Aussie Actor Toni Collette Snags Tinseltown Pied a Terre

SELLER: Toni Collette and David Galafassi
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $1,330,000
SIZE: 2,236 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms (plus 1 in the pool house)

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It was recently reported here, there, and every damn where that soo-blime Academy Award winning Australian actor Toni Collette (United States of Tara, Little Miss Sunshine, Sixth Sense, Muriel's Wedding) and her musician man-mate David Galafassi, who already have one two year old named Sage, will soon be proud parents to a second shortie.

It was also reported last week in the Australian celebrity (real estate) gossip columns that Miz Collette and her Mister had applied for permits to allow an expensive renovation of the beach house they bought last year in Tamarama, a swank seaside suburb a few miles east of Sydney.

Bill and Giuliana Rancic Buy Big House in Hinsdale, and etc.

MonetizeBUYERS: Bill Rancic and Giuliana (DePandi) Rancic
LOCATION: Hinsdale, IL
PRICE: $1,560,000
SIZE: 12,000 (ish) square feet, 7 bedrooms, 9.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: The past few years have been a bit of a real estate whirlwind for celebrity news gossip Giuliana (Depandi) Rancic and her entrepreneurial man-mate Bill Rancic. Since getting married in 2007 the budding young couple have bought and sold a number of properties in both Los Angeles, CA and Chicago, IL including a recently acquired a mansion in a the upscale Chicago suburb of Hinsdale.

Mister Rancic, who once auditioned for that sicko show The Bachelor on which a dozen or so tarted up woman grovel embarrassingly for the affections of a single man, rocketed to fame in 2004 as the winner of the first season of Donald Trump's The Apprentice program. Prior to becoming one of Mister Trump's minions he made boo-coo bucks with an online endeavor called Cigars Around the World. Nowadays Mister Rancic earns an impressive living as a motivational speaker, reality television denizen, real estate developer and the host of a program we've never heard of on the A&E channel called We Mean Business.

American Idol Kelly Clarkson Lists at a Loss

SELLER: Kelly Clarkson
LOCATION: Nashville, TN
PRICE: $1,449,000
SIZE: 4,900 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Yesterday afternoon Your Mama received a covert communique from one of our Music City snitches–this one we call The Nashville House Whore–who gleefully whispered in our big ear that pop-rock singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson recently listed her residence in Nashville, TN with an asking price of $1,449,000.

Miss Clarkson was, of course, the first contestant to win American Idol. This was way back in 2002, long before that program became the tired and wrung out tee-vee tragedy that it is today. Unlike some of the other winners of the televised singing contest–can you say Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks?–the pint-sized belter has gone on to great commercial success with a couple of platinum albums, world wide tours, and two Grammy Awards.

Morning Floor Plan Porn: Before and After

Listen butter beans, Your Mama is short on time this morning because we have to get out of the house early to go film for The Gossip Queens program on the gay gay gay Logo channel. But before we git on our hobby horse and ride, we thought we'd leave y'all with a little New York City floor plan porn to ponder.

A man named Steven Ells, the co-founder and CEO of the ballooning Chipotle "Mexican" food franchise, has been making real estate headlines in New York City for the last year or so with his increasingly fat real estate portfolio of properties located in various areas of the West Village neighborhood of New York.

The burrito bigwig not only owns and a full floor loft style spread on Waverly Place–bought in March 2008 for $5,650,000 and currently on the market with an asking price of $6,250,000–he also possesses a speck-tack-u-ler Steven Harris designed townhouse on Jane Street that he snatched up in early 2008 for $13,400,000.

Negotiate for the Best Home Refinance Rate

Negotiate to Get the Best Home Refinance Rate

Nowadays, with interest rates still at near-historic lows, there’s never been a better time to negotiate with a mortgage lender to the get the best home refinance mortgage rate, for a fact. When one considers that just a single one-point drop in a current interest rate on a mortgage of $250,000 can save hundreds of dollars per month, it’s hard to see a reason for why not to do so.

Certainly, those folks who are sitting on a so-called “bad credit” home loan (a sub-prime loan that’s at least 3 or 4 points above loans based off of the prime interest rate) need to be looking as soon as possible for the best home refinance rates. If they’ve been able to prove outstanding payment history, then it’s indeed possible to pull off a bad credit home mortgage refinance.