How Rihanna Unwittingly Helped an Arizona Man Pay off Two Years of His Mortgage

Rihanna's stay in nearby Phoenix, Arizona to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show in February required her to rent a place to catch her zzz's. And, as most celebrities do, they rely on property management firms to find them the perfect place.

Enter Spyro Malaspinas, a 48-year-old cybersecurity expert who, according to The Wall Street Journal, hadn't the slightest interest in renting out his palatial 6,400 square-foot home in Paradise Valley, an affluent community sandwiched between Phoenix and Scottsdale.

According to the outlet, Spyro's 5-bedroom home caught Rihanna's attention, to the point she ultimately made an offer Spyro couldn't refuse. The Wall Street Journal reports a property management firm Spyro had worked with in the past reached out to him and told him someone wanted to rent his one-acre property for a whopping $500,000 for a week's stay.

Even for someone who had just purchased the home last year for $7.3 million, there was no way Spyro could pass up on $500,000.

"The last thing I am is a real estate baron," he told the outlet. "My pride's not that big. I don't mind moving out for $500,000 a week."

Suffice it to say, he took the deal. But it wasn't until after he agreed to rent out the property that he learned Rihanna, who famously debuted her baby bump during the halftime show performance, was the A-lister leasing his house for a week.

Spyro added that his 13-year-old daughter was beside herself when she found out who was staying in their home.

"[She] was absolutely thrilled," he said.

Perhaps even more thrilling -- the $500,000 rental fee, Spyro says, covered two years worth of his mortgage payments. And, ever since word's been spreading Riri stayed at his property, Spyro says he's been offered "crazy amounts of money" to unload the hot property.

No word if it's enough of an offer so he doesn't have to work, work, work, work, work, work anymore.

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