Fantasia Barrino Strikes Deal to Save $1.3 Million Home
Fantasia Barrino is no longer facing foreclosure on her $1.3 million home, attorneys for the American Idol winner have announced.
An auction of the six bedroom, 6,232-square-foot mansion in Charlotte, North Carolina was scheduled to take place Monday — but the American Idol winner struck a deal with her Florida-based creditors to keep her home for now. She could still lose it at a future auction if a settlement is not reached.
“Assuming the promised payments all get paid as indicated, we will be satisfied,” Larry Goldman, the lawyer representing lender Broward Energy Partners, told the New York Post. “I didn’t want to take her house.”
The 24-year-old still owes $65,000 — money she borrowed in 2006 to pay back taxes to the IRS. Her last payment of $10,000 was made in August 2007.
Barrino has agreed to a repayment plan, but the creditor’s lawyer didn’t release details.
“Reading between the lines, I’m assuming the money is not there or, at least, it’s not there in the short-term,” Goldman told the Post. “My client just wants to be paid.”
This isn’t the first time the 2004 Idol champ has faced foreclosure. In 2005, she nearly lost a 4,500-square-foot home in the same neighborhood. plus a $240,000 Mercedes. Both matters were resolved in court, although tax records show she owes $14,678 for that residence.
Barrino is mom to 7-year-old daughter Zion, whom she gave birth to when she was 16 years old. Her duet with Jennifer Hudson “I’m His Only Woman” is up for a Grammy next month, and her MySpace page says her next album is coming out this year.
The season-four winner’s lawyers and manager did not return calls to the Post.
