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I always loved the old "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" show hosted by Robin Leach. As we all know sometimes even the rich and famous take a financial hit. I even saw Robin doing an Old Navy commercial the other day. It must be hard to keep up those "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" when the economy tanks.

 

I ran across some celeb. real estate losses on one of my favorite websites and thought I would share them with you.

Today's Top 10 homes spotlight at www.toptenrealestatedeals.com/ includes a look at Oprah Winfrey's Chicago real estate mistake. Like many Americans, Oprah bought the home when prices were booming and is selling when prices are in the pits. Oprah purchased the 1913 Beaux-Arts style condo with beautiful views of Lake Michigan in 2006 for $5.6 million, then put it on the market in 2008 for $6 million. For a while she offered it as a rental for $15,000 per month. Today it’s listed for sale at $2.8 million.

Another celebrity real estate miscalculation belongs to Eddie Murphy. He has been trying to sell his New Jersey home for eight years and it looks like he finally has a buyer. Eddie bought the house for $3 million then went hog wild adding another 15,000 square feet to it. It has everything including a bowling alley, recording studio, pool, racketball court, tennis court, screening room, pool and child’s gym. He first put it on the market in 2004 at $30 million. That was the beginning of the real estate land slide that would eventually bring the price down to its final painful selling price of $12 million - an $18 million loss.

Also, Ryan Seacrest bought Ellen DeGeneres' home and is selling his House of Peace in the Hollywood Hills for $11.985 million, a 1.4 acre island on the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers, Florida is going to auction on June 7th, and a Georgetown townhouse that was part of the east coast route of the Underground Railroad is for sale at $7.9 million.

It certainly looks like the more you spend on property the more you can lose if you fail to use your financial brain. These stories make me feel a bit better about taking a $5,000 loss on a rental property in Kentucky. I'll stick with Bourbon Wishes and BBQ Dreams.

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