Your mortgage free, just put up an ad

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- Folks looking for home mortgage help in New Haven are lining up for an unusual solution; home billboards.

The fall colors gracing New Haven Neighborhoods won't be able to compete with the houses that will be transformed into billboards.

News 8 asked New Haven homeowner, Richard Stack, what he would think living next door to that. He said, "I think that it's a little bit un pleasant."

A California company called Braniacs from Mars is now taking applications to turn New Haven homes into ad space, and here's the deal: They will pay your mortgage up to a year, and in return you allow your house to become a billboard.

131 New Haven homeowners have already applied and they will be chosen based on extent of need, rather than a high visibility location.

"Not having to pay my mortgage would be very nice," Christopher Kristen, another New Haven homeowner, said.

News 8 asked, "But would you want your house to look like that?"

"No," Kristen said.

"I could see they might be tempted," Stack said.

News 8 asked if Stack thought the city should allow it, and he said, "There you go, there's the rub."

News 8 wanted to know if city rules would even allow these home billboards so News 8 asked at city hall and they said they didn't even know about this until News 8 told them.

"Again, I haven't spent a lot of time looking at this but we will," Erik Johnson, the Director of Liveable City Initiative said.

Erik Johnson of Liveable Cities Initiative says he has concerns about a program offering a quick fix. He says the issue of home billboards isn't the paint colors, rather the logos adhering to the city's signage and neighborhood zoning rules.

"We're going to have to look into that and if they don't, then we will address it and if they do, we'll just have to hope they have good fashion sense," Johnson said.

Home billboards could bring a whole new meaning to neighborhood nuisance.