This week we have some juicy Celebrity Real Estate News provided by Zillow.com. We have Octo-Mom facing foreclosure, The Boss sells his Palm Beach Home, a Boxing Champ getting knocked out with a foreclosure and Mel Gibson selling his Malibu Home. It appears even the Stars are having hard times with foreclosures.

Just when you thought you have heard the last of Nadya Suleman (aka “Octo-mom”) comes word that she could be evicted from the home she occupies with her 14 kids.

Suleman leases this home from her father, who has a mortgage agreement with Amer Haddadin. Haddadin sold the home to Octo-mom’s father in March 2009 for $450,000 under these conditions: Monthly payments of $4,139, and a final balloon payment was due on March 10 to fulfill the entire $450,000 mortgage. Haddadin reports the last $4,139 payment was never made, as well as the final balloon payment. Now, Haddadin is planning on going to the courts to foreclose on the family.

As actor Mel Gibson proceeded with his highly publicized divorce from wife Robyn last year, it was revealed that a lot of Gibson’s wealth is tied up in real estate. Last year, he put his Old Mill Farm estate on the market for $35 million and it looks like it’s still for sale, but at a big price cut. The Greenwich, CT property is now listed for $29,750,000. (See more celebrity price cuts).

Now, another Gibson estate is up for sale, but this one is on the other coast. Gibson’s Lavender Hill Farm is for sale for $14.5 million. Located in a secluded area of Malibu known as Serra Retreat, it is Gibson’s own private escape. The 2.75-acre grounds have mature trees, a fruit orchard, and organic gardens.

The home is newly remodeled and has 6 bedrooms and 6 baths with a hardwood/stone floors. The master bedroom is on the upper floor and includes a sitting room. Extras include a lighted tennis court, pool, three guest houses, two offices, a detached gym, library, and a garden cabana with game room. It sounds, well, divine. But, don’t take our word for it — see more photos of Mel Gibson’s Malibu home.

Former boxing champ Thomas Hearns might be in retirement, but he’s facing a new opponent: foreclosure.

According to the Detroit News, Hearns is past-due on taxes and mortgage payments, owing a total of $961,156. Just on Hearns’ home alone, he owes $512,965 and the bank has filed notice that his home is scheduled for a foreclosure sale on March 23, according to The Legal News (free subscription required to access article).

Hearns is an eight-time world champ whose 15-year pro boxing career spanned six different weight categories.

According to Hearns’ lawyer, the former champ is working on keeping the house and paying off his debts.

American rock icon Bruce Springsteen and wife, Patti Scialfa, sold one of their side-by-side homes in Wellington, FL to Chicago philanthropists Daniel and Ellen Podell Crown for $2.95 million, reports the Palm Beach Daily News.

Springsteen’s home that was sold is located in Equestrian Club Estates, which is a gated community for equestrian types. Does The Boss have a special affinity for equestrian activites? No, but Bruce and Patti’s daughter, Jessica, is evidently an equestrian prodigy. Who knew?

According to Real Estalker, Springsteen purchased the property in 2008 for $3.1 million, then, a few months later, Bruce purchased the home next door for $4.6 million. Although Springsteen got $2.95 million for the first home, he initially listed it for sale for $3.95 million. And, he bought it for $3.1 million, so he sustained a loss of $150,000.

Yes you read that right…$6,500 per night to rent the "Jersey Shore" house! I don't need to see the TV show to know that this is almost as crazy and the Brangelina house. Seriously, you can rent a truly amazing home for $6,500 a night…or a mega yacht. This is simply a mega-rip-off to me. More great celebrity real estate news this week – Bernie Madoff finds a buyer, Scarlett Johansson's home goes on the market, Joely Fisher sells her home and then the crazy "Jersey Shore" home.

