Thursday, July 05, 2012

Oprah Bought Her Dad's Barber Shop


Oprah's father Vernon has been a barber for 50 years and had his own shop that entire time. last year he and Oprah's step mother bought a building and move the barber shop. The business then crashed and Oprah's dad was going to lose everything. Then at the foreclosure sale a woman named Oprah bid enough to keep the property in the family name. Vernon will be allowed to run the business but will report to Oprah for everything else. Well, it was nice of Oprah but I'm surprised she let it go to foreclosure unless she decided she wanted some good publicity and something to counteract the bad karma she is going to get from going on Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

39 comments:

it took forever said...

Why can't Oprah adopt me!

cheesegrater15 said...

That was a close shave for Daddy Winfrey.

timebob said...

*rimshot* for @Vicki LOL

At this point she will try to create a reality show out of Daddy Vernon. All the other shit shows she threw agains the wall didn't stick, why not this one.

luckylass said...

If she was really generous, she would have rescued it before it went into foreclosure and saved her Dad's credit and tax payers some money. But, by buying it at auction, she bought it for a fraction of the price. Shrewd.

Merlin D. Bear said...

It's going to take a lot more than saving Dad's barber shop to cancel out the Kartrashian karmic debt.
Personally, I'm not sure even Oprah has that kind of power.

The Black Cat said...

Maybe Oprah felt her Dad expected her to fix it for him. I would find it a burden if my family members expected a handout everytime they failed too.
Failure is part of life.

Amber said...

So it's kind of like when she gives the audience cars she didn't buy on her Favorite Things show and they all get F'd by taxes.

That Oprah - such a do-gooder!

Jolene Jolene said...

^YES, The Black Cat.

I don't think it's fair that just because you have money the financial responsibilities of your family and friends are automatically your responsibility, lest you be called selfish and not generous. That's completely and totally unfair.

With that being said, I'm glad she helped. I would have done the same thing if I had her kind of money. Yes, Oprah is made of money, but acting like it's just a given that she should fork it over every single time someone needs it is wrong. Honestly, people.

Baka Neko said...

Could her father not have told her till them?I know my dad would lose everything before he let me or my sister know he was in trouble.

FSP said...

Black Dina

Amber said...

LOL @ FSP

Agent**It said...

@vicki, "Close shave" ...

MontanaMarriott said...

Didn't her father abandon her and her mom leaving Oprah to be raised by relatives in the South? If that is the case her father should be lucky she still talks to him let alone buys him a building.

SaintsFan said...

If I were her dad, I would have rather lost everything than to be under Oprah's thumb for the rest of my life. Being that is says he will be allowed to run the business but have to report to Oprah for everything else...no thanks! I have a dad who tried to control me the way Oprah is doing and trust me, it's not worth it!

SkittleKitty said...

I'm going to give Daddy the benefit of the doubt (through it's more likely that he was expecting a bailout): Maybe his pride wouldn't let him ask Oprah for the assist until it was the last chance.

ChasingHeaven said...

Um, didn't her dad tell her never to come home pregnant and bring shame on the family not knowing she was pregnant at the time? He's lucky she's still willing to do something like this for him. On the other hand, maybe he didn't let her know, maybe he was too proud to accept her money, who knows what the real story is here. Oh and if Oprah wanted to give me a car, I wouldn't care about the taxes.

luckylass said...

The foreclosure process nowadays takes awhile. With her lawyers, she could have stopped it before the auction. Without lawyer intervention, it takes 1-2 years for it to go to auction. With lawyers, it can be 3-5+years. From my experience 75% of property auctions get cancelled.

If she knew about it, which she did since she bought it at auction, she could have saved it.

car54 said...

If I recall (this is from a yr or so ago when Oprah's secret sister came to light) her mother sent her to live with Vernon in Nashville when she became too wild for the mother to handle.

If I remember other times this has come up, Oprah has been fairly generous with her family but she is not particularly "close" with them.

I am betting the dad didn't want to ask for help until it was almost too late. My memory (from when I lived in Nashville when Oprah was first rising to fame) is that he is a very proud man and I don't think he has depended on her. I think she supports other family tho.

