Reverse Mortgage in Port Aransas, TX

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What is the dark side of a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas? It is the carrying cost, not the loan. First, the property tax rate here is the lowest of any Texas city I work in, at an effective 0.75%. Nevertheless the Census puts the cost of keeping a paid-off home on this island at $1,250 a month, nearly double the Texas figure of $678. So the difference is insurance, and a reverse mortgage requires it to stay current for life.

Port Aransas is a barrier island town of 3,268 people on Mustang Island, reached by a free state ferry or the causeway from the south. 32.9% of residents are 65 or older against 16.1% across Nueces County, and 48.5% of owner-occupied homes are owned free and clear. So the equity is here. A reverse mortgage in Port Aransas turns almost entirely on whether the insurance bill fits. See how it compares on my Texas aging-in-place overview.

Reverse mortgages in Port Aransas, by the numbers

In the 12 months ending July 2026, 1 federally insured reverse mortgage closed in Port Aransas, Texas, part of 1,900 across the state, written by 1 originating lender. Port Aransas has 588 owner-occupied households where the homeowner is age 65 or older: 368 own their home outright and 220 are still making a mortgage payment. The median borrower was approved to access $244,760 in home equity. Sources: HUD FHA HECM Snapshot and U.S. Census ACS.

How this data was derived

Closings and lender counts are FHA-insured HECM loans endorsed in Port Aransas over the 12 months ending July 2026, from the monthly HUD FHA HECM Single Family Portfolio Snapshot. Lender count is distinct originating mortgagees, not sponsors. Household counts are U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024 5-year, table B25027, owner-occupied units by mortgage status and age of householder, reported at age 65 or older, the nearest Census bracket above the age-62 minimum the Texas Constitution sets for every reverse mortgage. Updated monthly.

Why a reverse mortgage appeals to Port Aransas homeowners 62+ attempting to age in place

Port Aransas sits at about one foot above sea level on Mustang Island, and everything about the place follows from that. The mainland is reached either by the free 24-hour TxDOT ferry from Aransas Pass, a crossing under ten minutes, or by the State Highway 361 causeway from the south. Meanwhile the housing is dear and the county around it is not: a median value of $547K against $208,800 across Nueces County. So this is an island market with a mainland county’s tax base underneath it.

Two numbers frame this page. First, 32.9% of Port Aransas residents are 65 or older against 16.1% across Nueces County, with a median age of 52.3. Meanwhile 518 of the town’s 1,068 owner-occupied homes are owned outright. Second, and pulling the other way, the Census puts the cost of keeping one of those paid-off homes at $1,250 a month, against $625 countywide. That is about 16% of a median 65-plus household income here, against 14% across Texas.

Port Aransas home values

Port Aransas has the lowest effective tax rate and the highest carrying cost of any Texas city I work in. So here are the numbers worth having in front of you:

Census median value, property tax, income, housing age and tenure: U.S. Census ACS 2024 5-Year. Home values: Zillow Home Value Index, August 2026. HECM limit: HUD/FHA 2026. Exemptions: Texas Comptroller; Texas Tax Code sections 11.26 and 33.06; Nueces Central Appraisal District. Hazard ratings: FEMA National Risk Index. Climate: NOAA 1991-2020 normals, Port Aransas station. Transport and parks: City of Port Aransas. Retrieved 2026-09-10.

What is your Port Aransas 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 Port Aransas estimate you can track over time, at no cost and no obligation.

Aging in place in Port Aransas with a reverse mortgage: what it really costs

These are the numbers that actually decide whether a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas makes sense.

The lowest tax rate, and the highest bill to keep the house

First, the pair of numbers that define this island. The effective property tax rate in Port Aransas is 0.75%, a median bill of $4,388 on a median home of $588,700. Across Nueces County the rate is 1.59%. So on tax alone, ownership here is unusually cheap.

