Jim, Tammy Bakker Reportedly Shopping for Home in Newport

Jim and Tammy Bakker, deposed leaders of the evangelistic PTL organization, are shopping for a home in Newport Beach, a real estate saleswoman confirmed Tuesday.

“I showed them a home in Corona del Mar on Friday night,” said Lyleen Ewing, of Coldwell Bankers Residential Real Estate in Newport Beach.

Ewing said the Bakkers, who are now renting a home in Malibu, apparently looked at just one place in Newport Beach--a home for about $600,000 on Topside Lane. That house sold this weekend, so Ewing said the Bakkers are still looking.

The Bakkers became more famous this year when a controversy erupted over Jim Bakker’s adulterous affair seven years ago with a church secretary. In reaction to the scandal, he resigned from the South Carolina-based PTL in March.

The Bakkers, after leaving South Carolina, lived in Palm Springs for several months earlier this year. In July, they put their Palm Springs house up for sale for $650,000 and announced that they were permanently moving to a home they own in Gatlinburg, Tenn. But the couple decided to come back to California; they have been renting a house in Malibu since late summer.

The Bakkers have been spotted house-shopping in the Beverly Hills area in recent weeks. Their visit on Friday night to Newport Beach marked the first time they had been seen house-hunting in Orange County.

Ewing said the Bakkers didn’t disclose when they might be moving to Orange County. She said she had been surprised that the couple she was showing the Corona del Mar house turned out to be the Bakkers.

Ewing said she was charmed by the couple, especially by Tammy Bakker: “She is very vivacious, and she seems like a very sincere person. After a while you just forget who she is, because she just starts talking to you like a friend.”