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Michael Jackson might lose Neverland Ranch after being delinquent on $23 million loan payments.

Michael Jackson, once “King of Pop” is at risk of losing his 2,800 acres Neverland Ranch in California due to delinquent loan payments.

Jackson owed $23,212,963.00 on a $23,000,000.00 loan he took out in April 14, 2006, according to a foreclosure and notice of default report posted online by the California branch of Fidelity National Financial insurance company.

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Neverland Ranch is 2,800 acres, is located in Los Olivos, Santa Barbara county about 125 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Notice of Default in California are usually issued when a homeowner misses their third payment.

The eccentric music legend has been struggling to rebuild his career following his acquittal for child molestation charges in 2005.

Jackson left the property in June 2005 after being acquitted of the child molestation charges and has been living in Bahrain, Europe and Las Vegas in the western US state of Nevada.

In mid-July, Jackson was ordered to pay more than $256,000 dollars in overdue fees to a California law firm he employed for work connected to his sex abuse trial.

Technorati Tags: Michael Jackson, Neverland Ranch

Led by strong growth in the office and retail segments, commercial property sales hit $401 billion through Oct. 18, outpacing last year’s $359 billion total, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York based real-estate research firm.

Construction spending on office buildings, shopping centers and other private, nonresidential projects jumped 15.2 percent in August, the Commerce Department said last month.

There are some signs of slowing growth, analysts say, but nothing compared to the residential real estate market, where foreclosures and mortgage defaults are still rising rapidly, mainly from subprime mortgages extended to risky borrowers. Most economists forecast further declines in home sales and prices, making it “the most significant current risk to our economy,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said last week.

The commercial market has not been dragged down by the residential mortgage mess because for the most part, buyers and sellers are more sophisticated, and they have more financial flexibility and resources to ride out credit-market turmoil, experts said.

“It’s a different animal than the nonresidential construction business with the direct relationship between banks and business leaders, not banks and homeowners,” said Bernard Baumohl, managing director of The Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, N.J.

If the broader economy stumbles, the commercial real estate market would be vulnerable to “credit-risk contagion,” Wheaton said. Already, the credit crunch that started in mortgages has spread to other markets, including the commercial market, with some sellers asking for more capital upfront when mortgage-backed assets are financing a transaction.

Technorati Tags: Commercial Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate Market

Standard & Poor’s went on a rate-slashing spree on homebuilders Friday

On Friday S&P cut its credit ratings on five homebuilders after
recent quarterly earnings and economic data showed the housing market
deteriorating.

The ratings agency lowered D.R. Horton
(nyse:DHI -news -people). Lennar(nyse:LEN -news -people), and Pulte Homes(nyse:PHM -news - people) to non-investment grade or “junk” status.

It also lowered Centex(nyse:CTX -news -people) to the brink of junk and lowered Standard Pacific(nyse:SPF -news -people)’s ratings as well.

It changed the outlook on Ryland Group(nyse:RYL -news -people) to “negative” from “stable,” which raises the company’s chances of having its ratings lowered in the next two years.

S&P said the homebuilding sector’s problems have been “exacerbated by rising inventory levels, the sharp decline in nonconforming mortgage products, and the determinedly negative sentiment of even well-qualified consumers.”

Ratings, which indicate a company’s ability to repay its debt obligations, determine the cost to a company of borrowing money.

Technorati Tags: Home Builders, Lennar, Pulte Homes

In its October report, the association predicts 5.78 million existing homes will be sold in 2007, down from 6.48 million last year. Last month, the association predicted an 8.6 percent drop from a year ago.

This year’s sales would be the lowest since 2002, when sales hit 5.63 million.

Sale prices for existing homes are forecast to drop 1.3 percent to a median of $210,200 this year — a slight improvement from last month’s prediction of a 1.7 percent decline. The median price refers to the point where half sold for more and half for less.

Next year, the trade group expects existing home sales to climb to 6.12 million. That is 2.4 percent lower than last month’s prediction.

New home sales are projected to fall to 805,000 this year down 23 percent from 1.05 million last year. If that forecast is accurate, it would be the worst year since 1997, when 804,000 newly constructed homes were sold. In 2008, 752,000 new home sales are expected.

Despite the bleaker outlook, the group maintains an optimistic message. Its senior economist, Lawrence Yun, noted in a statement that markets including Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City and Raleigh N.C. are showing price growth and 2007’s home sales will be the fifth-highest on record.

“The speculative excesses have been removed from the market and home sales are returning to fundamentally healthy levels, while prices remain near record highs, reflecting favorable mortgage rates and positive job gains,” Yun said.

Existing single-family home sales dropped 4.3 percent in August, compared with the previous month, to the slowest sales pace in five years, according to the Realtors group.

The housing market has been battered by the steepest downturn in 16 years, as measured by the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller index that covers housing prices in major U.S. cities. Problems were exacerbated in August by turmoil in credit markets, reflecting new worries about rising mortgage defaults.

The median U.S. existing home price edged up slightly in August to $224,500, an increase of 0.2 percent from August 2006. It marked the first year-over-year price increase after a record 12 straight months of declining prices.

Technorati Tags: Realtors, Real Estate Market Forecast

Residents impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles and Orange counties will get more time to pay some taxes or file tax documents.

Residents who live in any counties declared a federal disaster area — including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino and Ventura — will be given extensions on tax returns, payments or other tax transactions due on or after Oct. 21.

Those taxpayers will automatically receive postponements until Jan. 31, 2008. The postponement includes the estimated tax payment for the fourth quarter, which is normally due on Jan. 15.

“The last thing victims of these fires need to worry about is taxes,” said state Controller and Franchise Tax Board Chairman John Chiang. “We want to give people time to focus on putting their lives back together.”

People impacted by the fires can claim a disaster loss in the current tax year, or can file an amended 2006 tax return to claim the loss in the prior year — which can result in a quick refund payment. Fire victims can also receive free copies of state tax returns to replace lost or damaged ones by completing Form FTB 3516 and printing “Southern California Wildfires 2007″ in red at the top of the request.

The state Board of Equalization has set up a Web site designed to provide answers to frequently asked questions wildfire victims may have about fees and taxes.

California Franchise Tax Board
www.ftb.ca.gov

California Board of Equalization
www.boe.ca.gov/info/disaster-relief-faq.

Technorati Tags: California Tax, CA BOE,