JERSEY SHORE HOUSE FOR RENT! For all you Guido and Guidette wannabes who want to gym/tan/laundry in the actual space where the “Jersey Shore” cast of characters hung out, you can because the Jersey Shore house is for rent! The rental prices are for single nights only and they have a definite spike for seasonality. For example, the house is renting for $3,500/per night until May 1, then it jumps to $6,500 per night from May 1-July 15. See more photos of Jersey Shore house. 

Original post:

In case you’re caught up in the tan-sanity of MTV’s latest reality series “Jersey Shore,” you’re probably wondering what’s “The Situation” on the Jersey Shore house where Snooki, Pauly, Vinny and the rest of the crew spend their days and late, late nights. The brown-shingled party house is located at 1209 Ocean Terrace, Seaside Heights, NJ 08751 and it’s just behind a row of shops on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ – including the T-shirt shop where they all work (click on the photo above and drag to the left to see the boardwalk).

The show airs Thursday nights on MTV and has commanded its share of headlines due to a cast with strong personalities who like to ”gym/tan/laundry,” get into fights and call themselves “Guidos” and “Guidettes.” Ironically, while the house is located on the Jersey shore and the show is about the happenings at the Jersey shore, only one cast member — Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola of Hazlet, NJ — is actually from the Garden State.

Many Italian-American organizations and MTV advertisers have taken exception to their behavior and self-described monikers and call the group offensive and exploitative of a stereotype.

“I don’t see any redeeming value in the show,” DiMino told the NY Times. “They are an embarrassment to themselves and to their families.” — Andre DiMino, president of the largest Italian-American service organization in the U.S.

Philadelphia blog Phillyist says this is not the real Jersey shore – or at least the part of the Jersey shore that Philadelphians would dare venture into.

Meanwhile, the show is rocketing up the ratings scale for MTV, last Thursday capturing the No. 1 slot on cable for the 12-34-year-old demographic. (Twelve-year-olds are watching this?)

Want to see your share of tans, muscles and plenty of hormone-fueled drama?  Tune into Jersey Shore on Thursday at 10 p.m. on MTV.  We won’t tell…

Ooh, this has to hurt: Actress Scarlett Johansson purchased this Hollywood Hills home in 2007, paying $7 million and now she has listed it for sale for $4,950,000 — a price reduction of $2,050,000 (see percentage of Hollywood Hills homes sold for a loss).

This gated Spanish Villa was built in 1931 and just underwent a complete restoration, including some green upgrades such as solar power. A gourmet period-style kitchen includes “Big Chill” appliances (retro, baby). Rooms flow in and out to terraces, patios and cascading gardens.

Johansson has starred in films such as “Lost in Translation,” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” and is reportedly spending more time in New York where she is making her Broadway debut to rave reviews in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge.”

> See more photos of Johansson’s home

It looks like Bernie Madoff’s penthouse apartment in Manhattan’s Upper East Side has gone into contract for an undisclosed price, according to Curbed (via the Wall Street Journal). While the apartment at 133 E 64th St, New York, NY, 10065 still shows a $8.9 million price tag, it was originally listed at $9.9 million last fall.

Of Madoff’s three real estate holdings that were seized by U.S. Marshalls for resale with proceeds going to victims of Madoff’s spectacular Ponzi scheme,  Madoff’s Montauk beach house sold first for $9.4 million. Now that the Manhattan penthouse appears to be locked up by an unknown buyer, the only Madoff property left is the Palm Beach home for $7,250,000, which appears to have been reduced twice now — from $8.5 million to $7.9 million and now to $7.25 million.

Joely Fisher, sitcom star of ‘Til Death and the daughter of a celebrated Hollywood couple (Eddie Fisher and Connie Stevens; her half-sister is Carrie Fisher) just sold her Encino, CA home for $2.4 million.

According to the LA Times, “…the four-bedroom, seven-bathroom contemporary had been on and off the market since mid-2007.” According to public records, Fisher purchased the house in October of 2005 for $3,350,000.

The 1955 home was redone in 2005, employing Asian-style touches. A home theater is included in the 4,511 square feet of living space, and it has city and mountain views, plus a lagoon pool with a pool house.

