Is Kenya ripe for a reverse mortgage market?

Sometime back, I had an interesting landlord. He was mainly a loner, had many houses, but he lived in an extension in the same compound with his eight flats and one maisonette. I rented one of the flats – a two bedroom one.

The reason I got interested in this man is that he was rich, retired, drove an old car, but I did not see much his, strangely young, family – discomfited in the Kenyan context.

One day he came to get rent at 10.30PM – that is the likely time to get bachelors at home. We spoke right into the wee hours of the next day.

It was an outpouring of a man so betrayed by his family, that he was in constant panic about his wealth. He had a number of real estates; he had a large ranch upcountry, and a few investments here and there. He said he had many children, all degree holders; lawyers and accountants, but they were estranged, did not get a long, and he had disinherited them.

I thought this was unique to my landlord, but when I saw recent news where a man was trying take over his father’s property, I thought it is problem that needs a solution.

This is where reverse mortgage comes in handy. Reverse mortgage allows you to draw down on the value of your real estate while still living in it. He had high value houses. Instead of living in a back house, reverse mortgage would let him designate one of the large houses he has all over Nairobi as his residence, move into it with his young family (he had remarried because his wife and children wanted none of him, but all the money and property), and draw living expenses from the same house while saving for his family.

At his death, the lender would sell the house and his young family will still continue living and earning from the rest of the estates. Talk of eating your cake and having it at the same time.