Nevertheless the Census puts the total cost of keeping a mortgage-free home here at $1,250 a month, against $625 across the county and $678 across Texas. Subtract the tax and the rest is largely insurance, utilities and association dues. Insurance is not a line item on this page. It is the page.

Importantly that matters directly to the loan. A reverse mortgage has no principal and interest payment, so taxes and insurance become the whole recurring obligation. The lender’s financial assessment weighs them against your income, and at about 16% of a median 65-plus income here it deserves real numbers rather than estimates. Call me at 720-449-6622 with your declarations pages.

Windstorm, flood and what a lender will insist on

First, the structure of it. Nueces County sits inside the designated catastrophe area of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, a residual insurer of last resort created in 1971 to write wind and hail cover where the private market will not. Eligibility requires the property to sit in that area and to have been declined by at least one authorized private insurer. Meanwhile flood is separate again, through the National Flood Insurance Program, and at one foot of elevation almost everything here is in a mapped zone.

TWIA requires a Certificate of Compliance, the WPI-8 family of forms, on any structure constructed, altered, remodeled, enlarged, repaired or added to on or after January 1, 1988. So a repair prompted by a reverse mortgage appraisal is more than a repair. It is work that has to be certified for the windstorm policy to keep covering it, and that has to be arranged before the contractor starts.
TWIA eligibility rules →

FEMA rates Nueces County Very High for hurricane, Relatively High for inland flooding and Relatively Moderate for coastal flooding, and Relatively High overall at the 97th percentile nationally. That is the full hazard picture, and it is why the carrying cost is what it is.

What Texas takes off the bill, and the fork it makes you choose

First, the relief. Texas exempts $140,000 of a residence homestead from school district taxes and adds another $60,000 once you turn 65, leaving about $388,700 of a median Port Aransas home exposed to the school rate. Section 11.26 freezes the school portion at the dollar amount imposed in your first qualifying year. A surviving spouse aged 55 or older who was living in the home keeps that freeze.

That district also publishes the Tax Deferral Affidavit for a homeowner 65 or over, Form 50-126, which must be notarized. Section 33.06 lets an owner 65 or older defer collection entirely at 5% annual interest until they no longer own and occupy the home.
Nueces County exemption forms →

However, the written notice the Texas Constitution requires on every reverse mortgage warns that taking one may end eligibility for that deferral. So the two are alternatives rather than a stack, and on an island where the tax bill is the small half of the carrying cost, the deferral is usually the weaker of the two. Decide it on purpose.

Getting around without driving

Now the part that makes Port Aransas work at 80. The city runs its own fixed-route trolley, service 94, at $1.00 a ride effective 2 February 2026, and a reservation-based flexible route called Flexi-B, service 90, both booked through City Hall. That is unusual for a town of 3,268 people. Ultimately it is the difference between staying and moving when a license goes.

Meanwhile the medical plan has to include the causeway or the ferry. Corpus Christi Medical Center Bay Area is about thirty minutes away and describes a 152-bed full-service hospital with a 24/7 emergency department and a Level II trauma center. Further out, CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi Shoreline is about forty minutes away and is also a state-designated Level II trauma center and calls itself a Level I stroke center. Importantly there is no hospital on Mustang Island.

For the non-clinical side, the city runs Meals on Wheels for residents 60 and over, and the Area Agency on Aging of the Coastal Bend covers benefits counseling for the county.

Salt air, a 1990 median build year, and the repair set-aside

First, the stock. The median Port Aransas home went up in 1990, with 26.8% predating 1980. So this is not old housing by national standards. Nevertheless it is island housing, and salt air is hard on roofs, fasteners and railings in a way inland stock never sees.

Importantly, an FHA appraisal that flags repairs does not end the file. Under 24 CFR 206.47 repairs costing 15% or less of the maximum claim amount can be completed after closing through a repair set-aside, with funds held back from your proceeds and released as the work is done. On a $547,000 home that is a real budget, and it is how most coastal houses get through underwriting.

