Boomer’s Blog

A unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. has filed a foreclosure action against Ed McMahon, an ailing 85 year-old TV personality who has been trying to sell his expansive Beverly Hills home for the past two years.

In his heyday, McMahon, was the consummate late night TV sidekick who spent much of his career by original Tonight Show host Johnny Carson’s side. McMahon also hosted the Star Search variety show which foreshadowed American Idol’s incendiary popularity. Still, many remember him for putting Publishers Clearing House (PCH) on the map with his charismatic TV commercials where the Prize Patrol ambushes unsuspecting families with drive-by sweepstakes fortunes.

The Wall Street Journal reports that ReconTrust, an arm of Countrywide Financial, filed a default notice on a $4.8 million Countrywide loan backed by Mr. McMahon’s home in late February. Official documents show that, at the time of the foreclosure filing, McMahon had racked up $644,000 in overdue payments on that loan.

Public records also show that in February, McMahon had a separate home-equity debt with Countrywide of up to $300,000 tied to the same property. It has not yet been revealed whether Countrywide still owns McMahon’s home loan, or is pursuing the debt for real estate investors who may have acquired it.

McMahon first listed his expansive Beverly Hills estate in 2006 for $7.7 million. After a few price drops in the interim, the property currently is listed with Christie’s Great Estates for $5.75 million.

Since breaking his neck in a bad fall on his possibly cursed property last year, McMahon has suffered through a lengthy recovery and has been unable to work. A spokesman for the healing celebrity says McMahon has been in fruitful negotiations with the lender and is optimistic that he’ll be able to work out a deal to avoid foreclosure.

As housing values plunge and mortgage rates reach for the sky, the stars are among the droves of motivated sellers seeking to cut their losses and downsize. Here are some of the most interesting tales of celebrity home depreciation scraped from the annals of the World Wide Web to help us distort our comprehension of the term “distressed homeowner.”

• Trump Real Estate Investing 101.1
  Self-professed real estate tycoon Donald Trump has ended his two-year quest to sell to sell his Palm Beach, Fla. home. The property, known as Maison de L’Amitie, lingered on the market with its $125 million price tag. So, the Don slashed the price by $25 million in March to get the property off his books. Forbes characterized the transaction as “the largest discount ever made for a single residence not involved in a bankruptcy proceedings.”
• Avril Lavigne’s Home Price: Too Much to Ask?
  Twenty-something Canadian pop singer Avril Lavigne recently took a million dollar dip in home’s price rather than her pool. She recently reduced her Beverly Hills, Calif. area home listing price from $6.9 to $5.8 million.
• Bad Real Estate Deal Wrecks Rock Star’s Nervous System
  Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver ax man Slash bought a San Fernando Valley, Calif. home a couple of years ago for $6.2 million and later sold it for $5.7 million. Last year, he sued the Sotheby’s real estate agent he used to buy the home. Shash claims that the agent said the home was on a private street (it’s not) and the square footage in the listing turned out to be inaccurate. According to the $1 million suit filed last year, the house deal caused the rocker and his family “grief, shame, humiliation, embarrassment, anger, worry, disappointment, nervousness, stomach disorders, backaches, loss of appetite and inability to concentrate on work.” No word yet on how that one played in court.
• No Toast to Honor Cheers Star’s Malibu Colony Real Estate Investment
  After a year on the market with no buyers, Ted Danson and his wife, actress Mary Steenburgen recently sold their remodeled Cape Cod style Malibu, Calif. home. Though it was originally listed for $18 million, the home’s last listing price before it sold was $16.75 million.
• Stone’s Basic Instincts Don’t Include Savvy Real Estate Investing
  Actress Sharon Stone reportedly bought her prestigious California estate on Beverly Drive in 2006 for $11 million. Soon after buying the house she’s never lived in, she slapped it with a $12.5 million list price. The home, once occupied by architect Joseph Ambrose, has languished on and off the market, taking substantial price hits ever since. Stone recently dropped the listing price to $10 million and rumor has it that she’s also extended an invitation to renters who can swallow the $58,000 per month lease price.
• From Best Seller to Motivated Seller
  After several months on the market and some division tweaks, Alexandra Sheldon, widow of best-selling author, creator and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon, has finally sold one of the properties that comprise her massive Palm Springs, Calif. estate. Sheldon cut the price of three other homes on the property by 30 percent hoping to woo buyers. It appears that Sheldon also divided the estate’s several homes and guest houses into separate properties to maximize her profits and make the real estate investment more accessible to buyers. Perhaps she was the inspiration behind her husband’s 1960s TV smash hit “I Dream of Jeannie.” Sheldon’s listing agent calls her a “motivated seller.”
• PCH Prize Patrol, Buyers Pass on McMahon Mansion
  Johnny Carson’s former side-kick and Star Search host Ed McMahon, first listed his expansive Beverly Hills estate in 2006 for $7.7 million. As if living in a house that’s been on the market for two years weren’t adequate torture, McMahon also is recovering from a broken neck he suffered there last year. Since his estate has been on the market, McMahon, also known for his remarkable Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes TV ads, has dropped the price three times to $5.7 million. Maybe some lucky winner will buy him out.