Mischa Barton is about to lose the home where she has lived for just about a decade. You don't just walk away from someplace after living there that long unless you are having severe financial issues. Her $20K a month mortgage is becoming too much to pay which is not shocking considering she only makes a couple of movies a year and gets paid less than $150K per movie. Actually, she gets a paid a little less than that. Seems like a lot of money, and it is, but not when you are facing that kind of monthly bill. Plus that does not take into account agent commissions, publicity, management, taxes and losing a ton of money on the stores she decided to open to sell clothes. That was a ridiculous move because she opened them in London but lives in Los Angeles. Yes, I know she grew up a bit in London, but why open your first store a 12 hour flight from where you live? The modeling gigs she used to have to supplement her income are gone. Also gone is her common sense. She has tried to sell her home for a massive profit because she probably took out a bunch of home equity loans when the market was high and needs to sell it for a profit to pay the money back. When your house is on the market for years, it is probably a good idea to lower the asking price.
20K a month is kerazy. She shoulda bought something! ! Plus I still only think of Cisco Adler's balls when I see her. Huh. All these years later
ReplyDeleteWhoops! I read that as rent, which made zero sense to me. Although mortgage and rent look exactly the same, word-wise. It's the phonics that make the difference
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DeleteTTM
DeleteI will never ever able to forget Ciscos balls.
Ug. My eyes :-/
Wow. 20 grand a month? I didn't know she ever made that kind of bank.
ReplyDeleteokay so it seems as though the ONLY shocking thing about this story (or the only important factoid) is that she pays 20 GRAND A MONTH!
ReplyDeleteho..lee..cow
So now maybe she'll have to get a small rental apartment and a regular 9-5 job.
ReplyDeleteOh the horror.
Thanks for reminding me of Cisco, TTM. I was perfectly happy going about my life, not remembering why I knew his name. lol
ReplyDeleteIt was the smile that sold it, Stew! You're welcome!
DeleteShit, i thought mine was a bit high
ReplyDeleteWow, she looks just like someone I went to school with, RIP Cecil.
ReplyDeleteI looked up Mischa' s house because....holy shit, 20 thou a month!?
I have been saying for years that IF celebs used that mansion buying money to buy a solid CRE NNN Investment, they would be better off in the long term.
ReplyDeleteInstead of a paying a monthly $20,000 mortgage bill, they would be earning $20,000 a month in income. BUT, that lure of a Beverly Hills mansion is too desirable to pass up -- I guess.
How big IS this place...20k... Is this expensive in the Cali realty market?
ReplyDeleteYes Steamie. CA has very expensive small homes. In the Bay Area it's THE most expensive place to buy per sq ft. Neighbors to my mother in law sold their house at like $200k over asking price for close to $2M. They're not wealthy people by any stretch. It's crazy and people will cut a bitch for a house.
DeleteAah how they fall. She was the it girl and now she is the can't get a gig girl. Perhaps she should have headed to Ibiza and visted a couple of boats instead.
ReplyDeleteTTM you're on a roll!
ReplyDeleteCiscos balls are some serious tea bags.
I wish I could erase the image
Right, It's been years and those rear view mirror clankers just won't go away!
DeleteI remember reveals about her letting her dogs run wild & crapping all over the place & clothes all over the place. Probably part of the reason she can't sell it.
ReplyDelete@Jessica
DeleteI thought that was Paris.
Did not know that. Yuck.
She should have gone the Lauren Conrad route.
ReplyDelete@david, what exactly is a CRE NNN investment?
ReplyDelete@David: You and your financial literacy can just get out (I kid!)
ReplyDeleteWe've seen celebs go broke and earn it all back before. Mischa can do this. But she needs to get her priorities in order and scale down her living. You can go into massive debt keeping up with the Joneses while everyone knows it's fake, or simplify and hold your head up as being responsible. Anyone who gives you shit for that should be cut out of your life. It's not worth the stress, shame and lies.
Truth be told the market is back up and she will probably get that manse sold. For what she has it actually looks like a good buy for someone. A 3000sq ft guest house? Shit that right there is worth $2M of it. Good time to sell.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago i saw shelly winters on inside actors studio. Prob first season or whatever. Anyway she always seemed off her nut but boy, when it came to her craft, she was very intelligent. She said she never bought the movie star lifestyle- the fancy house, big car or anybof that stuff because after a while you are just taking jobs to support your lifestyle, which has nothing to do with your craft. I thought that was very wise.
ReplyDeleteStupid girl has been living well above her means for years. She should have sold that house a year after the OC was canceled.
ReplyDeleteWho needs a house that big anyway?
AJ, Paris is the one who has dogs starve in her closet.
ReplyDeleteI have always liked her---she is no Meryl Streep but I think she is a unique beauty and interesting to watch on screen
ReplyDelete8 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms? Why buy a house that big?
ReplyDelete$20K a month is $240K a year. At 6-8% interest that is a $3-$4 million dollar mortgage. That isn't particularly huge by Beverly Hills standards, especially if you're financing a house with little or no equity. Admittedly her interest rates could be lower but, if she hasn't been making payments, penalties would pile up. I think a lot of "financial advisors" to performers encourage them to highly mortgage on the assumption that the interest is deductible from their highly taxed performing income. That may make sense but only (a) if your career continues to generate income and (b) you invest the tax savings wisely. Fashion boutiques don't qualify as "wise"
ReplyDeleteDoesn't she have a successful handbag and accessories line in the UK? How cone Enty doesn't know this?
ReplyDeleteI've always thought she was extremely plain, with stringy hair and an unfortunate shape. She would be pretty enough in a small town, but in Hollywood she never made sense. Oh and she has terrible fashion sense. How can someone who dresses like a blind person (no offense to blind people, they probably don't even dress that bad) own clothing stores? No wonder she's broke. She doesn't have a good personality either, there was some show with some British lady that followed her around, and she was horrible! Didn't she also get her sister hooked on heroin and pimp her out? Terrible!
ReplyDelete@Steampunk Jazz
ReplyDelete"Rear view mirror clankers"! Brilliant.
sheesh. I don't even get 20,000 moolah in a year.
ReplyDeleteNot only is she not paying her mortgage but she's also not paying her taxes. She owes over $200K in property tax. Usually it takes a couple of years of being in default before the tax people file suit.
ReplyDelete@Astra---yeah the infamous Fern Cotton interview! I saw that---at least she was uh entertaining in a crazy way----I always assumed the house they were filming at was her parents---guess it was hers
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for her. Much of her problems are the result of mental illness it seems. So she is more a Britney than a Lindsay (though who would deny that that girl has some sort of mental illness to continue on that path?). I have a good career move for Mischa that will bring in guaranteed $$$: Dancing with the Stars. She can be Val's next partner.
ReplyDeleteAnd people gave shit to Chris Colfer for buying a house that cost 700 or 800 grand because it was too cheap...
ReplyDeleteThe last time I saw her in anything it was some made-for-TV movie where her Internet boyfriend was stalking her. Cheesy as hell, horribly cheap, looked like it was filmed in 1991 (except for the Internet part). No wonder she can't hang onto that house.
ReplyDeleteReally my main memory of this girl is that time she went shopping and wore a shirt that looked like a diaper.
People Magazine said she took out a $4.2 million loan against the house a few years ago. So she basically has no equity. She was probably under water during the recession.
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth did she need $4.2 million for? And why does a single woman need an 8 bedroom mansion?
She could almost make her vig on airbnb.com these days.
She, like most people, have family and friends that visit for extended periods. Also, some of these celebrities rent their guest house(s).
ReplyDelete