Neverland Saved From Auction Block

Canada

Neverland Saved From Auction Block

Mon., May. 12, 2008 6:52 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

AP Photo/Lois Bernstein

Never say Neverland.

The seemingly perpetually indebted Michael Jackson narrowly escaped a foreclosure auction on his Neverland Ranch Sunday after the real-estate investment firm Colony Capital bought the loan to the property in a last-minute deal to save the estate.

The purchase of the 2,700-acre ranch was said to have set Colony back $23.5 million, and the company has wasted no time getting into discussions about possible repayment terms with the onetime king of pop, with founder Tom Barrack Jr. saying they were already speaking "with regard to the ranch and other matters."

A statement released by a Jackson spokesman said the singer was "pleased with recent developments involving Neverland" that would allow him to "focus on the future."

As it is, the Santa Barbara property was previously the domain of the Fortress Investment Group, who held the loan to the estate and who was set to auction off the sizable and infamous home—which, like Jackson himself, has seen better days—on May 14, after the star defaulted on a series of payments.

We're no financial planners, but he may want to go easy on the midnight Vegas shopping sprees for awhile.