The marriage of Kobe and Vanessa Bryant has been tabloid fodder for years, but the press has been especially busy covering the details of their recent divorce settlement. It seems that even a couple who started their relationship with all the promise of a genuinely sweet love story — they met as teens, fell in love, and got married, famously without a prenuptial agreement because Kobe “loved [Vanessa] too much — could not get the happy ending they clearly, at one point, really wanted. They were married in the spring of 2001.

This past December, Vanessa Bryant filed for divorce, and “irreconcilable differences” was the reason listed in the documents. The once-happy couple has two daughters together, Natalia Diamante Bryant and Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant. Though no divorce process can be expected to be lacking in tribulations, the two parties in question were able to agree on their divorce settlement deal prior to the divorce becoming a matter of public record; both are requesting joint custody of their girls.

As part of the settlement, Vanessa will receive half of the total assets she and Kobe owned while married, which are estimated to be worth $150 million. That means Vanessa Bryant will be getting $75 million as a result of the divorce. But what’s really gotten the real estate watchers all over in rapt attention is that Vanessa will be keeping all three family homes that once also belonged to Kobe. All of those houses are located in the Newport Beach area of Southern California. One of those was only just completed after a construction period that lasted two years.

Bryant is a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. Besides his incredible skills on the court, Kobe is also known for his intellectual persona. He speaks Spanish and Italian and has demonstrated interests in international affairs. But that is not all he is known for. Not quite a decade ago, Bryant was accused of sexual assault by a 19-year-old woman who worked in a hotel in Colorado where he stayed before undergoing surgery. That initial case was dropped, but the same woman filed a civil suit that was settled out of court.

It’s being reported that basketball champ Chris Paul, who’s currently a point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers, has agreed to buy singer Avril Lavigne’s Bel Air Crest home. Paul will be paying $9.5 million for the swanky mansion. In exchange for the hefty fee, the Olympic gold winner will make his home in 12,184 square feet of luxurious space. As reporters have been quick to point out after news of the deal broke, Chris Paul has the money to shell out because he’s in the third year of a four-year contract with the Clippers worth $68 million.

The reports that have been circulating online attribute the successful sale to representation, for Paul and Lavigne, respectively, by SportsRelocation.com and Coldwell Banker of Beverly Hills. The agents involved were Ikem Chukumerije, and Jade Mills and Zach Quittman, who work as a duo.

Avril Lavigne’s reasons for ditching the beautiful digs? Most likely the finalization of her divorce from Deryck Whibley, the man she dated since she was teenager and married at twenty-one. Their marriage officially ended in November 2010. When the residence was listed back in May 2011, the asking price was $9.5 million.

What are some of the most salient features of the clearly celebrity-friendly estate? Well, its eight bedrooms and ten and a half bathrooms certainly help when you’re one to throw big bashes and expect multiple overnight guests. For every full bathroom in the house, there’s also a spot for a car in the garage — that means it fits ten! For wine aficionados, there’s a wine cellar to enjoy, and for those who consider physical health of upmost importance (hello, Paul), there’s a generously appointed gym that comes with a sauna.

Before Lavigne became the proud owner of the luxe mase, fellow(ish) rocker Travis Barker, the drummer for Blink-182, called the place home and lived there with his now-ex-wife Shauna Moakler. When this pair appeared on the show “Meet the Barkers,” TV viewers got a chance to see the lavish digs through the weekly episodes.

If Chris Paul stays in the mansion for the long-haul, it’s certainly hoped that his romantic endeavors are of a more enduring nature.

Locally referred to as the Cave House, this 37-acre home is located near Bisbee, Arizona, and about 80 miles from Tucson. Listed at $1.5 million, this unique home is literally carved into a granite boulder that extends more than 2,000-square feet into a man-made desert cave. The home boasts 2,890-square feet of land, and features a library building, a separate workshop room, a stand-alone home office, a 890-square foot guest home, and a game room underneath the guest house. It also comes with a carport.

The main living area features rock and cement ceilings, rough walls, and a glass-walled sunroom that is the first thing guests see before entering the cave. Homeowners get to enjoy an impressive kitchen with stained glass cabinets and mosaic tile, a spacious dining room, a lower-level living room, two full bathrooms, a bedroom loft with a large walk-in closet, and another bedroom that can be used as a gym or yoga studio. And since it is a cave, the home boasts comfortable temperatures year-round that never reach below 66 degrees Fahrenheit or soar above 72 degrees.