Patty said...

Maybe he wouldn't need a bailout if she didn't move his business in the first place.

Agent**It said...

@ luckylass , interesting !

I'm curious about what she paid at auction vs what she would have paid in foreclosure? I think their might be additional financial debt that he has accumulated.

luckylass said...

Agent**It: I want to disclose that I am not a lawyer or realtor, but have been watching foreclosure auctions in a few cities for some time now. For example, in Miami, I have seen business properties valued at 2 mil sell for $100. That settles the debt for one lender (home owner association, 1st mortgage, etc) But then the buyer is responsible for settling liens, old property taxes and any other additional mortgages associated with the property.

As a general rule, expect a 10-15% discount by buying at auction. But there is a lot of variation! Some are amazing deals and some are far from it.

Banks DO NOT want to foreclose, which is why so many auctions are cancelled and at the last minute with some intervention.

Agent**It said...

Thanks, that is interesting to me.

luckylass said...

You are welcome. You are in SoFl now, right? Many of the counties have auction sites now. In case you are interested to peruse, it is crazy. Here is Dade's: ttp://www2.miami-dadeclerk.com/MFS/

Another Josh said...

Let me guess. It's going to be called Oprah's Barbershop, and it's going to have a giant bronze statue of Skinny Oprah out front.

Agent**It said...

Thanks, I will look at it.

SashaJames2 said...

I think the dad raised her. If I had the kind of money Oprah has, I will change the lives of at least my immediate family. Charity does begin at home.

NomNom83 said...

I wouldn't be surprised if the foreclosure was kept from O by her dad, whom she gets along with but he might have wanted to spare her this worry, and another family member only caved and clued her in at the 11th hour.

There's nothing for her to gain by waiting until the 11th hour to "save" her dad's business. It makes her look heartless or, even worse, cheap to buy it at auction.

Interestingly, her dad and step-mom are currently divorcing, and I wonder how much StepMom has to do with this story even coming out. It just doesn't seem like Oprah's style to encourage this story.

luckylass said...

As usual there seems to be more to the story than I thought. She bought it for about the amount of money that was owed on it - which is good, since the bank won't have to write off too much.

But the stepmom wanted to save it from foreclosure and was trying to save it. She claims that Oprah was in cohoots with Dad to let it go. Now, Oprah owns it outright. And the divorcing stepmom is not entitled to any of it. Interesting!

Agent**It said...

@lucklass, Thanks!!!!

I always look at the money trail....That explains a lot.

CraftyGirl said...

The shop in question isn't his original barbershop but a new-ish mixed retail space that hasn't had any other tenants (that I've noticed). I live a few blocks away.

auntliddy said...

I dont think he wld let her help him, but i guess when in foreclosure, he finally let her. Probably killing him.

Sunny said...

@FSP
Nice

@Agent**it
Have you ever said EXACTLY what you used to do for a living? For some reason something with AMEX rings a bell, but you sound like an (interesting) jack of all trades :) Did you see my post how you "got me" when you claimed to be photo #1 today??

Agent**It said...

Yes, I did !Left you a comment which I'm sure I will delete. I can't exactly say what I did for a living, but I will when the last case goes to trial.

Live long enough, you will develop an interesting resume, sometimes by choice, and sometimes by sheer necessity !

Sunny said...

Ha, Agent! Well, I be the first in line to buy your book when you come to your senses and decide to write one. Good night :)

Sunny said...

Do you want me to delete my response comment in that other thread? I think I outed you, Lady :)

Anonymous said...

My favorite thing is Oprah. No it's not. I lied. I think Oprah should go buy and island and play survivor by herself

Agent**It said...

Thank you, no need:)

1Jazzimom said...

Maybe the plan was to make surestep mom didn't get any money from the sale...It has been said that she tried to "retire" him mamy years ago but he wanted to work and earn his own.

car54 said...

http://gawker.com/5924850/oprah-needs-to-have-a-couch-chat-with-herself-about-her-crazy-family

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