Mark Balelo was born on 31st January 1973, in Machico, Madeira Island, Portugal, and was a businessman best known for founding Balelo Inc., which is a liquidation, distribution and wholesale company. He passed away in 2013. .
Have you ever wondered how rich Mark Balelo was at the time of his death? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Balelo`s net worth was as high as $500,000, an amount earned through his successful career. He also became somewhat of a TV star, when he appeared in the reality TV show “Storage Wars”, and spent a lot of money on auctions for some of the storage liquidations.
Mark Balelo Net Worth $500,000
Little is known about Mark`s early life and his family on the whole, except that they moved to the US while Mark was still young, and settled in Southern California.. However, when he was 14 he started working on fishing boats, as he was forced to support himself personally, and to provide for his education. Mark also ventured into the valet business as an employee during weekends. Following high school matriculation, Mark enrolled at Orange Coast College, and while still studying, he started his own valet business, and also worked in a Nissan dealership selling cars. He graduated with a degree in Business, and after some time he moved to Mercedes-Benz, and became one of their top salesmen, so increasing his net worth by a large margin.
However, Mark’s bank account benefited from his other ventures too; he started Balelo Inc., which handles asset acquisitions, liquidations and closeouts, while it is also a doubles in wholesale and distribution. His company grew steadily, and on account of the success he achieved, Mark started several other projects, including founding an auction house called Balelo Auctions, which also added to his net worth.
Furthermore, he also owned a gaming store, called The Game Exchange, the successful management of which also contributed to his net worth.
Nevertheless, a major part of his net worth was eventually through his appearance on the popular reality TV show “Storage Wars”. He appeared in a total of seven episodes, and during that time became known as “Rico Suave”, because of his high spending; for instance, he would buy over 150 storage units a week, and spend more than $50,000 per auction. All in all, this paid out for him, and his net worth became even greater.
When it comes to his personal life, unfortunately, displeased and troubled by some aspects of his life, including drug charges and custody battle over his children, Mark committed suicide as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, being found dead in his car parked in his garage on the 11th February 2013, in Simi Valley, California.
At the time of his death, Mark was engaged to Elisabeth Metzidis. Details of his previous relationships are vague, but he is known to have had at least two children, one of whom was autistic and over whom he fought for custody. He had also been jailed previously on drugs charges, and had broken the conditions of his probation.
