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Jacksonīs House Hunting in Miami?

Michael Jackson is returning to Miami's South Beach this week with his huge entourage and a running meter on skyrocketing expenses.He's told friends that he wants to buy a house in Miami and will be starting to hunt for one on this trip. But sellers beware: My sources say that unless Jackson can find a mansion that doesn't require a down payment, he's in no financial shape to pull this project off. "He just doesn't have the money for this," my sources said.That doesn't mean Jackson is broke. In fact, he is spending money so rapidly that he still may have no awareness of his situation.

For one thing, he has not returned to live at his Neverland Valley Ranch since it was raided by police last November. The annual cost of running Neverland — even with Jackson not present — is around $3 million, or $250,000 a month. Since Jackson left the ranch, he's divided his time between hotels and a rented mansion in Beverly Hills. The mansion cost $700,000 from January to July of this year, but Jackson didn't stay only there. He spends between $4,000 and $5,000 a day — that's right, per diem — when he's on the road and living in hotels.

As for the move to Miami: Jackson would do well to live in Florida, a "homestead" state where personal property is exempt from court judgments. But in order to have the money for such a purchase, he would have to sell Neverland. And, despite rumors to the contrary, Jackson has not placed the sprawling estate, zoo and carnival on the real-estate market as of yet.

In Miami, Jackson will work on cutting tracks for some kind of album, including leftover songs he did with the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb — recorded in January 2003 — and a duet with Lenny Kravitz. None of those recordings were included on the Jackson box set, which will be released at the end of this month.