Yeah, a very old story, but a fun one...
A 120-Year Lease on Life Outlasts Apartment HeirAP
Published: December 29, 1995
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/29/world/a-120-year-lease-on-life-outlasts-apartment-heir.htmlPARIS, Dec. 28— Andre-Francois Raffray thought he had a great deal 30 years ago: He would pay a 90-year-old woman 2,500 francs (about $500) a month until she died, then move into her grand apartment in a town Vincent van Gogh once roamed.
But this Christmas, Mr. Raffray died at age 77, having laid out the equivalent of more than $184,000 for an apartment he never got to live in.
On the same day, Jeanne Calment, now listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest person at 120, dined on foie gras, duck thighs, cheese and chocolate cake at her nursing home near the sought-after apartment in Arles, northwest of Marseilles in the south of France.
She need not worry about losing income. Although the amount Mr. Raffray already paid is more than twice the apartment's current market value, his widow is obligated to keep sending that monthly check. If Mrs. Calment outlives her, too, then the Raffray children and grandchildren will have to pay.
"In life, one sometimes makes bad deals," Mrs. Calment said on her birthday last Feb. 21.
The apartment is currently unoccupied, according to local media.
Buying apartments "en viager," or "for life," is common in France. The elderly owner gets to enjoy a monthly income from the buyer, who gambles on getting a real estate bargain -- provided the owner dies in due time.
Upon the owner's death, the buyer inherits the apartment, regardless of how much was paid.
Mrs. Calment, who has lived through the administrations of 17 French presidents, has proven the nightmare of all those who buy real estate "en viager."
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Excerpt. Read more at
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/29/world/a-120-year-lease-on-life-outlasts-apartment-heir.html
