SF: Not Just the Common People: Celebrities too in Foreclosure
The Press loves to see celebrities reduced to from deity to plain, old faliable humanity. (Insert aging female icon) has gained weight! (Insert young female icon) is just skin and bones! (Insert aging male icon) caught naked with nanny! (Insert young male icon) arrested for DUI/brawl/drug possession! These displays of imperfection sell a lot of papers. That’s why the fact that so many celebs are currently in foreclosure is considered newsworthy these days.
The Chronicle lists with thinly disguised glee the following heavy hitters (pun shamelessly intended) facing real estate troubles:
Ed McMahon
It’s hard not to feel sympathy for the man. He’s elderly, he’s disabled, and he freely admits (to Larry King) that he didn’t manage his affairs properly. The former celebrity pitchman, 85, hasn’t worked in 18 months since breaking his neck. He is $644,000 in arrears to Countrywide on his Beverly Hills home, a six-bedroom mansion on the market for two years for almost $6 million. Maybe prospective buyers are scared off by the scrum of paparazzi camped out at the neighbor’s house. Who’s the neighbor? Britney Spears.
Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Long Beach
She may not be a household name, but the California congresswoman represents the Golden State in more ways than one. Just like many constituents, she evidently bet big on the real estate boom – and lost. She’s had three houses in foreclosure proceedings in recent months. Her Sacramento home was sold at a foreclosure auction in March, while her properties in Long Beach and San Pedro went into default, according to press reports. She caught up on payments for the Long Beach house and qualified for a loan modification on the San Pedro property. Richardson blamed the foreclosure on her lender’s “miscommunication” and said she would pay almost $9,000 in back property taxes she owes.
Latrell Sprewell
The former NBA guard went through two foreclosures this year. In January, the U.S. Marshals Service sold off his 70-foot yacht, “Milwaukee’s Best,” for $856,000 after he stopped making the $10,322 monthly payments. In May, his home in a Milwaukee suburb was foreclosed on; he owed $320,284 on the house worth about $610,000. Sprewell, who once choked head coach P.J. Carlesimo during a Golden State Warriors practice, turned down a three-year, $21 million contract extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves for being insultingly low.
Michael Jackson
Getting behind on his mortgage may be the most normal thing Jackson has done in years. His sprawling Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, complete with train, merry-go-round and Ferris wheel, was due to hit the auction block this spring. In a last-minute reprieve, a private investment company swooped in and bought the loan. Press reports said the company wants Jacko to pay it back by staging an Elvis-style comeback in Las Vegas.
Jose Canseco
A couple of ugly divorces cost the former American League MVP some of the millions he racked up during his baseball career. Canseco could be a pitchman for walk-away homeowners. “It didn’t make financial sense for me to keep paying a mortgage on a home that was basically owned by someone else,” he said on “Inside Edition” about his $2.5 million Encino home. “I decided to just let it go.”
Aretha Franklin
In March, the Detroit Free Press reported that the singer owed back taxes on her $714,000 brick mansion overlooking the Detroit Golf Club and a $2 million condo in Bloomfield Township. That left both properties liable to forfeiture to the tax collector. After press calls about the debt, Franklin blamed an attorney’s mistake and said she planned to immediately pay off the debts.
Evander Holyfield
The four-time heavyweight champ’s 109-room estate in Fayette County, Ga., is scheduled for the gavel July 1 after he defaulted on a $10 million loan to Washington Mutual. That’s just one of his money woes. Holyfield, 45, also owes more than half a million for landscaping, and he’s being sued for back child support. Reportedly he wants to get back in the ring to bring in some quick dough.
Closer to home, everyday San Franciscans are also in foreclosure. Here are a few condos currently listed which might, if you are a buyer-to-be, offer you a bargain. Just be careful you check and recheck your financial situation lest you join Ed and Aretha on skid row.
5003 Diamond Heights: spacious (over 2000 sq. ft) and settled in a lovely hood, this bank owned condo lists for $830K, or just $385 per sq. foot. Been on the market over 30 days, so bank may take a lower offer.
501 Beale St.: Rincon Hill 1/1 listed for $549,900. Also, in the same building is another foreclosed unit, #501, listed at $629,900.
5700 Mission St., #1: Mysteriously blank listing leads one to believe bank would be most happy to see the back of this property. Listed at $439,900 for over 100 days.
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Photo credit: Deborah Halverson
