Happy 62! We get this exact question all the time — I actually made a quick guide on our Facebook page walking through the PLF table in plain English for the most common age/home-value combinations. Jon's numbers are spot on for what we see at closing. The thing most people miss at first is that the line-of-credit growth feature compounds. Even if you only need $50k today, setting up the full line and letting the rest grow is a retirement cashflow tool — not just a one-time cash-out. Do the HUD counseling first, like Jon said.

My husband and I went through the HECM process at 62 and 64 last March on a paid-off home in Fort Collins worth about $590k. The numbers Jon laid out are almost exactly what we saw — our gross principal limit came back around $265k, and after upfront MIP, origination, and closing costs we netted about $232k available.

Two things nobody explained to us until counseling: (1) the line-of-credit growth feature is huge if you don't need the cash right away. We took a tiny $5,000 draw at closing just to activate things, and the unused line has already grown by nearly $8,000 in a year. That growth compounds, which is not the case with any HELOC we've seen. (2) We listed our adult daughter as a "non-borrowing household member" so that if both of us pass, she has the standard 6-month window to figure out what to do with the house.

The counseling session was the single most useful hour of the whole process. The counselor was neutral — she actually talked us into taking less than we qualified for, because we didn't need it. Do that first, before any lender pitch.