Part of pop icon Whitney Houston's $6 million estate at North Gate Road and Cross Way will be foreclosed on, unless the soon-to-be divorced singer comes up with more than $1 million.

Houston has until Jan. 4 to pay $ 1,043,106 to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, the service agent for Chevy Chase Bank, which holds the mortgage. The deadline was set by the Morris County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday.

County tax records show that the property, at 1 Cross Way, is the less valuable portion of Houston's estate. The assessed valuation for that portion is $889,300.

The adjacent property that Houston owns, 22 North Gate Road, is valued at more than $5.6 million.

According to the deed for the Cross Way property dated July 29, 1993, Houston purchased the property for $573,477 from previous owners, George and Shirley Sawyer.

Gayl Spivak, the attorney representing MERS, said Houston has two opportunities to delay the foreclosure date for two weeks.

She could choose to sell the house before the foreclosure date or pay the mortgage company. If she does neither, the house will end up in a sheriff's sale.

"I doubt this one will" wind up in a sheriff's sale, Spivak said. "There are people interested."

Spivak declined to comment further, including how long Houston had not paid the mortgage on the house. The bank filed suit in Superior Court on June 12 because of lack of payment.

According to a copy of the mortgage on file with the county, Houston borrowed $975,000 from Chevy Chase Bank. Including interest, Houston was supposed to pay $4,711.18 per month from June 2004 until May 2034, for an amount totaling about $1.7 million.

Superior Court Judge Neil H. Shuster on Oct. 27 ordered Houston to pay National City Bank more than $189,000, on a $200,000 second mortgage Houston took out with that bank for the property.

Houston last month filed for divorce from her husband, 1990s singer Bobby Brown after 14 years of marriage. Houston has several homes in other states, including California and Georgia.

Houston's publicist, Nancy Seltzer, in New York City, said through a secretary that Houston's property was not in foreclosure, but did not return a phone call for comment on what the singer would do to keep the property in Mendham Township from foreclosure.