← Reverse mortgages in Colorado
Curious what a reverse mortgage costs in Centennial? The largest upfront line on a HECM, for owners age 62 and up, is the FHA mortgage insurance at 2 percent of the counted home value, alongside the origination fee, appraisal, title, and recording. On a $658K Centennial home in Arapahoe County those can be rolled into the loan, and a no-premium proprietary option sometimes comes in cheaper, so I compare both.
A typical Centennial home is worth around $658K in the south metro, and for a longtime owner most of that is untouched equity. A reverse mortgage only fits some situations, and I will say so when it does not. See how Centennial compares on my Colorado aging-in-place overview.
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On this page
- Local reverse mortgage broker in Centennial
- Aging in place in Centennial
- What is my Centennial 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 Centennial
- How much a reverse mortgage costs in Centennial
- Condos and HOA
- Reverse mortgage FAQs
Reverse Mortgage Specialist in Centennial, CO
Who is a local reverse mortgage broker in Centennial, CO? Christopher Gibson (NMLS #1910430) is an independent broker with C2 Financial Corporation (NMLS #135622). He helps Centennial 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 Centennial, 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 2020-2024 5-Year; County Health Rankings 2025 (life expectancy, county level); NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals; FEMA National Risk Index (per hazard, not the composite); USGS elevation. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
Why a reverse mortgage appeals to Centennial homeowners 55+ attempting to age in place
Centennial is a master-planned city in the south Denver metro, where a house bought decades ago is now worth around $658K. For a longtime owner on a fixed income as taxes climb, that equity is what a reverse mortgage reaches, most often to clear a monthly payment and stay in the neighborhood.
Centennial was incorporated in 2001, one of the largest city incorporations in U.S. history, and roughly 71% of its homes were built between 1970 and 1999, meaning a large share of South Metro seniors have owned their homes for decades and are sitting on substantial, largely mortgage-free equity even after recent price softening.
Centennial reverse mortgage facts and figures
Centennial values sit in the upper-middle of the Denver metro, and it is the paid-off equity in its established homes that a reverse mortgage puts to work. Here are a few numbers worth knowing:
Home values: Zillow, January 2026. HECM limit: HUD/FHA 2026. Property tax: U.S. Census. Figures change, ask me for today’s numbers on your home.
What is your Centennial 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 Centennial 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 Centennial with a reverse mortgage: what it really costs
Centennial is a 1980s suburb that has quietly become a retirement community. 18.9% of residents are 65 or older, the median home was built in 1983, and 42.9% of the housing predates 1980. A lot of people bought here young and simply never left, which is the exact profile a reverse mortgage is built around.
Long tenure is your biggest asset, in two different ways
The first is obvious: decades of appreciation on a house now worth a median $658,100. The second is the one people miss. Colorado’s senior exemption requires ten consecutive years of ownership and occupancy in the same home, and in a neighborhood of original owners almost everyone who is old enough also clears that test. It exempts 50% of the first $200,000 of actual value at 65 and older, with a July 15 deadline and automatic renewal after that.
A reverse mortgage does not cost you it. Title stays in your name, the ten-year clock is unbroken and the statute contains no reverse-mortgage exclusion. The property tax deferral is barred for reverse-mortgaged homes, so do not confuse the two.
Colorado senior property tax exemption
Forty-year-old houses and what the appraiser will say
An early-1980s house is at the age where the big systems come due at once: roof, furnace, water heater, sometimes the electrical panel. On an FHA appraisal that raises the odds of a repair set-aside at closing, where part of your principal is held back to fund required work on a schedule. It is manageable and it is common. It is easier when you expect it.
The aging-in-place list for this vintage is usually short but not trivial: a main-floor bathroom that works with a walker, a curbless shower, better lighting on the stairs. Funding that from equity without adding a monthly payment is the most common reason people in this zip code call me.
Trauma care is six miles away in two directions
Centennial Medical Plaza is a Level IV, but Littleton Adventist and Sky Ridge in Lone Tree are both Level II and each is roughly six or seven miles off. Colorado has only five Level I centers statewide, all on the Front Range, with the nearest in Denver, Aurora and Lakewood. For a suburb with this age profile that is close to the best medical position in the state.
Low taxes, and a wildfire risk you mostly do not have
The median tax bill here is $3,588 on a $658,100 home, an effective rate near 0.55%. Centennial is not wildland-urban interface either, so the fires that reset Colorado’s insurance market are not your direct exposure, though you still feel the statewide repricing. Hazard insurance remains a property charge you must keep current for the life of a reverse mortgage, where a lapse is a default.
What a paid-off Centennial house costs to hold
Strip out the mortgage and a typical Centennial house still runs $797 a month to keep, $9,564 a year in taxes, insurance, utilities and HOA dues. Property taxes account for $3,588 of it. Median income for households here headed by someone 65 or older is $92,032. 27% of homeowners 65 and over here are already above 30% of income on housing costs alone.
Set that against a $92,032 median income for households 65 and over, one of the highest in Colorado, and Centennial looks comfortable. It mostly is. The wrinkle is that the income figure is a median, and the people most likely to be looking at a reverse mortgage are the ones well below it, in the same 1980s houses with the same bills.
The altitude question nobody asks the lender
Centennial sits at 5,740 feet. Ordinary Colorado elevation, well below the range where the American Heart Association starts flagging risk, and most long-term residents never give it a thought.
Unremarkable elevation, which in a state like this counts as a feature. It matters to the loan too. A reverse mortgage runs on continued occupancy, which means an altitude-driven move is a genuine risk to the plan and not just to your health. The mechanics are on my Colorado reverse mortgage page.
