# Old age and reverse mortgage **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 20, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-age-and-reverse-mortgage/460660 "2008-08-20T12:45:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-age-and-reverse-mortgage/460660/1 "2008-08-20T12:45:53Z")
For some reason I was looking at longevity and came across [Jeanne Calment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment) at wiki. The part that made me smile was in 1965, she made a sort of reverse payment to sell her apartment to a lawyer (she was 90 at the time). He agreed to pay her 2,500 francs a month until she died. She lived until she was 122 and he paid her twice the value of the unit. Not that he cared-he was dead and his widow was paying it. I also liked how she smoked until she was 117 and only gave up due to her being unable to see the cigarettes clearly. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-age-and-reverse-mortgage/460660/2 "2008-08-20T12:52:45Z")
I’ve always found that story amusing myself, though then I feel bad for the poor lawyer. I think that maybe we find stories like this funny because it’s kind of tasteless to be betting on someone dying sooner rather then later? Though I do think that it’s a good safety net for some people late in life, so in the long run I’m glad they exist. (Reported this thread, by the way, since you don’t seem to have a question, so I suspect you put this in the wrong forum.) ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-age-and-reverse-mortgage/460660/3 "2008-08-20T12:56:39Z")
[QUOTE=Risha] (Reported this thread, by the way, since you don’t seem to have a question, so I suspect you put this in the wrong forum.) [/QUOTE] And I have NO IDEA why I thought I was in GQ. :smack: Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-age-and-reverse-mortgage/460660/4 "2008-08-20T13:28:08Z")
[QUOTE=Risha] And I have NO IDEA why I thought I was in GQ. :smack: Never mind. [/QUOTE] Thanks- you just frightened the life out of me- I thought I was going around the twist 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-age-and-reverse-mortgage/460660/5 "2008-08-21T02:07:53Z")
[QUOTE=Risha] though then I feel bad for the poor lawyer. [/QUOTE] HA! Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-age-and-reverse-mortgage/460660/6 "2008-08-21T03:19:33Z")
ms calment had quite a life. in an interview she said she wasn’t so very impressed with vincent van gogh. so very french.