Cheers to Ed McMahon, whose week started with more miserable news about lawsuits and money owed but ends with word that he's managed at least one solution: He's found a buyer for his Beverly Hills manse, which was mere weeks away from foreclosure after the beleaguered 85-year-old legend defaulted on $4.8 million in loans with Countrywide. Alas, the inevitable catch: The buyer is Donald Trump, who boasted to the LA Times about his "honor" in leasing the home back to McMahon, adding, "When I was at the Wharton School of Business, I'd watch him every night. How could this happen?"

Good question, and one that's partially answered in a fascinating advertisement published this week in the Los Angeles MLS Open House Guide. There, broker Alex Davis made a last-minute, full-page appeal on McMahon's behalf, laying out the dire scenario along with some of the speed bumps he and McMahon had struck along the way: "Lowball offers" of $4.6 million, flaky speculators, and the last of the bank's deadline extensions. But finally the pitch comes down to selling McMahon himself: "[Y]ou will be the hero of a man who's been the hero of so many others if you could help bring this deal to fruition." Ah — so that's what Trump was after. Read the full ad after the jump.

• Donald Trump to buy Ed McMahon's house [LAT]

• MLS Open House Guide [MLS via LAT]

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