Hey-ooo! Ed McMahon's Housing Crisis

Australia

Hey-ooo! Ed McMahon's Housing Crisis

Wed., Jun. 4, 2008 9:05 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

AP Photo / Tammie Arroyo

Wheeeeeeere's Johnny? Ed McMahon could use a loan about now.

Johnny Carson's longtime right-hand man is facing foreclosure on his Beverly Hills mansion after falling $644,000 behind on payments for mortgage loans totaling $4.8 million.

The 85-year-old's rep, Howard Bragman, said McMahon fell behind on his housing payments after breaking his neck 18 months ago. He hasn't been able to work since.

On Feb. 28, Countrywide Financial Corp. filed a default notice with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office over the former Star Search host's nonpayment of the loans. While the Tonight Show sidekick initially borrowed $4.5 million from the property, he later took out an additional $300,000 loan against the home.

Bragman told the Los Angeles Times that while McMahon and his wife, Pamela, have been in "very fruitful discussions" with Countrywide, it's unclear whether they will remain in the home much longer.

Bragman, however, made clear McMahon wasn't simply looking for a handout.

"The ideal situation would be that he would be healthy and be able to earn a living to pay for this house."

As it is, the six-bedroom, five-bath home, located in the gated—and star-studded—Summit community, has been on the market for the past two years and is currently listed at $6.25 million (despite the $5.75 million price tag on the online listing).

According to the home's listing agent Alex Davis, however, the caliber of neighbors around the home is part of the problem of unloading it—for those for whom the area does not immediately ring a bell, the community has served as ground zero for Britney Spears' public and hyper-chronicled travails.

"In the midst of trying to sell this property, there were a lot of distractions," Davis told the Times. "When we were trying to sell the house one time, there were about 100 paparazzi there."

Well, if any of them are in the market...