Desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.

But in the case of a 45-year-old distressed homeowner from San Diego, Calif., he likely took his pending foreclosure case way too far.

He seems to have gone over a cliff, actually.

The unidentified individual apparently “created a phony court document and signed a judge’s name” to avoid foreclosure on his Mission Valley home, according to the Los Angeles Times. It appears that the name of the judge who he used was real, however, he sent the forged documents to the lender in regard to a civil suit that didn’t even exist.

Talk about poor planning.

The good news is that he struck a plea deal with the prosecutor under which he would not ask for a jail sentence more than 90 days. The bad news is that the judge who rules on the case doesn’t have to agree and can sentence him to a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Hopefully, he’s not golfing buddies with the judge whose name was forged. Eek.

Foreclosure on the set of “The Real Housewives” reality series is reaching epidemic proportions.

The latest victim is Orange County’s Peggy Tanous, whose $1.6 million Irvine, Calif., home  is the subject of a recent foreclosure filing, according to The Orange County Register.

She filed a financial hardship counter claim, saying that she is having money problems and must be considered for a loan modification before her lender can repossess the home.

If nothing else, the legal maneuver will likely delay the public foreclosure auction, which was booked for May 17, 2011.

As mentioned earlier, this is not the first time that someone from “The Real Housewives” has had to face the possibility of losing her home to foreclosure.

Alexis Bellino was saved with a loan modification, as well as Jeana Keough. Tamra Barney was able to unload her upside-down home via a short sale and Teresa Guidice filed for bankruptcy.

We’ll pass along more information on Tanous’ foreclosure situation as it becomes available.

To read all about these lovely ladies, as well as other celebrity types, and their real estate-related issues click here.

It’s been nearly two years since the untimely death of the “King of Pop.”

And to date little is known about the fate of Michael Jackson’s sprawling 2,676-acre Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, Calif., in ritzy Santa Barbara County.

Will it be turned into a museum/tourist attraction like Elvis Presley’s “Graceland” in Tennessee?

Check out the latest Neverland update from Tom Barrack of Colony Capital, which entered into a joint venture with Jackson shortly before his death to save it from foreclosure.

Here is what he had to say (via Bloomberg.com):
Read the rest of this entry »

Foreclosure, loan modification and now, finally (we think), a short sale.

That’s the wild real estate ride that Alexis Bellino — from the “Real Housewives of Orange County” — and her husband Jim have taken with their Newport Beach, Calif., mansion over the last year.

Orange County Register reports that the Bellinos recently unloaded their cushy six-bedroom, five-bathroom luxurious property for a cool $3 million, which is $395,000 less than the asking price, in a short sale transaction.

The identity of the bargain buyer was not revealed in the article, but he or she was represented by Banker Previews International.

And based on the description of home, which sits on a 9,135-square foot double lot, it appears that the new owner got a relative steal.

Here are just some of the many features:

Read the rest of this entry »

Things continue to go from bad to worse for one of the biggest busts in the history of the National Football League (NFL) draft, JaMarcus Russell.

MSN.com reports that Russell, the first overall pick out of LSU in 2007, is facing foreclosure on his $2.4 million mansion in Oakland, California. He allegedly failed to make more than $195,000 in recent mortgage payments.

That may seem like a lot of money, but it’s really not all that much compared to the ridiculous $60 million contract he signed with the Raiders coming out of college just four years ago.

Perhaps Russell — who was recently cut by the Raiders because of his poor play on the gridiron — is cutting his own losses to prepare for a life that doesn’t include a bright future in football.

In 25 starts with the Raiders, according to ProFootballTalk.com, Russell, who has battled the waistline bulge, completed just 354 of 680 passes (52.1%) for 4,083 yards, with 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. He was also sacked 70 times and fumbled 25 times.

We might be adding one more completion to that list, a foreclosure, if Russell can’t get current on the payments owed to his lender.