In 2013, a trust linked with Elon Musk bought the former home of actor Gene Wilder, which happened to be across the street from where Musk lived. Seven years later, he put it on the market for $9.5 million, with the stipulation that he wanted the buyer to preserve it.
Wilder’s nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter, relished the idea, but didn’t have nearly enough to afford the Los Angles property, located in the Bel-Air Country Club. To accommodate them, Musk dropped the price to $7 million and agreed to lend the couple most of the money (some $6.7 million) to buy it.
Four years later, Musk (via an entity) has filed a notice of default, the first step in foreclosure.
Walker-Pearlman and Hunter say they harbor no hard feelings for the action and are cooperating with Musk, reports the Wall Street Journal. The couple fell behind in payments after last year’s strikes in Hollywood.
The home is a 2,800-square-foot property that is located on a 0.78-acre lot. It has an open layout and a kidney-shape pool. Walker-Pearlman spent much of his childhood in the home, he says, and fulfilled a dream of restoring the house and letting his wife experience what those parts of his childhood were like. (Wilder sold the property for $2.725 million in 2007.)
The terms of the notice of default give the entity tied to Musk clearance to force a sale in 90 days, but Walker-Pearlman says representatives of Musk have told him and his wife there are no plans to do so. The couple has, however, listed the house for sale for $12.95 million.
“There’s no tragedy here,” Walker-Pearlman told the Journal. “Elon gave us a magical opportunity. I have no complaints.”