This Marketing Company Will Pay For Your House’s Mortgage On One Condition

By: EW News Desk Team   Date: 13 February 2012

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EW News Desk Team

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13 February 2012

A marketing company in the US has offered to pay for the mortgages of 1,000 homes across the country for a year, claimed a report by Reuters on Sunday, if the homeowners allowed them to paint their houses into a giant advertising billboard.

Romeo Mendoza, CEO and founder of Brainiacs From Mars, the marketing company behind the project, told Reuters that his company would pay for the mortgages for up to a year – in the hope that the quirkiness of the scheme would convince other companies to hire him to run their advertising campaigns.

Having first launched the scheme on the company’ website in April last year, Mendoza claimed that he now had 38,000 applications from homeowners, with some coming from as far as Russia and Japan.

Related: Mortgages: What is a Mortgage?

Related: Seven Questions to Ask Before Refinancing Your Mortgage

One of the first families to enjoy the benefits of the scheme though have been the Hostetler family from Buena Park in Los Angeles, California.

The Hostetlers, who are both deaf, were informed three months ago that their house had been chosen to launch the scheme, which today has been painted into an orange and green billboard.

According to Mendoza, his company chose the Hostetlers because they were nice people. Mendoza added that he wanted to choose only the most deserving cases rather than just homes on the busiest streets.

"People are hurting, and struggling to stay in their homes. If we can help some of them, that would be great,” said Mendoza.

For the moment, Mendoza's plan is to advertise his company's name and its social media marketing tools on the front of people's homes. In the future however, he hopes to be able to advertise other companies’ brands on the homes.

Still the Hostetlers, who are being paid nearly $2,000 a month for the use of their home, and Mendoza are likely to face opposition from the Buena Park City Council soon, with the “billboard” seen to be going against the city’s code.

"This does not follow with the city codes," said a city council member. "They are going to be in trouble. They need to go someplace else."

Charles Mclaughlin, a finance expert in the housing industry, also doubted the long-term feasibility of the project, noting the difficulty in trying to get around zoning regulations.

"I don't think the program will be a success,” warned McLaughlin. ‘It will be akin to graffiti - that's how people are going to look at it. They are going to run into zoning problems everywhere."

Mendoza though remained optimistic over his company’s plan.

"There are definitely zoning issues in some cities, and we realize that. But we have really hit a nerve, and we can't let that stop us.”

“Once people start seeing how it works, once they get it, the moment they realize it is paying people's mortgages, they are always on our side, because of this economy.”


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