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Got $100 Million? Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch Is Up For Sale

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 20:42 PST, May 28, 2015

If you have a cool $100 million handy, you could become the proud owner of Michael Jackson’s famous Neverland Ranch. The eccentric King of Pop’s former home is about to go under the hammer for any fan with the wherewithal to buy it.

Neverland Ranch encompasses a spacious 2,700 acre estate, including a six-bedroom Normandy-style home, measuring 12,000 square feet, servant’s quarters, a swimming pool with barbeque area, tennis and basketball courts and two lakes.

The interior also features a 50 seat cinema for those fun movie evenings. The cinema has a private viewing balcony and even a stage, which includes trap doors for use in magic shows, something the King of Pop was apparently fond of.

Apparently there are also a couple of guesthouses on the property, one with two bedrooms, the other with four, handy for those overnight guests.

You won’t find the amusement park rides that Neverland Ranch was once famous for, and the property no longer has the elephant and orangutans that used to be part of Michael Jackson’s home entourage, although there is still, apparently, a llama roaming the property.

Michael Jackson
The former zoo at Neverland Ranch

Reportedly in the past the Neverland Ranch even had its own fire department, but no longer. While the Neverland Valley Fire Department building still exists, there’s no one manning it.

The property does, however, still have its own train station and railroad tracks, pictured below.

Michael Jackson
Train station at Neverland Ranch

Back when Jackson bought the estate, he paid a mere $19.5 million and lived there for over 15 years. However, according to the Guardian, when experiencing financial difficulties Michael Jackson defaulted on a $24.5 million loan which was guaranteed by the property.

Back in 2008, real estate investment company, Colony Capital, bought the note for $23 million and formed a joint venture with Jackson. The company spent millions on upgrades, planning on eventually selling Neverland Ranch to the highest bidder.

Now it seems this is happening, as according to the Wall Street Journal, Sotheby’s International Realty and Hilton & Hyland are both involved in the sale of Neverland Ranch.

However, Jeffrey Hyland warned fans not to get too excited about the sale. Hyland said the agents will be doing “extensive prequalification” of potential buyers before even showing them the property.

“Our seller is not encouraging a lot of showings.”

Suzanne Perkins, representing Sotheby’s, added, “We’re not going to be giving tours.” So people mustn’t think they can do a Sunday tour of the house just for fun.

Located around 40 miles away from Santa Barbara in California, Neverland Ranch has since been renamed “Sycamore Valley Ranch.” Presumably if a rich fan purchases Michael Jackson’s previous home, one could change the name back to Neverland Ranch again if he or she so desired.

Take a tour of Neverland Ranch, former home of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, in the video below.

Talking Michael Jackson, the Inquisitr recently treated us all to an audio compilation of every “grunt, squeal, moan, woo-hoo, hee-hee, sha-mone and every other inexplicable sound” made by Michael Jackson when singing his hit songs. Scary.

[Images: Neverland Ranch gates Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Shazari / Aerial view of zoo Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 John Wiley / Neverland Train Station Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Jw4nvc]

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