Mister Barker, the drummer for a slew of pop-punk and rock bands including Blink-182, +44 and Box Car Racer, has successfully parlayed his fame into a small fortune with other ventures that include a record company (LaSalle Records) and a clothing company (Famous Stars and Straps). Among the gossip glossy reading crowd he's perhaps best known for his famously volatile on-again-off-again marriage/relationship with tee-vee presenter Shanna Moakler, a hot-tempered former Miss USA who bore him two rug rats and who had a very public, very trashy and high-larious smack-down in the fall of 2006 with Paris 'the heiress' Hilton after her then-estranged husband Mister Barker was caught canoodling with Miss 'gets around town' Hilton a month or so earlier.
In the fall of 2008 Mister Barker was a passenger on a plane that crashed near Columbia, SC. Only he and friend DJ AM survived the hideous accident. DJ AM died of an apparent drug overdose in his New York City apartment the following year and Mister Barker's injuries were far more significant than first revealed to the public. Last week, in anticipation of the release of his debut solo album next week, it was reported that Mister Barker came damn near close to having his foot amputated and that he's endured 16 surgeries to put his Humpty Dumpty back together again. This probably sounds sappy from a cold-blooded cynic like Your Mama but we think Mister Barker's physical courage and psychic fortitude in the face of such awful adversity is to be commended and admired.
Anyhoodles poodles, let's get down to brass tacks, shall we? Our odyssey through Mister Barkers real estate journey begins in August of 2003 when property records show the then twenty-something year old skins pounder paid $3,150,000 for a very adult mansion with 7,620 square feet located within the guard-gated Bel Air Crest community in the mountains on the upscale but much less glitzy far western border of hoity-toity Bel Air. The 6 bedroom and 8 pooper property, which has an impress-the-guests-style entry with wrought iron dual staircases and a cozy backyard with swimming pool and mountain views, practically hovers over the always clogged up 405 freeway, an ever-present source of vehicular aggravation for many Angelenos.
Mister Barker quickly caught a case of that ol' Real Estate Fickle and flipped his Bel Air Crest beehawtcha back on the market. Records reveal it was sold in May 2004 for $3,500,000 and, as it turns out, the property is currently back on the market with an asking price of $4,495,000.
Even though he was quick to flip, Mister Barker must have liked living up in the Bel Air Crest because on September 2004, just a month or so before he legally hitched his wagon Miss Moakler, the tatted-up rocker went and paid $6,200,000 for a much larger 12,184 square foot mcmansion just around the corner from his previous house on Queensborough Lane. It was here, in this 8 bedroom and 9 bathroom beast of an abode, that Mister and Missus Barker filmed two seasons of a reality program called Meet the Barkers, a lame rock-n-roll version of the equally lame Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.
September of 2004 was a busy real estate month for Mister Barker. Records show that in addition to snatching up a new mcmansion in Bel Air paid $480,000 for a 2,752 square foot tract house in the middle-brow resort community of Lake Elsinore, CA. Interestingly, information we dug up the interweb shows that a naughty notice of default was filed on the property in May 2007 but was quickly cleared up. Your Mama has not idea if Mister Barker used this house for personal use, an investment and/or as a residence for a family member.
In December of 2006 Mister Barker and Miss Moakler split up for the first of many times and in February of 2007 they sold their behemoth abode in the Bel Air Crest community for $8,000,000 to a prominent Los Angeles attorney. The attorney somehow managed to flip the mansion just three short weeks later for $9,500,000, a mind-blowing $1,500,000 profit before he even had to make a second mortgage payment. The buyer who lined the attorney's pockets with an impressive and, let's be honest, revolting $1,500,000 profit was none other than rebellious Canuck pop-puck princess Avril "The Spitter" Lavigne who occupied the large and lavish residence with her then huzband Deryck Whibley, front man of some band called Sum 41. That marriage, as anyone who reads the tabs knows, has done swirled down the terlit of Hollywood love.
At that same time Mister Barker sold his hu-mongo house in the Bel Air Crest community to the L.A.-based attorney in Feb. 2007 he bought a slightly smaller but still-titanic 10,198 square foot mansion within an exclusive gated enclave inside an affluent and also gated community in über-suburban Calabasas, CA. As far as we know–and we really know so very little–Mister Barker remains in residence at his Calabasas crib that happens to be located in the same double-gated enclave where pop superstar Britney Spears was living in a massive rented mansion until she recently decamped for and even larger leased estate in the celebrity-friendly equestrian community of Hidden Hills, CA.
Riverside, CA is about as far from the Tinseltown klieg lights as one can get but in January of 2008 Mister Barker shelled out $370,000 to acquire a fairly modest house in a banal tract development in the decidedly un-glam suburban city. For what purpose Mister Barker wanted this house is unknown.
Later in the year, Mister Barker was involved in the above mentioned aircraft accident and with better things to do than buy and sell houses Mister Barker kept his real estate checkbook in check until March of 2010 when property records reveal he whipped it out and paid $1,300,000 to purchase a large but very ordinary and architecturally sad 5,529 square foot house in Rancho Cucamonga, CA (above). Once again we have no idea what Mister Barker might want or need with a 5 bedroom and 5.5 pooper house way out near the flavorless city of San Bernadino in ur-suburban Riverside County.Listing information shows the house sits on a gentle slope with 180-degree views of city lights and the surrounding mountains and includes garage space for four cars, 3 fireplaces including a massive freestanding number in the backyard, a technology alcove, library with custom cabinets and large gore-may kitchen that's open to a family room. A covered patio at the rear of the house protects people from frying themselves in Rancho Cucamonga's scorching summer heat. A built in barbecue center makes for year-round grillin' and chillin' and instead of a swimming pool and/or spa there's some sort of hybrid situation that listing information refers to as a "spool." As best as we can tell that's a plunge pool that can be heated up to a boil where Mister Barker and his guests can wallow in the water like they're a damn human stew.
Mister Barker's 2010 real estate activities continued apace in December 2010 with the $1,495,000 acquisition of a truly insipid 2,960 square foot mock-Med tract house situation in the Bel Air Crest community (above) , the same upscale development that the children who are paying attention will recognize as the same one in which he previously owned two much larger mansions.Listing information shows the house includes 3-4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a living room with extra-high ceiling and hardwood floors, and an eat-in kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. Although there's but a sliver of a front yard and an only slightly larger backyard, listing information from the time of the purchase indicates the landscaping was new and includes a spa and built-in barbecue.
Once again, Your Mama hasn't an iota why Mister Barker would want this house but if we've said it twice we've said it twice too many times before, who are we to comprehend the capricious real estate ways of the rich and famous
listing photos (Rancho Cucamonga): Prudential California Realty
listing photos (Bel Air): Nelson Shelton & Associates
