NEW YORK: Michael Jackson is determined to stop the auction of his old Neverland Ranch home by taking out a loan to cover the money he owes to the estate’s trustees. Bosses at Financial Title Company have said they will sell his California property at an auction on March 19 unless the pop star comes up with the $24.5 million they claim he owes them, hollywood.com reports.

“The financing is all being worked out. There are plenty of lenders willing to work with him,” said a source.

The singer has vowed never to return to the Santa Barbara-area estate, where he once housed a zoo and theme park, after detectives ransacked the property for evidence to use against Jackson in his 2004 child molestation trial. However, he doesn’t want his former home and fixtures and fittings to go under the hammer. A Jackson family insider insists the singer will avoid foreclosure on Neverland with a new loan, adding the auction “won’t happen”.