens to your home and your heirs
Title stays in your name, and the loan is non-recourse, which means the debt can never exceed what the house sells for. When the time comes your heirs choose: pay it off, refinance it, or sell and keep whatever is left. Importantly, Colorado charges no estate or inheritance tax, and a newer Monument house in a covenant community generally sells quickly, which makes the twelve-month window less of a squeeze than it is in slower markets. Timelines and the 95% rule.
Covenants, metro districts and a reverse mortgage in Monument
First, skip the condo conversation here. Of Monument's 3,254 owner-occupied homes the Census counts zero in any building over nine units, so FHA project approval on a high-rise is simply not a question that comes up. There are 304 attached homes and 75 manufactured homes, and both have their own rules worth ten minutes on the phone.
Instead the local wrinkle is the district a house sits in. Namely, many of the subdivisions built here since 2000 are inside a metropolitan district that issued bonds to build the roads and water lines, and it services that debt with its own mill levy on top of the county, school and fire levies. So your tax bill, and therefore the escrow analysis a reverse mortgage lender runs, depends on the subdivision rather than the town. Property and eligibility rules.
None of that stops a loan. It just has to be priced honestly at the start, because a set-aside sized on the wrong tax bill is a surprise nobody enjoys at closing. If you are in a townhome or a covenant community, my HOA and condominium checklist covers what an underwriter will ask for.
The HUD counseling requirement, explained
HUD requires an independent counseling session before closing on any reverse mortgage nationwide, not a Colorado rule, usually low-cost or free, and it has to be finished before I can pull an FHA case number. I will send you the HUD-approved El Paso County counselor list so scheduling never stalls your file. Find counselors through HUD’s HECM program. Colorado Division of Real Estate publishes consumer guidance. What the session actually covers. So no reverse mortgage in Monument closes without it.
Reverse mortgage FAQs for Monument homeowners
Do you still pay property tax with a reverse mortgage in Monument?
Yes. You keep title, so the bill stays yours, and it has to stay current for the life of the loan. That matters more here than in most of El Paso County: the effective rate in Monument runs about 0.58% against 0.41% countywide, so the median bill is roughly $3,667 rather than $1,874. Colorado's senior exemption knocks 50% off the first $200,000 of actual value for owners 65 and up who have owned and occupied ten consecutive years, worth about $580 a year at this rate. Apply through the El Paso County Assessor.
How much can I borrow with a reverse mortgage in Monument?
Generally it depends on the youngest borrower's age, current rates, and your home value. With a median near $636,700, every Monument home sits well inside the 2026 FHA HECM limit of $1,249,125, so the standard government-insured loan is the right tool and jumbo rarely comes up. Ultimately age moves the number more than anything else, and if you still owe on the house, and four owners in five here do, the payoff comes out of the total first.
My parent owns a home in Monument. Can I help them look into a reverse mortgage?
Yes, and in this town that is often how it starts, since only 12.9% of residents are 65 or older. First, your parent has to be the one who decides and the one who signs, and the HUD counseling session is theirs alone. However, nothing stops you sitting in on our conversation, reading the numbers, and asking the awkward questions. Naturally I would rather have the whole family on the call than explain it twice.
When do I pay back a reverse mortgage in Monument?
The loan comes due when the last borrower sells, moves out for more than twelve consecutive months, or passes away. The twelve-month clock is what catches families out, usually after a move into care rather than after a death. Because Monument houses are newer and the market here turns over quickly, a sale inside that window is generally realistic, but plan for it rather than assume it.
Is counseling required in Colorado?
Yes. Before anything closes you sit down with an independent HUD-approved counselor, and it has to happen before I can pull an FHA case number. Typically it is low-cost or free. Afterward I will send over the El Paso County counselor list so scheduling is never what holds up your file.
Have a question about a reverse mortgage in Monument? Call or text me at 720-449-6622. No pressure, just straight answers.
Monument neighborhoods and nearby areas I serve
I work with homeowners across the city and greater El Paso County. That includes Jackson Creek, Woodmoor, Promontory Pointe, Sanctuary Pointe, Wakonda Hills, Kings Deer, Red Rock Ranch, Trails End, and Home Place Ranch. Core ZIP codes include 80132, 80921, 80133.
In addition, I also help owners in nearby communities such as Palmer Lake, Woodmoor, Larkspur, Black Forest, Colorado Springs, and Castle Rock, and across El Paso and Elbert counties. See every area I cover on my reverse mortgages across Colorado page. Do not see your area? Reach out and ask.
If aging in place is your goal, local resources like the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging, and its Yellow Book directory of senior services can help you plan, and my free Aging-in-Place Home Scorecard lets you score any Monument home in about 15 minutes to see how ready it is to grow old in.
Wondering whether a home is one you could grow old in? Score any home in about 15 minutes, and see how a reverse mortgage can fund the upgrades.
Use the Aging-in-Place ScorecardReverse mortgages in nearby communities
About Christopher Gibson
Christopher Gibson (NMLS #1910430) is an independent mortgage and reverse mortgage broker with C2 Financial Corporation (NMLS #135622), serving homeowners across the states he is licensed in. Serving Monument and nearby communities. Call or text 720-449-6622. More about Christopher.
Read reviews of Reverse Mortgages & Home Loans with Christopher Gibson at C2 Financial
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*This is general information, not tax advice. Reverse mortgage proceeds are loan advances rather than income and are generally not subject to federal income tax. Consult a CPA or tax advisor about your specific situation. Receiving loan proceeds may also affect eligibility for need-based government benefits such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).