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Dec 12, 2008 9:46 am US/Eastern
Wyclef Jean Home Hits Auction Block Friday
MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ―
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The home being built on Miami Beach looks like any other luxury home. But the property is in trouble. Wyclef Jean has sold 30 million albums, but apparently couldn't keep up with his mortgage.
The economic troubles crippling the pocketbooks of many Americans are even striking the celebrity community. Wyclef Jean's $2.4 million waterfront mansion in Miami Beach hits the auction block on Friday.
Even after selling 30 million albums, Jean couldn't keep up with payments for the property, and the waterfront mansion on Pine Tree Drive is now owned by a bank. The house is scheduled to be sold at the Miami-Dade Courthouse along with a handful of liens by the construction crews, who never finished, and more than $100 thousand in unpaid taxes.
CBS4's David Sutta first reported the news of Wyclef's home going into foreclosure earlier this year. At the time, neighbors said they were surprised by the news Jean was losing his place. "I really think he's a great musician and he's come a long way and gone through a lot in terms of his history and his life," said neighbor Sara Poses. "I don't know what the circumstances are, but I feel bad for him."
Jean's story is just the latest in a tidal wave of Florida foreclosures.
According to numbers from the Miami-Dade County Clerk's office, foreclosure fillings for November dropped from October's numbers. But, the small drop didn't outweigh the fact that in 2008, foreclosures have almost doubled what they were in 2007.
In 2008, almost 51 thousand mortgages have entered foreclosure in Miami-Dade County alone, and that's only 11 months worth of data. In all of 2007, almost 27 thousand mortgages went into foreclosure. Just to show how quickly the South Florida real estate market bubble exploded, in 2005, there were only 78 hundred foreclosure filings for the entire year.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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