lame:


Tempe resident Char Aramdee has taken a new approach to the mortgage crisis. He's placed five-foot-tall handwritten signs in his yard that read "free house just take over mortgage," and "need help just take over payment."

Cars slow down as they pass the house on Ellis Drive just east of Mill Avenue. Aramdee said he has had people stopping by and calling nearly every day, but no one has taken his offer yet.

While signs like these may cause a stir in some neighborhoods, Aramdee's neighbors don't seem to mind.

"I was just amused by his inventiveness," next-door neighbor Dorothy Wells said. "A lot of people have homes they can't sell right now."

Across the street, neighbor Jeffery Miller said the signs don't bother him either.

"It's a sign that they need some help," said Miller. "I know it's hard right now."

Aramdee used to own Char's Thai Restaurant on University Drive and Rural Road, but said he had to sell it in February because the lease got too high. Now he and his wife are hoping to get rid of their mortgage so they can move into an apartment with their two children, ages 6 and 8.

source: http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2008/09/29/20080929tr-housesigns1001.html

Yet another reason why you live BELOW your means and invest the rest.As a former restaurant owner and in that business for over 10 years before getting into real estate you NEVER rent!

The lease always go up and generally you are responsible for all the upkeep inside and you can't take the improvements usually made to the shell.

It's much better to own the place and then if the restaurant failes you have an assett you can cash out on.In a shopping center you always want to be right next to the anchor because you will get the most runoff traffic and exposure for paying the same sq ft as the guy at the end of the retail center who gets a 1/3rd of the traffic.

I just wonder is his mortgage is assumable?

Do ya think the house is worth what he's mortgaged it for? And it's likely an ARM, if it's like 80% of the rest of the loans this past decade.

Silly FSBO.