Rafaello Follieri heads to jail for bouncing a check
Raffaello Follieri, an Italian business man and real estate mogul wannabe, was charged with writing a bad check. And not just any bad check, dear ones. A check for $215,000 (TMZ reports $250K). Ouch. Now that is creative financing, no? The NY Post reports that the account he used only had $39 and some change in it. Wow. That’s some brass-plated you-know-whats the boy has there.
Michael Jackson hangs on to Neverland by the skin of his teeth
We had last heard that Michael Jackson had made a deal to save his neglected Neverland, but the newest dish is that he didn’t exactly refinance his $24+ million loan.
Fox 411 reports that a foreclosure is still scheduled for the declining property. In fact, the public auction is set for May 14 in Santa Barbara.
Spider Man Splashes out $10 million
Tobey Maguire recently purchased a piece of luxury property in Brentwood. But there’s no home on it yet. He paid almost $10 million for an acre of land north of Sunset.
Biggest losers in Celebrity real estate deals
Most everyone expects celebrity property to be luxurious, well-decorated and expensive. And we usually expect it to go for top dollar. But even celebrities can’t avoid the real estate blues sometimes. As Los Angeles housing sales slow, so do mid-range celebrity homes from the $3 million to $6 million range. Those poor, rich folks and their slow-moving houses. It almost makes you want to cry for them, doesn’t it?
Gianni Versace’s Lake side villa has sold for a staggering $52 million. The buyer is reputed to be Russian multi-millionaire Arkady Novikov, a flamboyant restaurateur affectionately (or not, depending) known as the “Blini Baron.” The house had been quietly on the market for some time and according to The Times, sold for $6 million over the asking price.
