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Brittany Murphy death house averts forced auction

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Hollywood Hills home in which actress Brittany Murphy died in 2009 has averted a foreclosure auction for at least two weeks as her mother tries to sell it at a sharply reduced price.
/ Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Hollywood Hills home in which actress Brittany Murphy died in 2009 has averted a foreclosure auction for at least two weeks as her mother tries to sell it at a sharply reduced price.

The 8,000 square foot house, whose former residents also included Britney Spears and Madonna, has an asking price of $4.995 million, and has received two "bonafide offers," according to a spokesman for Murphy's mother.

Brittany Murphy died in the master bathroom of the five-bedroom home in December 2009, and left it to her mother. The actress' husband, Simon Monjack, also died in the house last May. Both succumbed to pneumonia-related ailments.

Sharon Murphy first tried to sell it last March with an asking price of $7.5 million, but it was taken off the market a month later.

She and her daughter bought the house from Spears for $3.85 million in 2003. The house currently has a first mortgage of just over $4 million, and second mortgage for about $500,000, according to real estate records.

The property was reportedly due to be auctioned Monday, but that date was moved back by two weeks. A statement issued Monday on behalf of Sharon Murphy said, "The trustee sale has been postponed and the seller is currently in negotiation with several parties regarding potential sale."

Spokesman Roger Neal said Murphy has been quietly working with a lawyer and Realtor to find new buyers. Neal said it is a regular sale, not a short sale, and that it will be done in normal fashion.