"I would never do it again," said Joan Farrington.

Farrington is talking about a reverse mortgage.

She first got the idea when she saw this ad on T.V, "My home would be free for me to live in for the rest of my life, if I so choose, and the loan would be payable if I sold it or I died."

It sounded appealing. After all, Farrington had paid off her house years ago and all the equity in that house would come back to her in the form of a $158 monthly check.

At the time, she had some medical bills. So the extra money sounded great.

"One-hundred-fifty-eight dollars doesn't go very far," she said "It helps pay some of the stuff."

But after getting that $158 check for the past seven years, she recently took a look at her mortgage statement and got quite a shock.

"They now have $40,000 against my home that I owe if I want to take my home back," she said.

That's right, in order to get her house back free and clear, she has to give the mortgage company that wrote up the reverse mortgage $40,000.

The mortgage company has been giving her a check for $158 for the past seven years which totals around $13,000.

3 On Your Side took Farrington’s reverse mortgage documents to Dean Wegner, a mortgage expert, who didn't like what he saw.

"No way is she going to get out of this without selling. And then she's going to incur a monthly expense," Wegner said. "They're happy-go-lucky. They're getting their monthly check and then at the end they go to pay off the note and it's doubled what it began with."

Essentially, Wegner says the interest on the reverse mortgage continues to eat up the remaining equity in the home.

Farrington will still own the home, but at some point Farrington, or her estate, will have to sell the house to pay off the reverse mortgage.

In the end, the family's profits could be nothing.

Some mortgage experts say if you're considering a reverse mortgage, think it over.

"It's a buzz word," Wegner said. "'Hey, I got a reverse mortgage,’ so they're going with the flow, and I don't know if everybody actually understands, completely understands a reverse mortgage."

"I started out with the American dream and now I'm living the American nightmare," Farrington said.

"The only draw back I see to a reverse mortgage is the name," said Ron Masters.

Meet Masters and his wife Jean. Both are big fans of reverse mortgages.

When the Masters’ decided to take out a reverse mortgage, the value of their home had increased substantially and with all that extra equity, they had extra money to spend.

"So that's money, that's our discretionary financially," Masters said. "We can do what ever we want with instead of giving it to a mortgage company."

In fact, Masters says taking out a reverse mortgage was one of the best financial decisions he and his wife ever made.

"I don't want to go out and work again. So this is a good way to get something we've earned," Masters said. "The equity out now instead of leaving it to our dumb kids who make more money than we ever thought of making."

With a reverse mortgage, Masters says he and his wife can enjoy the rewards from their investment by pulling money out of their house while still living in it. This to him makes more sense than selling.

"If you did sell, what would you replace it with? Probably the same price that you would sell this house for," he said.

And as far as the costs involved with a reverse mortgage, Masters claims they're acceptable.

For example, their interest rate is around 5-percent which he says is a lot better than taking out a mortgage.

"I'm getting the same almost as if I sold the house," he said. "I get it all back. No real estate fees or anything and I still live here. Older folks are afraid of the word "reverse." They're afraid of the word "mortgage." And if they get their house free and clear, they can sit back and say, ‘I've done it.’"

The Masters’ see a reverse mortgage as a way to enjoy his retirement and cash in early on.

"Maybe that should wake you up to the fact that maybe I should get some of that equity instead of leaving it for my children who don't need it," Masters said.