My BIL took out a reverse mortgage several years ago, at the urging of my SIL, and against my advice.

He took it as a "checkbook", and he wrote himself a monthly check. They kept calling me a worry-wart and the SIL as a financial wizard, since it worked out so well.
Except that a few months ago the line-of-credit ran dry, as he had written checks that totaled to the maximum amount of the RM.

Now he has *lost* that income that he was depending on, and is in a world of hurt. He can't even sell the house due to the crappy real-estate market.