RiRi’s Beverly Hills mansion purchased in 2009 for 6.9 million – now listed for 4.5 million
Rihanna got plucked like a chicken by the fancy Beverly Hills real estate crowd – but the truth is that she was little more than a rich teenager with zero life experience when in 2009 she bought a renovated home held out to be the latest, greatest and “worthy” of an international Star.
Too bad Rihanna didn’t have enough experience to make an informed decision on a multi-million dollar property purchase – because the home was almost 50 years old. Any fool purchasing a 50 year old home would have looked for certain indicators of problems: but not Rihanna, who got suckered. Any fool could have seen that the porch she now complains about was a natural funnel to direct rainwater into the structure of the home. (Clue: when the porch deck is two inches higher than the door it slopes towards, rain will run into the home. DUH!)
Rihanna: Another naive lottery winner
To paraphrase P.T. Barnum (or David Hannum or Hungry Joe Lewis for the purists), “There’s a sucker born every minute and woe to any young and naive lottery winner”
That is what Rihanna is when you get right down to it: a young lottery winner with no experience at money.
Rihanna fit the formula: thin, pretty, darker skin but without negro facial features to distract the mass markets. Lots of energy. Trainable. Voice? Doesn’t matter much these days because the computers take care of that whether in the studio or live on stage.
The product was trained, packaged, tweaked and mass-marketed. The product made big money for Robyn Rihanna Fenty and her creators.
To earn money is one thing. To hold onto it is another.
Rihanna launched a lawsuit last August against everybody in sight including the home builder, the former owner, her real estate agent and home inspector and probably the paperboy too.
The lawyers will be the only winners right now, but Rihanna might be a winner if she learns from this.
There is danger ahead for our young lottery winner.
If Rihanna doesn’t learn to handle money and to look after her own affairs – if she doesn’t stop hosting $20,000 dollar nights on the town – if she doesn’t realize that her income potential and popularity have a shelf life…
If she doesn’t start saving and wisely planning for the future… Rihanna might end up like so many other former superstars.
My advice to the bad girl: It doesn’t matter at all how much you make. What counts is how much you keep.
Further Reading…
The Real Estalker: Monday Morning Morsel: Rihanna
Forbes: Rihanna’s rain-soaked home for sale
Zillow real estate listing for Rihanna’s home
TMZ: Rihanna – I Got Duped Into Buying a Crappy Mansion