Wednesday, January 14, 2009

More Mish Mash

Listen puppies, Your Mama hates to throw the mish-mash down twice in one week, but we still have a few nuggets and morsels that we need to get out of our inbox and off our voice mail.

1.
First things first children, so let's all grab a snack and board the Britney Spears real estate crazy train right away this morning and get it over with. Two days ago it was widely rumored and reported that back in the saddle pop star Britney Spears is decamping from her home in a gated community above Beverly Hills called The Summit, CA to another gated community out in Calabasas, CA called The Oaks. These developers are just so dang clever and creative with their community names, aren't they?

Anyhoo, all gossip and rumor arrows pointed to Miz Spears (and presumably her daddy/conservator Jamie) fixin' to move into anewly built mansion called Chateau Suenos, which is a silly Franco-Spanish way of saying House of Dreams.

The 10,300+ square foot French Provincial/Tuscan Farmhouse/Spanish Hacienda style sprawler occupies a large raised lot in The Estates section of The Oaks, which for those of the children not familiar with The Oaks (and why would you be?) is essentially a gated community within a gated community. That means iffin any of you freako fans manage to get yer Saturns and Hyundais past the first set of (guarded) gates you'll quickly be thwarted by another set of gates designed to keep your peeping asses out of The Estates where other big name music types like Brad Wilk and Travis Barker also live.

Since our little discussion two days ago the ex-Mrs. Federline confirmed via a Twitter entry on her official blog that she took her two pop tots to see their new house, that they, "Loved it," and that she, "Can't wait to move in." So there you have it right from the horses mouth, or at least the horse's Twitter account.

As we mentioned in our previous discussion, in addition to being offered for sale at $8,990,000, Chateau Suenos was also available for lease at $19,000 per month, which is more than some people make in a year, but pocket change to a gal like Britney who apparently has more money to spend on her fickle real estate whims than she knows what to do with.

New reports say that the singing and dancing cash cow is leasing Chateau Suenos while she builds another house of her dreams nearby.

2.
We can all breathe a heavy sigh of relief because according to an AP report in the Southern Ledger American Idol winner and 8-time Grammy nominated singer Fantasia Barrino will not lose her big ol' house in Charlotte, NC down the slippery slope of foreclosure

Phew! Your Mama knows y'all were on pins and needles about that.

2.
Boxing's weirdest and most outspoken promoter Don King has recently listed his Manalapan, FL compound for sale with an asking price of $27,500,000. Property records and reports show that Mister King and his wifey Henrietta purchased the two properties in 1999 for a total of $14,300,000.

The nearly three acre compound stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway and includes two adjacent mansions, one which he used as is private residence and another that he used as a guest house. The Mediterranean style main house is reported to have seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, garaging for three cars, a swimming pool and a courtyard with a bridge over a goldfish pond. The guest house is reported to have four bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a second swimming pool and a damn ice cream parlor. The children will note that Mister King's kompound has at least 18 terlits, which means considerable expense will be incurred by the owner having a gurl who does nuthin' but scrub terlits day in and day out.

The properties include two docks for yachts on the Intracoastal Waterway and a long stretch of sugar sand beach on the Atlantic that is accessed via a retractable staircase. Fancy.

Mister King, who made mountains of money promoting fights for folks like Muhammad Ali and that poor, got banged in the head one too many times Mike Tyson, told the folks at The Wall Street Journal that his decision to sell is not financially motivated but because at 77 years old, "walking from house to house has become inconvenient" and that he's going to "going to move to wherever I can find a nice little cozy, $10-to-$5-million house."

Reports and property records show Mister King also owns a couple of casas in Las Vegas, NV, an 80-acre training camp in Cleveland, OH and another training camp in Fort Pierce, FL.

3.
Ugly Betty brace face America Ferrera has recently listed the Los Angeles house she purchased last year just before she received word that production for her hit boob-toob program was shifting to New York City.

Records and reports show that Miss Ferrera, who of course does not have a mouthful of metal in real life, scooped up the 3 bedroom and 3.5 bathroom house on Rodgerton Drive in the Beachwood Canyon area in April of 2008 for $1,415,000. It's unclear to Your Mama whether Miss Ferrera ever occupied the house or not.

Listing information indicates the 3,523 square foot house is fully wired for sound and includes a fiberglass swimming pool and spa wedged into the small back yard, a huge two car garage and a master suite with private terrace and adjacent office space.

Your Mama would like to note that Miss Ferrera rather wisely painted over the pukey mural that was painted on the wall behind the swimming pool when she bought the house. Although we can not confirm it, this appears to be the only change that was made to the property.

Listing information reveals the house is currently listed at $1,685,000, a number our bejeweled abacus shows is $270,000 more than she paid for the property just nine months ago. We're certain some of the children will have something to say about that.

4.
Hedge fund scoundrel Bernard Madoff may not be a celebrity in the ordinary sense of the word but (allegedly) bilking friends and family out of $50,000,000,000 sorta puts him in the category of infamy, don't it?

It's now being revealed that Mister Madoff and his wife, who prop records show own and maintain a number of posh properties including an apartment on E. 64th Street New York City, a 5 bedroom and 7 bathroom house on N. Lake Way in Palm Beach, FL and an ocean front house on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk, NY, also own a modest hideaway in the South of France they reportedly purchased six or seven years ago.

According to a report on Bloomberg.com, the Madoff's South of France vacation getaway is a small apartment located in the international jet-setter hot spot of Cap d'Antibes. Located in the Chateau des Pins development, the 1,300 square foot unit on the second floor of a white villa with a terra cotta tile roof reportedly includes just 3 bedrooms and overlooks the tennis courts and swimming pools of larger and more expensive homes down the slope and closer to the water.

