Add another name to the ranks of the famously foreclosed. Page Two Live reports that a Miami Beach property owned by Wyclef Jean will be auctioned off at the courthouse in downtown Miami on December 12. The former member of the Fugees borrowed $2 million through a corporation he owns with friends from Home Equity Mortgage Corp. in 2004. He was planning to rebuild a canal-front home but construction on the property stopped when Jean and his partners couldn't come up with the money to finish the project. The architects filed a lien for $75,000 and in all, Jean's corporation now owes the bank $2.4 million. It's doubtful they will get all their money back from the sale, the property is appraised at $1.4 million and has been left unfinished for years.
Another big spender joins the celebrity foreclosure follies. This time it's Roc-A-Fella Records company co-founder Damon Dash and his wife, fashion designer Rachel Roy. The high-profile pair could lose two of their Manhattan apartments. Eastern Savings Bank says the couple owe $7.3 million on the properties and were supposed to make hefty monthly payments of $78,500 but haven't done so since January. Dash has a $100,000 federal tax lien on the properties and reportedly owes the city of New York $2 million in back taxes. Damon Dash is allegedly has a $50 million fortune amassed from his hip-hop empire.
Around two years ago I first brought you the story of The Shire, a Hobbit-themed development in Bend, Oregon. But two years ago there was no real estate crisis and now The Shire is facing foreclosure. The Bend Bulletin reports that the notice of default was recorded last week in the Deschutes County Clerk's Office on the 31-lot development. The original developr Ron Meyers sold his share in the development to Dr. Lynn B. McDonald and his wife Jan. They had taken full ownership in May but Dr. McDonald died July 7 and Jan McDonald is trying to sell off the 14 developed lots before the public auction of the six-acre property on December 2. The default notice says the family owes Umpqua Bank $3.4 million on the project.
The project includes stonework, artificial thatched roofs, and a network of gardens and streams with a pathway leading to a central courtyard. It as gotten plenty of media attention but just one home has sold for $650,000 since the project broke ground in fall 2006. Another, the Butterfly Cottage shown above, is listed at $899,000. It overlooks an amphitheater and has modern touches including bamboo flooring, a Japanese soaking tub and granite countertops. There is also a "hobbit hole" in the backyard for storing garden supplies.
The project seems to have gotten plenty of people stopping by to look but not many people buying. It's unclear what will happen to the Tolkeinesque theme of the development when new investors take over.
The foreclosures are coming fast and furious these days. The latest is boxing champion Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the mother of Evander Holyfield's 10-year-old son says he has missed two child-support payments. Holyfield's reps told her not to expect the payments. Holyfield, who has 11 children total, is apparently in financial distress. His mansion in Fayette County, Georgia is under foreclosure. The home, which is worth $10 million is set to be auctioned by Washington Mutual Bank on July 1. Holyfield has also been sued by a consulting company for not paying back a $550,000 loan. This may explain why 45-year-old Holyfield has been trying to get back into the boxing ring for another heavyweight championship. Holyfield made significant money over the course of the years but like too many other sports figures seems to have wound up not holding on to much of it.
Here's foreclosure? That's what Ed McMahon, the man famous for being Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show" and hosting "Star Search" might be saying soon. McMahon, who is 85, has been trying to sell his Beverly Hills home since 2006 when we first saw it listed for $7.699 million. He fell $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans and a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. filed a default notice Feb. 28 with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office. His spokesman said that McMahon broke his neck 18 months ago and has been unable to work since then. McMahon has been working with the lender to try and resolve the situation but it is uncertain if he and his wife will be able to stay in the home which is located in the celeb-friendly community known as The Summit. Real estate agent Alex Davis has the listing (pictures are shown below) which now sits at $6.25 million.
We've seen the foreclosure market hit a wide variety of homes, now it's set to take out a one-time four-star restaurant in New Jersey. The Ryland Inn in Readington, New Jersey is famous for French cuisine and has been called one of the best restaurants in New Jersey. Unfortunately a renovation project gone bad, a downturn in the economy and other problems led financial trouble that caused the restaurant to be closed for the past year. Chef and owner Craig Shelton owes $3.9 million in loans to Valley National Bank. The inn and property which is assessed at $2.8 million is slated to be sold by the Hunterdon County Sheriff's office on June 25th unless a buyer comes forward before then. The foreclosure pertains to the real estate including the 200-year-old farmhouse but not the contents or the liquor license but some potential buyers are hoping to work out a deal and reopen the restaurant. The restaurant was opened around 1935 and been the site of many weddings and events including a fundraiser attended by President Ronald Reagan.
Add another sports figure to the ranks of the celebrity foreclosed. Baseball player and controversial author Jose Canseco has walked away from his $2.5 million home in Encino, an area of Los Angeles. Canseco has said in an interview that it didn't make financial sense to keep paying the mortgage on a home that was "basically owned by someone else." Canseco cited his multiple divorces as another factor in his financial woes. It sounds like Canseco isn't facing the dire financial situation that some other people (Latrell Sprewell for example) have faced but merely opted out. His nonchalance seems a bit cavalier at a time when people are really agonizing over their homes but it seems in the interview that he is keenly aware that his situation is different from others who are struggling.
