CourtneyLove

Last month we learned that Courtney Love was facing money woes but now American Express is in on the action. Love owes a total of $352,059.67 in unpaid charges and fees on her Amex Gold, Centurion and Platinum Cards and a lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Love has claimed that she has lost more than $30 million at the hands of her money handlers and that as much as $500 million worth of real estate was bought and sold using Cobain's, Love's and their daughter's Social Security numbers. At the time of the announcement last month, Love's lawyer described her as "pretty frugal." According to TMZ, most of the money, $279,079.68 was spent using her Centurion card. Love's lawyer says that Love did not rack up six figures on her credit cards and that these are fraudulent charges.

It's been 15 years since Kurt Cobain died and now his widow, Courtney Love, is saying a whole lot of money has gone missing from his estate. Love says that Cobain's estate which was left to her and their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain has been "looted" by some of the people handling her money. Love's team of lawyers says that more than $30 million is missing and as much as $500 million worth of real estate was bought and sold using Cobain's, Love's and their daughter's Social Security numbers. Love's lawyer, Rhonda J. Holmes, of Gordon & Holmes in San Diego, is quoted in Page Six as saying that the case " is going to make Bernard Madoff look warm and fuzzy."

Why did it take Courtney Love so long to realize something was wrong? Her lawyer says that Love's substance abuse issues were a factor and that Love didn't realize that there was a problem until there wasn't any money left. Love's lawyer has promised that any real estate they can uncover and get back will be donated to people who have lost their homes in foreclosures. Love's lawyer also describes her as "pretty frugal."

This isn't the first time Courtney Love has accused people of stealing her money although this may be the grandest example. Last year she took musician Ryan Adams to task on MySpace over money she said he owed her. And check out this article from 2004 when Love said that her daughter's trust fund was basically gone due to estate mismanagement. Whatever is going on with Courtney Love's money certainly has been happening for a while.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Trader John Devaney has raised the price on the Sardy House, shown above, in Aspen, Colorado. We've seen this home jump around a lot in the past few years. It was at $16.5 million back in 2005. Devaney bought it in 2006 for $16.25 million and then put it on the market in 2007 (along with his yacht) for $21.5 million. He's now bounced it up to $23.5 million. The listing is here.
--Stanley Chais, who funneled funds to Bernard Madoff, has listed his Los Angeles condominium in the Sierra Towers for $4.7 million. The two-bedroom unit can also be leased for $28,000 per month.
--In Washington, D.C, the onetime home of a World War II spy, Betty Thorpe Pack, is on the market for $1.95 million. The listing is here.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--The owners of the restaurant Bar Pitti, Giovanni and Michele Tognozzi, have purchased a home in Peconic, NY for $1.6 million.
--The former head of the Olsten Corporation, temp agency, has put his summer home on the market for $14.5 million. The listing is here.
--Richard Gere and Carey Lowell have put their home in Water Mill, New York on the market. It's our estate of the day later today.
--You can rent an oceanfront home in Sagaponack belonging to the ex-wife of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine for $900,000 from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The listing is here.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Ashton Kutcher has listed his Beverly Hills home for $3.7 million. This is the home where he lived before marrying actress Demi Moore in 2005. The home is already in escrow.
--David Litt, the writer ad creator of "The King of Queens" has listed his Hollywood Hills home for sale for $2.025 million. The listing is here.
--"Blame It on Rio" actress Michelle Johnson has listed her Hollywood Hills home at $5.85 million. Last year at this time she put the three-bedroom home in West Hollywood on the market for $6.35 million. The listing is here.
--Bruce Somers Jr., the son of Suzanne Somers and producer of several of her exercise videos, has listed his Brentwood home for $3.295 million. The French Normandy style four-bedroom home is stuffed with flouncy furnishings and has hand-carved fireplace mantels. The listing is here.
--Courtney Love is renting a five-bedroom Hollywood Hills home for $20,000 a month.
--You can rent the condo used in Entourage.
--Movie and commercial producer Lee Nelson has listed a home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles for $9.95 million.
--Music video director Mark Romanek has listed his four-bedroom Hollywood Hills home for $3.995 million.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--A Malibu home once rented by Britney Spears is on the market for $5.5 million. The listing is here.
--Actress Milla Jovovich has placed her four-bedroom home in the Beverly Hills, Calif. postal area on the market for $3.299 million.
--Soap opera actress Michelle Stafford has listed a three-bedroom house that she owns in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles for $1.599 million. The listing is here.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Brooke Astor's NYC apartment has been relisted at $29 million with some new pictures. It was listed at $46 million when it was our estate of the day last year.
--Fashion designer Richard Chai paid $2 million for a 2,300-square-foot New York City apartment.
--Actor Kevin Corrigan and his wife Elizabeth Berridge have sold their fourth-floor apartment at 321 Greenwich Street for $2.39 million.
--Blythe Masters, JP Morgan Chase's head of global commodities, has lowered the price of her townhouse at 150 Reade Street from $14 million to $11.9 million. The listing is here.
--New York Times public editor Byron Calame and his wife Kathryn have sold their three-bedroom co-op for $2.4 million to Bill Bermont, a vice president at Citigroup, and his wife Lynne.
--Joseph Kohls, a Bank of America managing director, and his wife Christin paid $5.2 million for an apartment at the Tribeca Summit.

