July 17, 2008

Celebrities Foreclose Too

Foreclosures are hitting all segments of the population, and the rich and the famous are not excluded from this list. CNN recently reported in on some famous foreclosures including:

1. Jose Canesco, former baseball star who recently ditched his 7,300 square foot Encino, California home. Canesco too the property in May, at which time Canseco owed over $3.3 million.
2. Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s former sidekick, owes $4.8 million on a home that he paid less than $1 million on in 2000!
3. Evander Holyfield, ex-heavyweight champion, recently managed to pull himself out of foreclosure status on his 54,000 square foot mansion.
4. Michael Jackson (no description needed), also managed to work out a deal  before auction proceedings moved forward on his 3,000 acre Neverland ranch. The mortgage balance on this baby, a whopping $24.5 million!
5. Courtney Love, widow of rock idol Kurt Cobain, allowed her modest 13 acre bungalow to slip into foreclosure in 2006 for a measeley $386,000, mere chump change for this group!

The “Celebrity Foreclosure” list on the Luxist adds even more celebs to the growing collection of stars in debt, including Aretha Franklin, Latrell Sprewell, and Whitney Houston.

The foreclosure aspect doesn’t baffle me half as much as the fact that these people had mortgages to begin with! For example, Evander Holyfield has grossed over $200 million in his career, yet had a mortgage balance of $10 million on his home! When you’ve made that much money, why is a mortgage even necessary?! Sigh. The more money you have, the more money you need, apparently.