Start Up Will Buy Your House and Let You Live There for the Rest of Your Life

If you're over 65 and having trouble paying your mortgage and property taxes, a new startup has an interesting proposition for you. A new company called Irene will take the house off your hands and handle your taxes, too. The service targets a group that has increasingly small savings and is most likely to own homes. The situation of being asset rich and money poor is increasingly common among seniors. Irene will also pay for some maintenance. "The trade-off: a sale price far below market value," Henry Grabar reports for Slate.

The company is new, but the problem is not. Homes can be sold with lifetime rent clauses and equity in a home can be leveraged against retirement costs. "In sum, it’s probably a good idea for some seniors—though one that can hardly measure up to the scope of the problem," Grabar writes.