Housing woes hit Hollywood

It's the $3-million to $8-million range that seems especially hard to unload, according to Dorothy Pomerantz's piece at Forbes.com. Avril Lavigne had to reduce the price on her five-bedroom, six-bath house in Bev Hills from $6.9 million to $5.8 million. The property is currently in escrow. Ed McMahon put his 7,000-square-foot Bev Hills home on the market in 2006 for $7.7 million - and has since reduced the price three times. It's now going for $5.7 million.

When it comes to real estate, stars generally aren't treated any differently than other rich people. Mark David, who runs the celebrity real estate site The Real Estalker says homes generally don't demand a premium just because a celebrity was living there. At the same time, famous buyers are unlikely to get any kind of a bargain, since sellers often push famous folks to pay full price.

Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash is suing his former real estate agent, claiming the house he bought in 2006 for $5.7 million was neither as big nor as private as had been claimed.