NBA stars present and past, Dwyane Wade and Alonzo Mourning, recently joined the foreclosure fight in South Florida, taking part in a roundtable discussion and bus tour that highlighted the growing foreclosure issue and how it’s affecting Miami communities.

HOPE NOW Alliance sponsored the Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida (NHSSF) event, which was designed to raise awareness of the housing crisis that has gripped the region, as well as promote the free foreclosure assistance resources that are currently available to cash-strapped homeowners.

Here’s a snip from Wade via the Miami Herald:

“It hurts my heart. I know it hurts everyone’s heart in here. I’m here to help bring awareness to this and to let everyone know that there is an opportunity for them, and that there is hope.”

Wade plays professional basketball for the local Miami Heat and is currently among the top talents in the league. Mourning — who played for the Heat on-and-off for about 10 seasons — retired in 2008 and is the only player to have his number retired by the organization.

Their collective star power and celebrity undoubtedly helped garner much-needed attention for a problem that needs fixing fast to reduce the amount of residents in the area losing their homes.

In addition to the roundtable discussion, Wade and Mourning participated in a bus tour, visiting distressed homeowners and educating them about their options such as renegotiating the terms of their loans. The pair, naturally, also posed for photos and signed autographs for fans at each stop.

According to the report, “Miami was the third stop on HOPE NOW’s nationwide ‘Bringing Hope Home’ bus tour. Earlier this year, the caravan rolled through Newark, New Jersey, with Queen Latifah and Wyclef Jean, and Atlanta, featuring Mary J. Blige and Big Boi.”

Keep the wheels on that foreclosure bus turning round and round ….

“The King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, suddenly died today at the age of 50 as a result of cardiac arrest. His passing has and will unearth myriad issues throughout his successful — albeit checkered — career in the days, months and years ahead.

One topic that has been popular around here has been his real estate portfolio, including his sprawling Neverland Ranch estate located in Los Olivos, Calif., which he nearly lost to foreclosure in 2008.

Despite his tremendous success for nearly a half-century, during which he amassed a jaw-dropping personal fortune that most rich people can’t even fathom, Jackson was reportedly $500 million in debt.

He was a big spender.

And he poured countless dollars into Neverland, which he purchased for $19.5 million in 1987, to turn it into a giant playground, featuring “two railway lines, two helicopter pads, its own fire department, a zoo and a plethora of amusement-style rides,” according to MSN Money.

When all was said and done the property cost an estimated $10 million or more per year to maintain.

It was eventually too much to handle and Jackson defaulted on a $24.5 million loan. He avoided foreclosure by selling Neverland to a real estate investment company, Colony Capital, that entered into a joint venture with Jackson to renovate and re-sell it.

Talk about an incredible investment — Neverland will more than likely now fetch a tremendous return with Jackson’s passing. Unless, of course, it is turned into a museum to honor his memory.

Whatever happens … all eyes will eventually shift toward co-owner Colony Capital to see what the investors plan to do with the property as the many layers of this story get peeled back over time.

Stephen Baldwin is perhaps the latest Hollywood celebrity to fall into foreclosure trouble, according to an Associated Press report.

Court records indicate that the recently ousted contestant on NBCs, “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” reality television program and his wife, Kennya, have defaulted on more than $824,000 in mortgage payments to their lender, Bankers Trust Co.

As a result, their 1.4-acre Old Mountain Road home in Rockland County, N.Y., which the couple purchased for $515,000 in 1997, is scheduled to go up for public auction on June 24, 2009.

The good news is that Brad Taylor, Baldwin’s representative, told People.com shortly after the report surfaced that the family will more than likely not lose the home to foreclosure when all is said and done.

Here’s a snip:

“Stephen is presently going through a legal situation regarding his mortgage and that situation is still in process. No auction will be happening and all things related to this matter are being handled by his legal representation.”

Baldwin, 43, is the youngest of the famous Baldwin brothers. The actor is perhaps more well known for his recent exploits on the reality television circuit rather than his roles on the silver screen, appearing in “Celebrity Mole Hawaii,” “Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge” and “Celebrity Apprentice.”

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on the status of Baldwin’s developing foreclosure situation. In the meantime, check out several other celebrity foreclosure-related stories in our archive right here.

Taking a page out of her late father’s playbook, Victoria Gotti has found a way out of trouble … albeit a very different kind of trouble.

The daughter of the notorious Gambino crime family boss, John Gotti, was facing foreclosure on her six-bedroom Long Island mansion in Old Westbury, N.Y., which was the setting for Growing Up Gotti” — a popular reality series that aired on A&E.

She owed her lender, JP Morgan Chase, about $650,000 and had not paid her mortgage in more than two years, citing financial turmoil that stemmed from divorcing ex-husband Carmine Agnello. That should perhaps come as no surprise, considering Agnello still owes the federal government about $7 million as the result of a racketeering judgment against him back in 2001.

So Gotti and government officials recently struck a deal under which she would purchase 11 commercial properties that were were once owned by Agnello, according to the New York Daily News. She will now be responsible for selling the properties to pay off the outstanding balance on her mortgage, as well as help satisfy Agnello’s debt.

This latest development is hopefully the final chapter in a foreclosure-related story that dates back to 2005.

Victoria Gotti — the daughter of the notorious late Gambino crime family boss John Gotti — recently received bad news about the status of her six-bedroom Long Island mansion in Old Westbury, N.Y., which is situated on six acres in an “exclusive enclave.”

NYDailyNews.com has the scoop:

“[Gotti] owes JPMorgan Chase about $650,000 and hasn’t made a payment in two years…. A four-judge panel of the Brooklyn Appellate Division has granted the lender’s motion for summary judgment on the foreclosure….”

The reason provided for the default is that Gotti has been mired in a messy divorce from ex-husband Carmine Agnello who, according to the report, has failed to pay court-ordered child support for their three children. In addition, Agnello allegedly took out a $856,000 loan against the home several years ago and stuck Gotti with the bill without her knowing about it.

Here is her take on the situation:

“I won a house that was a booby prize riddled with debt…. [Agnello] still owes the federal government nearly $10 million and yet they still allow him to live this way?”

This is not the first time Gotti has faced foreclosure on the home — back in 2005 she agreed to pay the bank “$50,000 up front and $25,000 a month” to rescue it from repossession. Those payments, however, did not last long.

Aside from being John Gotti’s daughter, Victoria is perhaps best known for her role on “Growing Up Gotti,” which was a popular reality series that aired on A&E that followed her hectic life, raising and dealing with her three teen-aged sons, Carmine, John and Frank. The show was canceled in 2005.

Gotti — who was also a gossip columnist at the New York Post and for Star magazine — has been trying to sell the home for several years for about $3 to $4 million. She has not had much luck, but that will hopefully change soon before losing it altogether.