Mom passed without a will. I was her sole caretaker. How do I deal with her reverse mortgage?

You need to find the reverse mortgage documents, talk to a local real estate lawyer and a local mortgage broker.

You need the details of the reverse mortgage.

You need to know what the house is worth in the open market.

You need to know if you are eligible for a mortgage in your own name.

Please keep in mind, that although you have lived in that house 50 years, perhaps you whole life, it is only a building. You memories are inside of you.

YOu say you were her only caretaker, were you the only child?  If you have siblings, will they agree to you getting the house.  With no will, you still have to go through probate.   Some states have a simplified process for small estates.

Since Mom had no will, you will be an administrator. This will give you the ability to get to Moms accts and pay off any debts. Reversed Mortgages are based on equity on the home. How much of that equity did Mom use? Like said, you need to get those papers and find out where Mom stands. And, when does the mortgage lender require repayment. Get an appraiser to tell you what the Market Value is on the house. Do as much footwork as possible and then talk to a lawyer. Because your Mom died without a will, the state now gets involved. If there are other siblings, they are entitled to their share. When all is said and done, the home may have to be sold to pay the mortgage lean and to pay her other children. Thats why a lawyer is needed. To make sure all the Ts are crossed and all the Is dotted.

The amount of time it takes for probate all depends when the Estate can be liquidated. It took me 2 years because Moms house had to be sold to pay off leans. And it took till last Summer to sell. The leans were satisfied and the remainder of the proceeds split between the beneficiaries. In your case, the state will need to determine who those beneficiaries are.

You are going to need to take this one step at a time or you will get overwhelmed.

I had to handle my dad's reverse mtg but he had not passed. If it is a non-recourse loan, you do not have to pay the bank anything but you would have to either give the house back to the bank to let them sell (which takes years for them to sell because they are backlogged with houses and you are still responsible for the upkeep until they do) or sell the house yourself with the stipulation that you sell it for at least 90% of the loan value. I would imagine first that you would need to go to probate to gain possession of the house and then sell to yourself. You can then apply for a new mortgage and payback the RM 90% of the loan value. Good luck!

20% down is only required if you are not going to reside in the home. Say, an investment property. First time home buyers with excellent credit can often get into a home with as little as 5% down. Very few houses would get sold if everyone needed 20% down.