Tenure is the asset nobody counts
Centennial rewards people who stayed. Nearly 43% of the housing predates 1980 and 18.9% of residents are 65 or older, which means a large share of this city clears the ten-year exemption test without thinking about it, on houses bought long before the Front Range got expensive. Both halves of that, the exemption and the equity, come from the same fact. What the years also produce is a house that needs work. Colorado’s statewide rules are on my Colorado reverse mortgage page.
The measures that decide whether staying works
On the weather, snow needs clearing on roughly 16 days a year, and 21 days a year top 90F, on 311 dry days a year. At 79.1 years against 77.1 nationally, longevity is about what you would expect. On the government’s own price parity index, where the US averages 100, the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metro area sits at 106. And the figure that ties it together: keeping a paid-off home here runs a median $797 a month, or 10% of what the typical household aged 65 and over brings in.
Sources: CDPHE designated trauma facilities; U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 5-Year (B01001, B25034, B25035, B25077, B25103); Colo. Const. art. X §3.5 and C.R.S. §§39-3-203 and 39-3-207; Colorado Division of Property Taxation; C.R.S. §§39-3.5-103 and 39-3.5-105 and the Colorado Treasury property tax deferral program; SB25-261; 24 CFR §§206.27(b)(3) and 206.205; Colorado Division of Insurance. Statewide sources for Colorado’s exemption, deferral, insurance and income tax rules are listed on my Colorado reverse mortgage page. 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.
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 ScorecardQuick 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 Centennial: HECM vs. jumbo
HECM covers most Centennial homes; a proprietary jumbo is built for higher-value homes above the FHA limit and for many condos. For the full side-by-side of HECM, jumbo, HELOC, and HEI, see the reverse mortgage comparison table, or the types of reverse mortgages for a plain-English rundown.
Buying a home? Consider a HECM for Purchase (H4P)
A HECM for Purchase lets you buy your next home using a reverse mortgage, so you put down a portion and finance the rest with no required monthly principal-and-interest payment. For a Centennial owner trading a two-story for a single-level home, it is a clean way to move without taking on a new monthly payment.
How much you can access depends on age, rates, and value. Start your own estimate with the reverse mortgage calculator below.
Full detail, including what you would need to bring at each age, is on the HECM for Purchase page.
How the process works, step by step
Consultation, HUD counseling, application, appraisal, closing, with a three-day right to cancel. Most HECM files fund in 30 to 45 days. Here is how a reverse mortgage works, step by step.
How much a reverse mortgage costs in Centennial
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 Centennial home at $658K that is about $13,200 at closing, and most of it rolls into the loan. 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 bank sells you one rate sheet. I shop the same loan across more than 30 wholesale lenders, which also opens up the proprietary and jumbo programs a single bank cannot offer, and at Centennial’s $658K median that is often the difference between a HECM and a materially bigger draw. C2 Financial Corporation, NMLS #135622.
What happens to your home and your heirs
You keep the title, and the loan is non-recourse, so you and your heirs can never owe more than the home is worth. Heirs can repay, refinance, or sell and keep the rest, and Colorado has no estate or inheritance tax to complicate it. Timelines and the 95% rule.
What about condos and HOA approval?
A HECM needs the whole project FHA-approved and plenty of Centennial buildings are not. Ask me early if you are in a condo, because the project's approval status decides which programs are even on the table. A proprietary loan can often finance one that is not, so check the building before you assume the answer is no. Property and eligibility rules.
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 Arapahoe County counselor list so scheduling never stalls your file. What the session actually covers.
Reverse mortgage FAQs for Centennial homeowners
What does a reverse mortgage cost in Centennial?
On a HECM the biggest upfront cost is the FHA mortgage insurance, 2 percent of the home value the loan counts, plus the origination fee capped at $6,000, appraisal, title, and recording, most of which can be financed in. A proprietary reverse mortgage carries no FHA premium and sometimes prices better. Here is the full cost breakdown.
Can I get a reverse mortgage on a Centennial condo?
Often, yes. A standard FHA HECM needs the whole condo project to be FHA-approved, and many buildings are not. When that is the case, a proprietary reverse mortgage can usually finance a non-approved or non-warrantable condo. I check your specific building first.
How much can I borrow in Centennial?
It depends on the youngest borrower's age, current rates, and your home value. Most Centennial homes fall within the standard FHA HECM limit, while higher-value homes may also fit a jumbo program that exceeds it.
Is counseling required in Colorado?
Yes. You must complete a session with a HUD-approved counselor before closing. It is usually low-cost or free. I will point you to approved Arapahoe County counselors so scheduling never slows you down.
Do I still pay property tax with a reverse mortgage in Centennial?
Yes. With a reverse mortgage you keep title and remain responsible for property taxes, homeowners insurance, and upkeep. Many counties, including Arapahoe County, offer a senior property-tax exemption you may qualify for, and you can even use reverse-mortgage funds to help cover those ongoing costs.
Have a question about a reverse mortgage in Centennial? Call or text me at 720-449-6622. No pressure, just straight answers.
Centennial neighborhoods and nearby areas I serve
I work with homeowners across the city and greater Arapahoe County. That includes Piney Creek, Homestead, Willow Creek, Southglenn, Dry Creek, Heritage Eagle Bend, and Walnut Hills. Core ZIP codes include 80112, 80121, 80122, 80111, 80015, 80016.
In addition, I also help owners in nearby communities such as Aurora, Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Greenwood Village, Cherry Hills Village, and Parker, and across Arapahoe and Douglas 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 Arapahoe County Council on Aging (ACCoA), and Arapahoe County Senior Resources can help you plan, and my free Aging-in-Place Home Scorecard lets you score any Centennial home in about 15 minutes to see how ready it is to grow old in.
Reverse 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 Centennial 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).