If you think your neighborhood has seen a lot of foreclosures over the past year, you should see the growing list of celebrity real estate that has gone back to the bank. Celebrities across the board have faced a bad year with their real estate. MLB players, NBA players as well as movie and TV stars have found themselves in a very real, very “main street” position as they collect their mail and find the infamous “pink” slip.
Most notably, Nicolas Cage has lost not just one home, but two of his New Orleans’ mansions to foreclosure and is now facing the possibility of losing a third home. In addition to these foreclosures, he has been forced to sell off several other properties due to a “difficult (personal) economic situation” in the past year. And singer Toni Braxton of “Un-Brake My Heart” fame has recently found that she must either pay over 12 million dollars to Bank of America or risk losing her L.A. apartment to foreclosure.
But not all celebrity real estate has ended in foreclosure, many celebrities facing the prospect of losing their home have taken the difficult decision to respond with a short sale listing of their property rather than live with the consequences of a multimillion dollar foreclosure. Lisa Wu Hartwell, made famous through the reality TV series “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” recently had to make this tough decision. After an unsuccessful attempt to modify their 2.9 million dollar loan, Lisa along with her NFL linebacker husband, chose to short sale their home for 1.9 million dollars.
When middle class America can relate (even sympathize?) with celebrities, it is clearly a difficult time for everyone.