> See more photos of Joely Fisher’s house, courtesy of Realestalker.

This week's Celebrity Real Estate News courtesy of Zillow.com leads us to a Lost Island, a Ranch in Aspen, Sinbad and Fantasia setting the record straight. Enjoy this week's edition and we will see you next week for more juicy Celebrity Real Estate stories.

The season premiere of Lost is upon us (yes! finally!) so we will find out exactly what has been going on, right? RIGHT?

One of the best characters on the show is the island itself, with its gorgeous beaches, lush tropical forest and mountains. Turns out, the island is not quite so hard to reach – most of the filming is done on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.

According to my extensive Lost Internet research, many of the beach scenes are filmed on Oahu’s North Shore, which is famous for its amazing waves and surfing. However, much of the filming is done on a sound-stage (yawn) in Honolulu, HI.

Interested in losing yourself? There are some lovely homes for sale on the North Shore, many in Haleiwa, HI:

1. Check out the lovely porch at 59-660 Alapio Rd Haleiwa, HI (below) – perfect for keeping an eye out for smoke monsters, I’m sure.

2. This stunning new construction at 61-300 Kamehameha Hwy Haleiwa, HI (below) looks like paradise itself.

3. If you don’t get enough sun outside, the light-filled home at 66-023 Alapii St Haleiwa, HI (below) will make sure it is never dark. Ever.

Fantasia Sets the Record Straight: No Foreclosure

By: Whitney Tyner, Zillow PR Specialist | February 4, 2010

American Idol’s Season 3 winner, Fantasia Barrino, is hitting the talk-show circuit to promote her new album and set the record straight on her much-publicized financial drama. The 25-year-old singer owed  $65,000 that she borrowed in 2006 to pay back taxes she owed the IRS and as a result, was at risk of losing her home.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Fantasia spilled all.

“The house problem wasn’t a foreclosure, and it wasn’t that I didn’t have the money. I’m not the richest, but I’ve always been a hard worker … and I thank God I’m still able to make ends meet. It could have been a lot better for me though if I would have had better management and better accountants…They ended up not paying my taxes and I had to clean up all that stuff. I had to hustle and bustle and make sure that was taken care of.”

Fantasia also told Oprah Winfrey that the situation was “very embarrassing” and confirmed that it was an auction on her home, not a foreclosure, that was threatening ownership of Fantasia’s Charlotte, NC home.

An attorney for the Broward Energy Partners lending company said in a statement that the auction was called off because an agreement has been reached between both parties. If the agreement between the two parties had not been reached, the singer’s home would have been sold at auction on Monday, Jan. 12.

Zillow’s Zestimate for the home is $1.16 million and it is located in the Rain Tree neighborhood of Charlotte where the Zillow Home Value Index is $263,300, down 8.8% from the previous year. In Rain Tree, 0.09% of all homes were foreclosed upon in November 2009.

Barrino is looking to reclaim her superstar status with a new VH1 reality series “Fantasia For Real“.

In December, we reported that actor/comedian Sinbad was in trouble with the IRS, owing $2.1 million to the state of California, as well as another $8.5 million in delinquent federal taxes and the U.S. Attorney General’s office wanted his house sold to pay the debt, according to The Detroit News.

Well, it looks like it’s happened: Sinbad’s home at 5950 Spring Valley Rd, Hidden Hills, CA 91302 is now for sale for $3 million. See more photos of Sinbad’s home.

It seems that there is an endless supply of juicy celebrity real estate news. This week we have the Bachelor House, Anderson Cooper, Justin Timberlake and the late Michael Jackson making headlines.

Between late 2007 and 2008, the late Michael Jackson rented a home in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Las Vegas at 2785 S. Monte Cristo Way, Las Vegas, NV. Today, the Las Vegas Sun is reporting Jackson’s home was sold for $3.1 million, after being listed for $3,950,000.

On Zillow, the video tour of Jackson’s house shows a status of “pending,” so take a look before the video comes down.

