Are reverse mortgages the same things as home equity loans?
No, they are two different home loans! A home equity loan is a loan that you take out on the value of equity in your house and in that sense is similar to a reverse mortgage. The main difference however is that with a home equity loan you are going to almost immediately have to make monthly payments on that loan in order to pay it back. In that sense, a home equity loan is far more similar to a mortgage than to a reverse mortgage as with a reverse mortgage you are not required to pay the money back immediately.