Meanwhile NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals for the Port Aransas station give a January high of 62.3 degrees and a low of 50.4, a July high of 88.0 and about 35.6 inches of rain, with no snow. So the maintenance calendar here is about salt and storm season, not winter. My free Aging-in-Place Home Scorecard scores any home in about 15 minutes.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS 2024 5-Year; Zillow Home Value Index August 2026; Texas Comptroller property tax exemptions; Texas Tax Code sections 11.26 and 33.06; Nueces Central Appraisal District; Texas Windstorm Insurance Association; FEMA National Risk Index; NOAA 1991-2020 climate normals; City of Port Aransas; HUD/FHA 2026 HECM limit; 24 CFR 206.47. Retrieved 2026-09-10. Educational only, not tax, legal or insurance advice.

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.

Learn how reverse mortgages work

Reverse mortgage options in Port Aransas: HECM vs. jumbo

With a typical home value near $547,000, every Port Aransas home sits well inside the 2026 FHA HECM limit of $1,249,125, so the government-insured HECM is the tool and the proprietary jumbo comes up only on the largest beachfront properties. One Texas rule outranks the product question: the Constitution permits a reverse mortgage only where the borrower or their spouse is 62 or older, so the age-55 proprietary programs I can offer in Colorado, Florida and Michigan do not exist here. Start with the types of reverse mortgages and then the comparison table. The two also differ by age: a HECM requires the youngest borrower to be age 62 or older in every state, while proprietary jumbo programs start at age 62 in Texas.

Buying a home? Consider a HECM for Purchase (H4P)

A HECM for Purchase lets you buy your next home with a reverse mortgage: you bring a large down payment, the loan covers the rest, and there is no monthly principal and interest payment afterward. In practice it comes up here when someone sells inland and buys the island place they have been renting for twenty summers, and would rather keep the reserves that pay the windstorm premium than spend them on the purchase.

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. Texas adds two rules of its own on top of the federal ones. First, the Constitution requires you to attest in writing that you received counseling, completed no earlier than 180 days and no later than 5 days before closing. Secondly, the lender must give you a separate written notice that both of you sign, and nothing can close before the 12th day after that notice is delivered. So build about two extra weeks into any Texas timeline.

How much a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas 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 guarantee behind the non-recourse protection. On a typical Port Aransas home at $547,000 that runs roughly $10,932 at closing. The origination formula would produce $7,887 at this value, so the rule's $6,000 cap saves you close to two thousand. In practice most of it rolls into the loan instead of coming out of pocket. Every fee, itemized.

The 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 Port Aransas 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. Texas writes the non-recourse rule into its own constitution, at Article XVI section 50(k)(3): the loan is made without recourse for personal liability against each owner and each owner's spouse. So the debt can never exceed what the house sells for. Texas also charges no estate or inheritance tax. When the time comes your heirs choose: pay it off, refinance it, or sell and keep whatever is left, though on an island market the twelve-month window is worth planning for instead of assuming. Timelines and the 95% rule.

Condos, beach houses and a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas

First, the numbers, because they are unlike anywhere else I work in Texas. Of Port Aransas's 1,068 owner-occupied homes the Census counts 104 in buildings over nine units, close to one in ten, plus 50 in small two-to-nine unit buildings and 883 detached houses. So the condominium question is a mainstream one here, not an edge case.

Importantly, a condominium needs FHA project approval, or a single-unit approval, before a HECM can be written on it. That turns on the association's owner-occupancy ratio, its reserves, its insurance and any litigation, and on a barrier island the insurance line is the one that usually decides it: an association carrying a large windstorm deductible or a thin reserve against it will show up in underwriting. Ask your manager for the budget, the reserve study and the master windstorm and flood certificates before we start. My HOA and condominium checklist lists the rest.

