by Sonya Stinson
How does Nicolas Cage get behind on his mortgage payments? The same way other rich and famous people do.
"They've stretched themselves higher than they probably should have,"
says John Anderson, owner of Twin Oaks Realty in Minneapolis and a
National Association of Realtors expert in foreclosures. Some couldn't
keep up when the rates on their adjustable rate mortgages shot up,
Anderson says. Price drops at the high end of the market were so steep
that a sale wouldn't cover the debt. In other words, high-end homeowners
face the same problems that plague the not-so-rich-and-famous.[Click here to check home loan rates in your area.]Here
are five of the biggest names on the of list homeowners falling to
foreclosure. We've included a bit of info about the current markets
where these stars once lived. You know, in case you'd like to hunt for a
foreclosure deal in one of those tony neighborhoods.
Nicolas CageThe star: He's an Academy Award-winning actor (for "Leaving Las Vegas"), nephew
of multiple-Oscar-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and the former
son-in-law of Elvis.
The house: Make that
"houses." In November 2009, Cage lost two New Orleans homes -- one in
the French Quarter, the other in the Garden District -- worth a combined
$6.8 million, according to a CNNMoney.com report. Cage was behind $5.5
million in mortgage payments and he owed $151,730 in property taxes to
the city of New Orleans. Regions Banks paid $4.5 million for the
properties.
The market: One in 720 homes in
Orleans Parish had foreclosure filings in November 2010, according to
RealtyTrac. The average foreclosure sales price in the city was close to
$110,000.
Erin MoranThe star: She's best known as Richie Cunningham's freckle-faced little sister
Joanie on the 1970s sitcom "Happy Days" and co-star of the spinoff
"Joanie Loves Chachi."
The house: Los Angeles
County court records posted on the entertainment website TMZ.com show
that Moran, also known by her married name Erin Fleishmann, owed
$315,930 on the Palmdale, Calif., home. The Bank of New York Mellon
Trust Company bought the house at auction for $291,150 in July 2010.
According to TMZ, Moran stayed in the home after losing it to the bank
and had to be evicted.
The market: Palmdale, just
north of Los Angeles, posted foreclosure filings in November 2010 on
one in 80 housing units. The average foreclosure sales price was around
$154,000.
Lisa Wu-HartwellThe star: Viewers of Bravo's "Real Housewives of Atlanta," may remember
Wu-Hartwell from the first season as one of the network's touted "six
fabulous women from Atlanta's social elite." Hubby Edgerton Hartwell,
the former Oakland Raiders linebacker, made frequent appearances.
The house: According to court records posted on TMZ.com, the couple borrowed $2.9
million to buy their suburban mansion in June 2007. Just more than two
years later, Bank of America paid $1.9 million for the house at a
foreclosure sale at the Forsyth County, Ga., courthouse, after the
Hartwells defaulted on their adjustable-rate mortgage from the bank.
The market: RealtyTrac reports there were foreclosure filings on one in 248 housing
units in Forsyth County in November 2010. The average foreclosure sales
price was around $210,000.
Lenny DykstraThe star: Nicknamed "Nails," the former Major League Baseball pro was an
outfielder for the Mets and the Phillies during the late 1980s and early
1990s. After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, Dykstra, in a
move many found ironic, started an online financial advisory firm in
2010 called Nails Investments.
The house: Dykstra
bought the 6.5-acre property in Thousand Oaks, Calif., from hockey pro
Wayne Gretzky for $18.5 million in 2007, according to the Los Angeles
Times. He lost the house in a Ventura County foreclosure sale in
November 2010 to a winning bid of $760,712, the newspaper reported.
Dykstra owed about $12 million to JPMorgan Chase.
The market: One in 201 homes in Ventura County received a foreclosure filing in
November 2010, according to RealtyTrac. The average foreclosure sales
price was in the neighborhood of $382,000.
Veronica HearstThe star: The name is Hearst's claim to fame. She's the widow of newspaper heir
Randolph Hearst and stepmother of Patricia Hearst, who was kidnapped by
left-wing guerrillas in 1974.
The house: Located
Manalapan, Fla., near Palm Beach, the Villa Venezia was originally built
for the great-grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt.
According to The Palm Beach Post, the 52-room, 28,000-square-foot
mansion sold to New Stream Capital for $22 million at a Palm Beach
County auction in February 2008.
The market: One in 211 housing units in Palm Beach County received a foreclosure
filing in November 2010, reports RealtyTrac. The average foreclosure
sales price was about $137,000.