The home is gated and has 8-foot walls around the entire one-acre property. At 6,400-square-feet, it includes au pair quarters (attached apartment with two beds, one bath), tennis and basketball courts, fitness rooms, sauna, theater, orchestra loft, seven bedroom suites, three office suites, elevator, and large formal entertainment rooms. The master bedroom in incredibly huge — over 2,000 square feet — with a large covered patio, plus it has private access to a rooftop deck designed for sun bathing and Zen zone.

According to the Sun, “… the home was ultimately taken back by the lender, Eastern Savings Bank, in lieu of it going through foreclosure with the previous owner.” A California couple bought the home with cash. The percentage of foreclosure re-sales in Spring Valley in November is 65.8%. and foreclosure re-sales for Las Vegas is 64.7%.

While we associate Jackson with his Neverland Ranch, he actually spent a lot of time in Las Vegas and was reportedly on the verge of buying a Las Vegas estate he dubbed “Wonderland,” prior to his shocking death.

Justin Timberlake recently made a posh purchase in Tribeca, paying $4.689 million (down from $6.75 million, what a steal!) for the fifth floor of the Pearline Soap Factory lofts on Washington Street. Sounds like a good deal, except the penthouse apartment right above Timberlake’s (with the EXACT same layout) reportedly sold for just $4.1 million. Oops — $589,000 down the drain, but if anyone can handle it, JT can.

The Pearline Soap company used the building, on 414 Washington Street, as its factory headquarters in the late 1800s according to the NY Condo Blog. The building followed the trend of so many former factories and warehouses in the area and was converted into seven fancy-pants condominiums.

And we do mean fancy: Brazilian teak floors, twelve triple-pane windows, and a Control 4 System which is something that dims lights, closes the blinds, heats the house, and turns on jazz, according to the listing site. Jazz and Justin Timberlake? Sounds like a cool-cat match.

Photos of model units below are courtesy Pearline Lofts:

This season of The Bachelor follows Jake “The Pilot” Pavelka on his grand search for love and a wife. But, if you need to know only one thing about The Bachelor this season, know this: Jake is really, really boring. The women are, of course, fascinating to watch, but Jake is about as exciting as dry toast, IMHO.

And, as opposed to Jake’s boring personality, the Tuscan-style house where Jake entertains his many lady friends is simply AMAZING. The Bachelor house is located at 2351 Kanan Rd, Agoura Hills, CA 91301 and it has six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a four-car garage, gourmet kitchen, an infinity pool with a swim-up barbecue and bar, and a detached 4,000 square foot studio/office area.

The pool where the ladies seem to spend much of their time:

And the living room where there are so many fights:

While globe-hopping CNN anchor Anderson Cooper covers the tragedy in Haiti, he makes his own personal headlines back in the states.  Go figure. Curbed is reporting (via NY Post) that the silver fox is the secret buyer of a historic Greenwich Village firehouse. What fun!

Located at 64 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village, Cooper reportedly purchased the Beaux Arts-style building for $4.3 million last September from the New York Board of Fire Underwriters. Even though it has not served as an active firehouse since 2006, it still has its original spiral staircases, brass fire poles, and the walls are covered with murals saluting the fire patrol’s history.

No word on what Cooper plans to do with the 8,240 square feet of space (there’s also a two-story former stable in the back), but workers are already doing some demolition. Cooper also owns a penthouse duplex on West 38th Street.

This week has has some spectacular Juicy Celebrity Real Estate News including the Brangelina Compound, a George Bush teardown, a Detroit Lion in a lion's den of trouble, and Christina  Aguilera selling her home. All of these great stories are provided by Zillow.com.

We last reported on the expanding Brangelina compound last winter and it looks like Brad Pitt was in the purchasing mood again. The always-on-top-of-things Big Time Listings reported that Pitt bought another house, which turns out to be the critical piece to unify all five of his properties in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Pitt’s most recent purchase is a home that was built in 1920 and is rather small with only two bedrooms on 0.25-acres. Turns out Pitt got quite the deal – the home was originally listed for $2 million.

