As for storage, I store my Rans Screamer from hooks - upside down in my shed. There are only 5 bikes in the shed now but at one point when we had all of the kids at home, we stored 16 bikes in there. Half were hanging while the other 8 were parked beneath them.
The grease that Zona was referring to is in the hubs, bottom brackets, headset areas. These lower cost bikes are notorious for being assembled quickly and having much of these details with not enough attention. This can be confirmed and repaired with a little background knowledge and the bike quite serviceable for the basic riding you have mentioned. This is a great place for help.
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help