Good news for friends of The Mount, Edith Wharton's Lenox, Massachusetts, house today. Bloomberg reports that the property, which was facing foreclosure, has been saved at least temporarily. The 97-year-old estate raised $800,000 before the foreclosure deadline. Susan Wissler, senior executive officer of Edith Wharton Restoration Inc. says that the situation is still very critical. There is still an outstanding balance of around $5.5 million in bank loans (a $1.3 million mortgage and an additional credit line of $3.2 million). The Wharton preservation group had missed a $30,000 payment to Berkshire Bank in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in February. Edith Wharton Restoration started a campaign to raise $3 million The $800,000 was raised from 1,300 donors including former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner and his wife, Jane who gave $25,000. The Mount will be open for the season beginning May 9 but a new foreclosure date of May 31 still looms.
Even in one of the hottest real estate markets in the United States people are starting to feel the pinch of the foreclosure crisis. The AP has a story on the falling housing prices in one of the most beautiful and pricey areas in the country. In January, home sales fell more than 55 percent from the year before. The number of houses at any stage of foreclosure jumped by 152.9 percent. So far the very expensive wine towns of Calistoga, Yountville, St. Helena and Rutherford are still doing well but the city of Napa and the town of American Canyon have been hard hit, finding that the newer housing developments are particularly vulnerable both to lack of sales and forecloures.
Part of the worry for Napa is that its exponential growth has been fueled by wine tourism which may start to wane in the current economic climate. Currently condos, offices and retail stores are under construction, designed to appeal to the tourists and part-time residents. While the general wisdom seems to be that recessions do not cause people to stop drinking wine, it may cause them to cut back on winery tours which would impact other luxury retail businesses which have come to the area in the past couple of years.
The date has finally been set, unless the situation drastically changes, Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch will be sold at auction on March 19 becoming what is likely the country's most famous foreclosure. According to Fox News, Jackson received word Monday from Financial Title Company that unless he comes up with $24,525,906.61 by that date, a public auction will go forward in Santa Barbara in front of the county courthouse. The house and everything inside and around, personal property, the rides on the grounds, all of it is going.
Jackson hasn't been spotted at Neverland since June 2005. In that time he's lived in Bahrain, Ireland and Las Vegas among other pit stops on his global tour. It is assumed that Jackson will just do nothing and let the property go up for auction since he probably does not have the money even though he refinanced his $300 million loan from Fortress Investments with help from Sony Music, HSBC and Barclays Bank.
Jackson moved out of Neverland after he was acquitted of child molestation charges. He did pay around $600,000 in property taxes last month. If no one bids on Neverland then Fortress Investments will take possession of the property and will likely put it on the market through a Santa Barbara real estate agent.
Hard times have hit a couple of big South Florida condo projects with two major condominium developers having filed for bankruptcy last week.. Strada 315 LLC, the developer of Fort Lauderdale's Strada 315, filed Chapter 11 after selling 48 of its 117 units. The 21-floor condo tower was selling off condos for between $230,000 and $600,000.Regions Financial Corp., the largest bank based in Alabama, originally lent $34.5 million to the project. About $16 million was paid off as the condos were sold but Regions would not extend the loan. The developers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, saying they owe at least $50 million in debts to this bank and other lending partners. The company will continue operating as U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami court reorganizes its debts.
Beach House Property LLC, which is connected to Beach House Designed by Richard Meier, at 9449 Collins Ave in Surfside filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday. The 101-unit condo was set to be built on the property of the Beach House Hotel and would offer 101 condos at prices starting at around $1.5 million. The company owes its 20 largest unsecured creditors $4.6 million.
What is the future of these two projects? At Strada there are sales contracts on 51 of the remaining 69 units, but it is expected that some of these will not close due to the current grim conditions facing South Florida condominiums. The situation for the Beach House is even murkier. Apparently the project is way behind schedule and has according to a comprehensive article by Kevin Tomlinson of the South Beach Condo blog, been through several developers already. It's a shame since the project, shown at left, is the first Meier project in the area and attracted a lot of attention when it was first announced.
We've been hearing rumors about this for a while but now it's official, Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is in foreclosure. The Implode-O-Meter has the November 5th, 2007 Foreclosure Detail Report for Santa Barbara county which shows that as of October 12, the King of Pop owes $23,212,963 on a $23,000,000 loan. Since his trial, Jackson has spent almost no time at the home, instead staying in hotels and rented homes around the world. It's unclear whether he can't pay the bill at this time, or just won't.
A quick update on a story we have been following.
Don Johnson's real estate woes are becoming more solidified. Unless the actor manages to find a quick $14.3
million, his Woody Creek estate in Colorado will be sold by the
Pitkin County public trustee. Lenders filed a motion to let the force the sale and a magistrate has ordered the
sale because Johnson hasn't been paying off a $10.6 million note. Johnson's main estate is to be sold April 26
and an adjacent property with a guest house will be sold May 10. Johnson managed to get himself out of a similar scrape
in 2004 when he obtained new financing for the house and his publicist has said that this will happen again.
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.
Add another name to the ranks of the famously foreclosed. Page Two Live reports that a Miami Beach property owned by Wyclef Jean will be auctioned off at the courthouse in downtown Miami on December 12. The former member of the Fugees borrowed $2 million through a corporation he owns with friends from Home Equity Mortgage Corp. in 2004. He was planning to rebuild a canal-front home but construction on the property stopped when Jean and his partners couldn't come up with the money to finish the project. The architects filed a lien for $75,000 and in all, Jean's corporation now owes the bank $2.4 million. It's doubtful they will get all their money back from the sale, the property is appraised at $1.4 million and has been left unfinished for years.
