On Donald Trump’s realty television show “The Apprentice,” the tough-talking, no-nonsense real estate tycoon has very little patience for excuses from his batch of whiny, ego-centric job candidates. But even the Donald makes exceptions.
Los Angles Times staff writer, Ann Brenoff, reported last week, that Trump has agreed to buy Ed McMahon’s foreclosed Beverly Hills home for an undisclosed amount and allow the retired TV personality to remain on his property.
The Wall Street Journal reported in June that McMahon was $644,000 behind on a $4.8 million loan for a home in Beverly Hills. McMahon, who has lived in the 6-bed, 5-bathroom mansion for 18 years, was facing foreclosure within two weeks. The 85-year-old McMahon has told reporters that he fell behind on payments after he was unable to work due to a serious neck injury last year.
Struggling to sell
Recon Trust, a division of Countrywide Financial, filed a notice of default related to the loan of the home on Feb. 28. Earlier in the year, Forbes.com reported that McMahon’s 7,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home was put on the market in July 2006 for $7.7 million. He had since dropped the price not once, but three times, and the property was last listed at $4.6 million. McMahon purchased the house in 1990 for $2.6 million, according to public records.
McMahon has been among a growing list of celebrities, facing foreclosure on their homes this year. In a similar gesture of goodwill from high profile Hollywood celebs, last month jazz vocalist Ernestine Anderson’s home was rescued from foreclosure thanks in part to her musician friends, legendary songwriter Quincy Jones and contemporary jazz artist Diane Schuur. More than $43,000 poured in from donations from Anderson’s fans and friends, just in time to keep her home off the auction block.