Pitt’s other properties, which are all adjacent to each other, include:

5769 Briarcliff Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90068

On the other side of the Briarcliff residence, along Valley Oak Drive are:
5742 Valley Oak Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90068
5750 Valley Oak Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90068
5752 Valley Oak Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90068

According to Big Time Listings, all of the properties together results in more than 1.8 acres of land.

Song-bird Christina Aguilera’s home is back on the market, after a brief absence, for $6.25 million. The home was originally listed for $7,995,000 back in April 2008, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The 6,500 square foot home, built in 1960, is located in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles; it has 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. There is also  a “private screening room” which seats 18, plus a gym, pool, 12-person spa and fireplace.

She bought the home in 2003 for $5 million after it was remodeled by designer Steve Hermann.

And of course, there is a view of the ocean.

This past November, workers from Billy Nabors Wrecking pulled up to 10151 Daria Pl, Dallas, TX 75229 and tore the house down. The house belonged to former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, who also own the house next door at 10141 Daria Pl, Dallas, TX 75229;  the 10141 address is the home the Bushes moved into last February.

Dallas Dirt’s Candy Evans speculates why the Bushes tore it down:

The former first family apparently wants to expand their present yard. Realtors familiar with the home, which was listed last year for $1.6 million, say it is not all that desirable for building anyhow,  since a creek runs along the northern edge, and it really needed to be scraped.

WFAA.com interviewed a worker from Billy Nabors Wrecking who said he believes the lot will stay vacant and the Bushes simply wanted a bigger yard.

Neighbors of the Bushes in Preston Hollow include Mark Cuban (owner of NBA’s Dallas Mavericks), H. Ross Perot (billionaire and former Independent candidate for president), and Tom Hicks (co-owner of NHL’s Dallas Stars and Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers).

It’s heartbreaking to hear stories of foreclosure, but when it’s a celebrity foreclosure, you wonder how it can happen. Former Detroit Lions lineman Luther Elliss, 36, who was paid almost $11.6 million from 2000-04, already lost his Utah home to foreclosure and now Elliss is prepared to walk away from his Oakland Township home.

According to The Detroit News, Elliss has filed bankruptcy, his savings are gone and he is relying on area churches and friends to help him land in a safe place. Evidently, Elliss made some poor investment choices and had liabilities that included mortgage debts on two homes (one in Utah and one in the Detroit area), an office building, delinquent taxes, credit card charges, legal fees and tuition at a Christian school. The married father of 11 had this to say about his predicament:

“The Lions did a good job, they put on financial programs that we had to attend talking about investing and saving money, gave statistics on how many of us would be broke,” Elliss said. “Guys were saying, ‘It’s not going to be me, I’m too smart for that.’ And here I am, one of those guys.”

Here’s a data point that is shocking: A recent Sports Illustrated article “How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke” reported that 78 percent of former NFL players will either file for bankruptcy or experience financial distress within two year of retirement and within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke.

We have some really juicy Celebrity News this week courtesy of Zillow.com including a Madonna Farm in the Hamptons, Walter Cronkite's Co-op, a Falcon and a Porsche, and Nora Jone fighting over some windows!

On Tuesday, Miami Heat superstar Dwayne Wade tweeted that his Pinecrest, FL home located at 9330 SW 59th Pl, Pinecrest Postal Store, FL is on the market for $3.3 million, calling the home a “real bargain.” The Zestimate on the property is $3,975,5000.

Don’t misinterpret this as a sign that Wade wants to leave the Heat, says the Miami Herald. Sources say that Wade would like to make a long-term commitment to Miami, he just needs a g$$d reason to stay.

By: Diane Tuman, Zillow Content Manager | May 18, 2009

By: Whitney Tyner, Zillow PR Coordinator | May 15, 2009

By: Diane Tuman, Zillow Content Manager | May 13, 2009

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By: Diane Tuman, Zillow Content Manager | May 19, 2009