News recently cropped up that another celebrity foreclosure was in the works, naming Grammy Award-winning singer a cultural icon, Aretha Franklin, as the defendant.

Apparently, the “Queen of Soul” was recently informed that her expensive mansion located in Detroit, Mich., was on the verge of foreclosure because of $162.14 in unpaid taxes dating back to 2005, according to Reuters.com.

Talk about no r-e-s-p-e-c-t.

Fortunately, Franklin’s publicist mentioned in the report that the situation appears to have been resolved. That’s great news, of course, for Franklin, as well as the “Motor City,” which has one of the more troubling foreclosure rates in the nation.

For more celebrity foreclosure-related news click here.

The sprawling 2,500-acre estate called “Neverland Ranch” owned by pop music icon, Michael Jackson, is set to go up for sale for more than $24.5 million at a public foreclosure auction on March 19 in Santa Barbara County, Calif., according to MSN.com.

We’ve been monitoring this process since about November 2007 when Jackson initially defaulted on the mortgage loan — he owes the lender approximately $24 million.

To check out the listing on Foreclosure.com click here.

Here’s the latest update on the situation:

“Financial Title Co. filed the notice of trustee’s sale with Santa Barbara County Superior Court, setting the auction date for March 19. Court documents … warn Jackson that he has until the date of the auction to take action to keep his lavish estate.”

It’s interesting to note that the foreclosure filing indicates that everything in the estate will be included in the sale if it happens, from the merry-go-round to locomotives to sculptures.

Neverland Ranch will not, however, come equipped zoo animals — Jackson reportedly sold most of his exotic pets to Lake Powell Waterworld months ago.

They’re HIStory … and his mansion could be next.

Michael Jackson is not the only celebrity facing a possible foreclosure.

Three-time National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star, Latrell Sprewell, is in danger of losing his half-million dollar home in River Hills, Wisconsin, according to USA Today. The report indicates that the former Golden State Warrior, New York Knick and Minnesota Timberwolve has not paid his $2,593 mortgage since September 2007.

Sprewell — who played 13 seasons in the league — earned an annual salary of $14.6 million in the final year of his career.

This is not the first time Sprewell is up against foreclosure. Last summer he defaulted on a $1.5 million yacht mortgage and lost the vessel at a public auction (it sold for $865,000).

It just goes to show once again that no one is immune to foreclosure — it can happen to anyone at anytime.

(Except for maybe Bill Gates and a handful of other zillionaires.)

Even the rich and famous are not immune from foreclosure situations.

Case in point: Pop superstar and cultural musical icon since the late 1960s, Michael Jackson, is in jeopardy of losing his sprawling 2,800-acre Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, Calif., to the lender, which recently filed a notice of default in the amount of $23 million.

We sift through countless distressed nationwide real estate listings each and every day. In fact, at press time we had more than 1.5 million listings currently available on Foreclosure.com.

With this massive volume of accurate data it is hard to point out each and every instance. We’ve been doing it more and more with our “Deal of the Day.”

However, we felt compelled to pass along this latest news of the Jackson foreclosure to illustrate that unexpected situations constantly emerge that can trigger a default notice — and it can happen to anyone.

To check out the listing on Foreclosure.com at 5225 Figueroa Mountain Road in Santa Barbara County click here.

It’s important to note that this property is in preforeclosure. Indeed, Jackson still owns it and the bank has not repossessed it … yet. In fact, he has about 120 days (February 2008) to bring the loan current and stop foreclosure.

On the other hand, an independent investor can also work out a deal with Jackson and the bank in the next few months to purchase the ranch while it’s in preforeclosure. He no longer lives there, which means that it may be possible to settle for far less than the $23 million owed to the lender.

Who knows …. someone could be in for a real “Thriller.” That’s because there is no telling if the elephants, giraffes and other animals, as well as the high-end toys that could be included in a package deal.