Meanwhile detached beach houses carry their own certification question. Any structure altered, repaired or added to since 1 January 1988 needs a Certificate of Compliance for the windstorm policy. Sequence any appraisal-driven repair with that in mind. Property and eligibility rules.

The HUD counseling requirement, explained

Federal HUD rules require an independent HUD-approved session before closing, usually low-cost or free, and it has to be finished before I can pull an FHA case number. HUD publishes the approved counselors serving Nueces County, so scheduling never has to stall your file. Find counselors through HUD’s HECM program. Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending publishes consumer guidance. What the session actually covers. No reverse mortgage in Port Aransas closes without it, and in Texas the timing is written into the state constitution, not left to the lender.

Reverse mortgage FAQs for Port Aransas homeowners

What is the dark side of a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas?

The real one here is not the loan, it is the cost of the house. The balance grows rather than shrinks, because you make no payments, so the equity left to your heirs falls over time. That is the trade everyone knows about. What people underestimate on this island is the recurring bill: the Census puts the cost of keeping a mortgage-free home in Port Aransas at $1,250 a month, nearly double the Texas figure of $678, and taxes are only $366 of it. Insurance is most of the rest, and it has to stay paid for the life of the loan or the loan can be called due.

Can I get a reverse mortgage on a Port Aransas condo?

Yes, with a step most people do not expect. The Census counts 104 owner-occupied units in Port Aransas buildings over nine units, and each needs FHA project approval, or a single-unit approval, before a HECM can be written. Approval turns on the association's owner-occupancy ratio, reserves, insurance and litigation history, and on a barrier island the windstorm deductible and the reserve behind it are what usually decide it. So it is the association's paperwork that sets the timeline, not yours.

Do you still pay property tax with a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas?

Yes. You keep title, so the bill stays yours and it has to stay current for the life of the loan. The rate here is an effective 0.75% on a median bill of $4,388, against 1.59% across Nueces County. Texas exempts $140,000 of a homestead from school taxes and another $60,000 once you turn 65, and section 11.26 then freezes the school portion at that year's amount. Nueces CAD also publishes the over-65 tax deferral affidavit, Form 50-126, though the notice Texas requires on every reverse mortgage warns that taking one may end deferral eligibility. Apply through Nueces Central Appraisal District.

How much can I borrow with a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas?

Generally it depends on the youngest borrower's age, current rates and your home value. With a typical home value near $547,000, almost every Port Aransas 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 enters only on the largest beachfront properties. 48.5% of homes here are owned free and clear, so about half of files start without a payoff coming out of the total first.

Can I get a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas at 60?

No. The Texas Constitution, at Article XVI section 50(a)(7), permits a reverse mortgage only where the owner or the owner's spouse is 62 or older, and that applies to proprietary jumbo programs as well as to the government-insured HECM. So the age-55 products I can write in Colorado, Florida and Michigan simply do not exist here. If one of you is 62 and the other is not, we should still talk, because the non-borrowing spouse rules decide whether the younger partner can stay in the home afterward.

Have a question about a reverse mortgage in Port Aransas? Call or text me at 720-449-6622.

Port Aransas neighborhoods and nearby areas I serve

I work with homeowners across the city and greater Nueces County. That includes Mustang Island, Old Town Port Aransas, the harbor district, the SH 361 corridor, and Aransas Pass. Core ZIP codes include 78373.

In addition, I also help owners in nearby communities such as Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, Ingleside, Rockport, and Fulton, and across Nueces County. See every area I cover on my reverse mortgages across Texas page. Do not see your area? Reach out and ask.

If aging in place is your goal, local resources like City of Port Aransas Meals on Wheels, and the Area Agency on Aging of the Coastal Bend can help you plan, and my free Aging-in-Place Home Scorecard lets you score any Port Aransas home in about 15 minutes to see how ready it is to grow old in.

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 Port Aransas and nearby communities. Call or text 720-449-6622. More about Christopher.

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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).