Interestingly, "reverse mortgages" are an implicit real estate bet by the bank that makes them: they are "non-recourse" loans, which means that it's a zero-revenue product during the lifetime of the owner and if the value of the home goes down by the time the owner dies, the bank eats it. Yum. Interesting, because there's no upside to the bank other than the accrued interest.
Can't wait for some of these to fail! :-)
/jordan