No they're not a good idea. When you take out a reverse mortgage on your house. What you're doing is basically letting the bank buy it back from you.
They say the loan is paid back when the last borrower leaves the home? That's exactly what happens. If you don't pay back your loan in cash they take the home to pay them back for all the money they've loaned you.
You can pay back the loan if you want to keep the home. But if you take out a reverse mortgage then you'll never own the home. The bank will take it back when you die or leave the home.
You also must make sure you maintain the home to banks liking otherwise the bank can and will foreclose on you.