“Like I always said, if I’m one of the top players in the game, pay me like I’m one of the top players in the game.”

– Terrell Owens

Former National Football League (NFL) wide receiver, Terrell Owens — who banked somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million in salary, excluding sponsorship/endorsement deals, throughout his colorful 14-year career on the gridiron — recently rid himself of a $2 million condominium located in Dallas, Texas.

However, Owens — who played for the Dallas Cowboys from 2006 to 2008 — had to negotiate a short sale, accepting $1.6 million (about a $400,000 shortfall) rather than losing the property to foreclosure. FOXSports.com reports that this isn’t the first time that the outspoken and controversial wideout has made a short sale play, selling off another property at a $56,000 loss not too long ago.

The six-time Pro Bowl selection, who cracked into the league back in 1996 with the San Francisco 49ers where he played eight seasons, has experienced major financial problems since his involuntary exit from the sport last year because of a knee injury. In fact, he barely avoided jail time a few months for failing to pay child support for his young daughter in Atlanta, Georgia.

Owens, 38, who trails only NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice in all-time career touchdowns and receiving yards, recently held a highly-publicized workout for NFL teams in an attempt to keep his career alive. Not a single team attended and Owens remains a free agent.

It seems as though not even Charlie Brown is safe from foreclosure these days.

Los Angeles Times reports that a traditional “Peanuts” holiday scene that has been a seasonal staple outside of a home in Costa Mesa, Calif., for 44 years will be interrupted this month because of foreclosure. The distressed homeowners, who “strategically” defaulted in 2010 to hoping to renegotiate the home loan, were evicted from the property in late November.

In lieu of the unfortunate circumstances, the community has rallied behind the family, as well as its Christmas tradition, and the local government has agreed to let volunteers decorate City Hall grounds with the displaced “Peanuts” gang. In addition, several supporters have created a “Save the Snoopy House Fund,” collecting donations to help reverse the foreclosure.

To check out the official Facebook and Twitter accounts and to get behind the cause click here and here.

The bank has indicated that it views foreclosure as a last resort and is “exploring multiple options on how to get his property back” to the original Snoopy homeowners.

Now that would be a real-life Charlie Brown Christmas story.

(Photo by Don Leach, Daily Pilot / December 7, 2011 via LATimes.com)

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The heated battle between Main Street vs. Wall Street has taken another twist, with the grassroots “Occupy” movement shifting its focus to the nationwide housing crisis.

In particular, protesters have vowed to help families who have lost their homes to foreclosure by taking the vacant properties back. It’s been described as a “natural next step” in the fight to highlight the alleged excesses and abuses of the United States financial system.

In addition to moving displaced/distressed families back into their homes, which is illegal because they no longer own them, the Occupy movement has vowed to “disrupt” public foreclosure auctions throughout the nation.

Foreclosure.com is extending Black Friday throughout the month of December!

We are so grateful for our newsletter readers and website visitors. We started Foreclosure.com more than a decade ago with the goal of making it the number one-ranked online destination for distressed property listings.

And here we are, 13 years later, thanking you for helping us make that vision a reality.

To commemorate the holiday season this year, we are excited to announce a treasure trove of our most generous money-saving opportunities ever, which we designed especially with you in mind. Enjoy extended free site membership, discounted foreclosure and short sale educational programs and much more.

As always, we also invite you to check out the myriad free tools available on our site to help make your foreclosure and short sale searches a success. It would be just silly to miss our free On Demand webinars, free foreclosure listing alerts and everything else that we offer at absolutely no charge.

The November 2011 edition of Foreclosure.com’s free educational newsletter, “Investment Exchange,” is now available, which will help you uncover the unbelievable wealth that might just be waiting for you right around the corner — literally — thanks to an unprecedented package of discounted resources.

We’ve never offered such an amazing bundle of deals and zero-cost learning opportunities to kickstart the real estate investment careers of our website visitors. So, take advantage of the free, money-saving offers that we are gifting to you this holiday season before it’s too late.

And well before all the New Year “resolutioners” flood the market.

To read this month’s free educational newsletter from Foreclosure.com and cash-in on our limited-time holiday offerings CLICK HERE.

The $7 million home of super successful singer/songwriter, Rihanna, in Beverly Hills, Calif., is the subject of a real estate short sale, according to several published reports.

The Barbadian beauty closed on the newly-built, eight-room expanse back in 2009; however, it’s apparently been nothing but a money pit ever since she assumed ownership.

In fact, the “Umbrella” pop sensation, 23, recently filed a lawsuit against the homebuilder, alleging that poor construction has led to major flooding problems that have caused significant damage. As a result, she has listed the mansion on the market for $4.5 million and will “consider all offers,” meaning that she is willing to accept less than what is owed on the mortgage to expedite her exit.

Typically, the lender that holds the note is tasked with making those types of shortfall decisions; however, it’s unclear if the lawsuit, which names essentially every party involved in the transaction, including the selling agent, will have an impact on the eventual outcome.

Ironically, her decision to get out of dodge appears to coincide with her abusive ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, recently purchasing a $1.6 million home nearby. Brown, of course, was sentenced to five years probation and more than 1,400 hours in “labor-oriented service” for assaulting Rihanna back in 2009.

Sometimes things really do seem to happen for a reason.

Check out complete details of Rihanna’s water-logged short sale house after the jump (via RealEstalker):

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