From the Real Estalker:
--Lauren Conrad's four-bedroom home in Los Angeles is available for rent for $11,000 a month. The listing is here.
--Interior designer Thomas Britt has put his eight-bedroom home in Water Mill on the market for $13.2 million.
--Cassandra Peterson, the actress best known as Elvira has put her Los Angeles home on the market for $1.499 million. She bought this home for $1.698 million in 2007. The listing is here.

From Curbed LA:
--40 Beverly Park, a custom chateau in Beverly Hills has had a big price chop. It hit the market at $45 million, was at $39.9 million when it was our estate of the day, and is now at $31.5 million.
--Richard Neutra's Singleton residence is back on the market, listed at $14.95 million. It was at listed at $25 million (although also rumored to be $19 million) when it was our estate of the day in 2007.

From SF Gate's On the Block:
--A $650,000 home in Lake Tahoe is being raffled off by the Boys and Girls Club. The raffle is here.
--San Francisco's $70 million penthouse has been reduced by $21 million to $49 million. It was our estate of the day back in November.

From Homes and Properties:
--Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are leasing a three-bedroom home in London for £4,000 a week. The home is for sale for £2,795,000 and the listing is here.
--Elle Macpherson has cut the price of her six-bedroom Notting Hill, London home from £9.5 million to £8.95 million. The listing for the classic Victorian is here.

From Move Trends Real Estate Blog:
--Chad Michael Murray has put his WIlmington, North Carolina home on the market for $785,000. The listing is here.

--Ryan Cabrera has knocked $100,000 off the price of his Los Angeles home. It is now listed at $1.599 million but was at $1.699 million when it was our estate of the day last August.

Could it be true? Has Courtney Love finally unloaded her condo at 30 Crosby in New York. We've been watching this one for over a year and it's been reported sold a couple of times but Braden Keil at the NY Post reports that the loft is finally sold.  Over a year ago it was reported sold at $6 million and it was most recently listed at $5.25 million. The condo loft is 4200 square feet with a large master bedroom and gourmet kitchen. It is listed as "in contract" at Corcoran so we can only cross our fingers that this time it goes through since its clear Courtney needs cash.

A California mortgage company now owns the Washington bungalow that once belonged to Courtney Love. Love bought the home in the late 1990s and until recently Kurt Cobain's sister lived in the house. Love owed $386,000 on the home and could have stopped the auction by paying up. There were no bids on the house and so the home remains as the property of a Los Angeles mortgage company.

More real estate trouble for the recently rehabbed Courtney Love, a historic Washington home she bought around eight years ago is up for public auction to satisfy debts in a foreclosure case. Love purchased the bungalow for Kurt Cobain's family in 1997 and now owes about $367,000 including the loan balance and legal fees. The house sits on 13 acres and according to sheriff's records, Cobain's sister currently lives there. Love hasn't paid on the house since 2003. Guess those rumors that Courtney is about to sell the rights to Nirvana's music might not be so far off after all.