Mister Madoff, who reportedly owns a large private plane that he owns, conveniently parks his appropriately named boat Bull just down the hill in the super swank harbor at Juan les Pins where some of the largest boats afloat dock when not being used by their billionaire owners.

17 comments:

StPaulSnowman said...

If the Suenos house is representative of what is to be seen, they don't need to keep the gates manned or even closed. What is the deal with Calabasas? Is this considered second tier among desirable places to live. It is ten below zero here and anywhere in California where it doesn't hurt to breathe outside is looking pretty good.

TwentyFiveFifty said...

Oh holy wow...I'm slow :)

I just sent an email about the Twitter thing to Mama...duh. She's already got it posted!

Jimmy said...

The Madoff house in Palm Beach is held in his wife's name. Double protection against loseing it. Of course using it collateral for his bail might have "interesting" consequences.

When are the very rich folks in Florida going to learn how to spell "Land Trust (as in "Illinois land trust"}. Geez not even the IRS can take your property in a Land Trust. That and totally and absolutely hiding ownership as a side benefit.

Samantha said...

What a fascinating blog! Your write-ups are amazing and full of interesting information.

Keep up the great work. I'm sure to become a faithful reader!

Anonymous said...

There are several notable listings in L.A. right now that are on the market thanks to Mr. Madoff having made off with these folks' money, leaving them with little else.

luke220 said...

I just saw Mama on Extra! Looking good but nothing we haven't read here first.

Anonymous said...

TMZ:


There once was a family that spawned Brandon (Greasy) and Jason (Gummy) Davis. Their granddaddy, Marvin Davis, was supposedly filthy rich, to the tune of $5.8 billion. Then Marvin died and people started writing stories that it was all smoke and mirrors and Marvin was really broke. Now we've learned Marvin's daughter Nancy -- the mother of Greasy and Gummy -- is set to lose her home unless she forks up some serious cash -- STAT.

Anonymous said...

While nowhere near to being a billionaire, I'm relatively well off and had never even heard of Mister Madoff prior to his scam being exposed, which I imagine is the case for most, if not all, of the readers here. There are definate advantages to not being an A lister type, not the least of which is immunity from the plastic bubbles people like Madoff operate in.

Anonymous said...

10:14 - That TMZ article shows just how worthless TMZ truly is.

"Marvin Davis, was supposedly filthy rich"

????

Marvin Davis was an oil baron who eventually owned 20th Century Fox and the Beverly Hills Hotel, among other assets. One could certainly call him "filthy rich". Supposedly "Blake Carrington" was loosely based on Davis.

Barbara Davis (Marvin's widow, Nancy's mother) is the Beverly Hills socialite that Suzanne Saperstein (Fleur de Lys) was hoping to impress and gain entrance to BH society through. It didn't work.

Nancy Davis is well known for her charitable work with the Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis and it's annual "Race To Erase MS" event that has raised over 30 million dollars for multiple sclerosis research.

Leave it to TMZ to go right for the Paris Hilton generation.

Hope Nancy isn't really in danger of losing her house. Unlike Michael Jackson, she is actually contributing to society.

luke220 said...

2:48, it's not about being A listed but all about following the lead of friends "who know more about investments than we do". The for sale signs are now popping up in Boston, Nantucket, LA and Palm Beach because of this Madoff disaster. I'm not sure where Ruth Madoff is finding the money for her coop fees.

Starck Mad said...

Never hear of Mr. Nick, but he's got one wayward sense of decorating.

Kind of like a (bad) F.L. Wright meets Vicki Gotti.....and that recipe is disaster.

Anonymous said...

I love it when people post "glum" like anonymous 2:48 .. oh, so lucky you were saved from a plastic bubble............. get real, dane cook getting ripped off by his own brother, if you think you are safe , look again, there is no safety, and if you think you truly are, then you probably do not have much$ to worry about. people with major $ cannot be everywhere and watch everyting, i have had friends from twenty years steal from me and i was like ... what?? no way, he would never do that. but it happens and it happens alot, when you have money, you are a target, i speak from having bank and not having bank and having bank again. the best advice i can give is doris dukes fathers which she did not follow. TRUST NO ONE. it may just be a los angeles thing, but i doubt it, people are motivated by comfort, i have seen amazing behaviour,things i will not forget, what people will do to have or get close to money, so , if you had it or have it, you will know what i am talking about.

Anonymous said...

anon 2:48... the word is spelled DEFINITE not definate...

And despite not being an investor in Madoff's investment's, you most certainly will feel the ripple effect of that nasty financial earthquake no matter where you are. How can one NOT feel the big 50.0 (billion) quake?

Jimmy Donohue - my sympathy to you upon learning a long time trusted friend betray you. Trusting no one is the best way to do business. And one more thing, GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING.

Here's hoping, wishing and praying and all will be divine in 2009! Look up, guys, when you down, there's only one way to go.... UP!

Anonymous said...

Madoff's $50 tidal wave. NOT.

If you didn't feel the feds $7 trillion rock toss then you sure ain't gonna' feel a $50 billion pebble.

Anonymous said...

Oh Thank you, Mama! I just can't get enough info. on the fabulous Miss Britney! This is why your Children Love you so! *hug*

Anonymous said...

highly doubt that any of Marvin Davis's kids/or grandkids have money problems. Didn't Barbara Davis sell her house for 40 million, or some figure like that?

Anonymous said...

http://lxtv.com/openhousela/video/9482
here's a video tour of britney's house