The home also boasts natural pools that are a short hike away. These pools are filled with freshwater from a creek for six to eight months out of the year. They also have a camouflaged hot tub.

The game room underneath the guest house comes with a separate entrance and features cement blocks and fluorescent lighting. The library building is also made of cement blocks and can be used as a safe house.

The Cave House was built by the owner’s husband, who passed away recently. He had to recruit a mining engineer to build the home. While the owner has listed the home on the market several times, she has reduced the price dramatically from the original price of $3 million. The realtor believes the home can be used as a yoga retreat or alternative healing studio.

In the economy more people have been spending their time and money on fixing their homes instead of moving. Finding the right Chicago home improvement group to work with is very important. Being punctual with repair work estimates can save stress and spending more money then budgeted on various projects on one’s home.

Some projects are of course more expensive then others. When deciding which to tackle first, taking a realistic look at one’s finances and getting a firm cost estimate is helpful. For example on bathroom remodeling Chicago one needs to know how much to spend and what the end product will be to make an informed decision. Doing the homework before hand on all the details is important, down to the hardware such as a new faucet can make sure that one isn’t stalled out in the middle of a project and sacrificing to save on cost.

More extensive projects like roofing contractors in Chicago can be more expensive, but also necessary instead of just cosmetic. If the roof is leaking it can cause all kinds of other structural and water damage in one’s home and should be a definite priority to fix. There materials one decides on will pretty much dictate the cost of replacing a damaged roof, but there are reasonably priced materials that will make for an attractive roof and should be discussed extensively.  The contractors one chooses can also be key. Knowing who has an excellent reputation for quality and quickness is a good place to start when looking.

If you are considering purchasing a home, and have decided that New Jersey is the place that you would like to live, then there are several things that you need to do to prepare yourself for actually purchasing a home.  First, most people have a home that they currently need to sell, which is not uncommon for people who are purchasing home, because most people move from one home that was purchased to another for various reasons – jobs, increasing family size, moving to be closer to family, etc.  But before you can consider nj condos for sale, you need to make sure that you are going to sell the home that you currently own – most people cannot afford two mortgages, and need to take this into consideration when they are looking to buy while selling a home, especially in the current real estate market.  So if you need to sell your Bergen county condos before you purchase a new home, than make that a priority for yourself before you even begin looking at luxury apartments nj that you first sell the home that you currently own.  Once you have sold your home, it is time to begin looking for a home that is within your price range, preferable not something that you could afford with a promotion, or something that credit cards are helping you to afford, because those types of situations rarely work out well for the new home buyer.

Tiger Woods is known for his spectacular talent, prodigal wealth, and extravagant affairs. By contrast, Elin Nordegren, the Swedish woman who until an August 2011 divorce was his wife for nearly six years, has been characterized in public by her reserved demeanor and abstention from personal scandal, well, at least anything excluding the 2009 revelations that her famous husband had over a hundred extra-marital affairs. Aside from that headline-grabbing heyday, there’s been nary an indecorous deed to attribute to her.

That’s why, when Nordegren decided to raze the $12 million mansion she purchased in March 2011 to rebuild a nearly identical home, tongues (and keyboards) started wagging. Was it not an obvious sign of an incorrigible frivolousness that had seeped into the blonde beauty’s soul after receiving the windfall that was her divorce settlement?

That’s probably hard to prove, but what is known is that the demolished home was not up to current building codes in terms of wind-loads, or, in more common parlance, it might not have withstood the pounding of a hurricane. The land Nordegren bought is in Semiole Landing, an exclusive gated community of North Palm Beach, Florida, a mere ten miles away from Tiger Wood’s Jupiter Island residence. The new home, built on the same Semiole Landing beachfront location, will be a modern version of the impressive Colonial-style structure that was leveled in December. Florida’s Martin County’s Habitat for Humanity was given a month to rescue anything of value from the mansion before it was torn down. It was during this time that termite and carpenter ant infestations were discovered in the mansion.

According to uncovered building plans, the Swede’s new house will have nine bedrooms, double kitchens and double living rooms, a pool, grotto, and two jacuzzis. Nordegren will inhabit the completed home with her two infant children. After the divorce, Nordegren was given full custody of Sam and Charlie, the daughter and son she had with Tiger Woods.