It's like Green Acres here to me. I know my neighbors and everyone takes good care of their homes. There is a pride of ownership here,” she says. Indeed, all of the residents not only own their homes, but the land underneath them, potentially allowing them to qualify for an FHA reverse mortgage.

But over past several years, Marjorie has found it more difficult to take her poodle for a walk and to keep up with her housework. At first, her daughter was able to provide the extra assistance that Marjorie needed, but eventually found that her work schedule did not allow her enough time. They hired a caregiver named Stephanie who came over twice a week at first, just to do the housework.

As Marjorie needed more and more help, Stephanie started coming over more often. But the financial strain on Marjorie, who had only Social Security and a small pension, was proving to be too much. So her daughter started looking into a reverse mortgage which seemed like a perfect solution to provide the funds they needed to afford Marjorie's increasing home care needs.

When she found the right reverse mortgage company, she immediately became comfortable with the reverse mortgage and the company through background information provided on their web site. Marjorie and her daughter met with one of their reverse mortgage specialists and applied for the FHA reverse mortgage, a program called the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage.