Why are seemingly rich and powerful stars such as Nicolas Cage, LaToya Jackson, Toni Braxton and Stephen Baldwin, among others, having foreclosure problems?

Forbes offers an explanation:

NOLA.com has the latest local scoop:

“Regions Bank paid $2.3 million for Cage’s 10,300-square-foot property at 1140 Royal St. known as the LaLaurie mansion. Regions also paid $2.2 million for Cage’s 13,200-square-foot mansion at 2523 Prytania St. Regions Bank had foreclosed on the properties for unpaid mortgage debts.”

Cage — who has been among the top earning “A-List” actors in Hollywood for years — has attributed his recent financial troubles on “an incompetent business manager.”

The Academy Award winner reportedly owes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) more than $6 million in unpaid taxes.

For more on Cage, including his recent brush with foreclosure and vast real estate portfolio, click here. Remember to also check out our comprehensive “Celebrity Foreclosure” archive right here.

Six-time Grammy Award-winning singer, Toni Braxton, is facing foreclosure on a 2,306-square-foot condominium unit in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif., which she purchased for $725,000 in 1996.

Braxton, who is perhaps most well known for her smash hit “Un-Break My Heart” in the mid 1990s, reportedly defaulted on a Bank of America mortgage loan on the property, which is located at 10120 Empyrean Way. She must pay $12,503.20 or risk losing it to the bank.

This is not the first time that the 40-something diva has run into financial problems.

She filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 1998 because of a reported $3.9 million debt. In addition, City National Bank (CNB) recently leveled a $900,000 lawsuit against Braxton, citing “breach of contract.” Lloyds of London, too, has countersued the chart topper in response to a cancellation of a string of shows.

Braxton has publicly battled pericarditis, a serious heart condition, for several years. She currently resides in a five-bedroom house in the Seven Hills area of Henderson, Nevada, as well as owns another 3,376-square-foot home in Alpharetta, Ga., according to Big Time Listings.

To check out Braxton’s foreclosure listing on Foreclosure.com click here.

Going once, going twice, SOLD! back to Chippewa Valley Bank of Wisconsin for $2.6 million.

That’s basically how the foreclosure auction went last week for Al Capone’s alleged 407-acre 1920s-era “hideout” in Couderay, Wisc., which was on the block after its previous owners defaulted on the mortgage.

Despite a Chicago-area advertising campaign (where Capone rose to fame and fortune more than 60 years ago as America’s most notorious gangster ever) to market the two-story stone lodge, it appears that no buyers were interested in plunking down bids.

Indeed, the bank that issued the $4.25 million mortgage back in 1959 officially repossessed and took ownership of the historic slice of backwoods real estate. There is currently no indication as to what will now happen to the property, according to a recent CNN.com report.

However, Leslie Strapon, assistant executive director of the Hayward Chamber of Commerce, holds out hope that it will remain a tourist destination.

Here’s a snip:

“Everyone is patiently waiting to see what’s going to happen with the place,” she said. “It would be nice if it fell into the hands of someone who was wiling to reopen and carry on the tradition [of hideout tours].”

We’ll keep you posted as soon as new details emerge regarding this unique listing on Foreclosure.com (click the link for pic and description).

Hollywood superstar Nicolas Cage owes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) more than $6 million in unpaid back taxes, according to People.com.

In addition to being an “A-list” actor, Cage is a prolific real estate collector. He owns multiple properties in Los Angeles, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as others in major cities such as New York, New Orleans, San Francisco and elsewhere.

However, he now has two outstanding tax liens attached to the portfolio — one that dates back to 2007 and another from 2002.

Cage actually sold a 28-room castle, Schloss Neidstein, which sits on 395 acres of forest in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, earlier this year because of what he described as a “difficult economic situation.” He is also reportedly shopping a $7 million island in the Bahamas.

The 45-year-old Academy Award winner was recently ranked 45 on “The 2009 Celebrity 100″ from Forbes.com, earning an estimated $40 million from June 2008 to June 2009.