Houston reportedly faces foreclosure

[AP photo]

NEWARK, N.J. - Whitney Houston's New Jersey mansion is slated to be sold at a sheriff's sale because she is more than $1 million behind on the mortgage and taxes have not been paid this year, according to reports published Wednesday.

The Jan. 4 sale was scheduled Tuesday by the Morris County Sheriff's Office, the Daily Record of Parsippany reported. The service agent for Chevy Chase Bank, the mortgage holder, sued Houston in June.

Houston's estate comprises two lots, and the sale would be of the lot assessed at $889,300. The adjacent lot is valued at more than $5.6 million, the Daily Record reported. Houston, 43, bought the properties in 1987 for $2.7 million.

Through a secretary, Houston publicist Nancy Seltzer told the newspaper the property was not in foreclosure. A woman who answered the telephone at Seltzer's office on Wednesday said Seltzer was traveling and could not be reached for comment.

Phone messages left after business hours with the service agent, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., and the sheriff's office were not returned Wednesday.

Mendham Township is owed about $83,000 in property taxes this year on the 10-acre estate, officials told The Star-Ledger of Newark. The township sent notices after each quarterly deadline was missed, the assessor's office said. The most recent payment was due Nov. 1.

A sale could be averted if Houston reaches a settlement with the service agent, Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Ackerman told The Star-Ledger.

Houston in September filed for divorce from singer Bobby Brown after a 14-year marriage. She is collaborating on a project with her cousin, singer Dionne Warwick.