From MSN:
Their Wealth Is in Their Homes. Their Homes Are Now Ash.
Sylvia Sweeney and her husband, Bob Honeychurch, bought their three-bedroom home nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley for $780,000 in 2009. At the start of this year, it was worth more than double that—$1.6 million, by one estimate.
On Wednesday, raging wildfires swept through their Altadena neighborhood. When the couple went back later that day to see what was left of their home, all that was standing was the mailbox.
Sweeney, a 69-year old retired clergywoman, estimates that her home made up roughly 80% of the family’s overall wealth.
“It was our beautiful dream home,” she said. “It was our primary wealth.”
Towering flames powered by hurricane-force winds have destroyed or damaged more than 12,000 structures in Los Angeles County, razing some of the city’s priciest real estate on streets thick with celebrity mansions.
The fires also wiped out the homes of Californians in the middle class who bought into affluent neighborhoods decades ago, when the properties were still within reach for teachers, plumbers, and nurses. After years of rising home values, many of them have the bulk of their wealth tied up in homes that are now ash.
“It was our retirement. It was our investment. It was our equity. It was everything,” said John Kastanas, a 63-year old who works in an administrative role at the California Institute of Technology, of his historic home that burned in Altadena.
Now, those middle-class homeowners face a crushing housing crunch. Los Angeles was already experiencing an acute shortage of homes. Its real-estate prices are more than double the national level. In the wake of the fire, thousands of people desperate for temporary housing are flooding a cutthroat rental market, where bidding wars are breaking out for leases. Some are considering leaving for good.
Then there is perhaps the most daunting prospect of all for those who have lost their homes: battling with their insurance companies to rebuild.
…
For those who lost their homes, much of the value of their properties is in the land they still own, but rebuilding on it will be a long and expensive process. It’s unclear how many homeowners in these areas lack insurance or are underinsured. A number of leading insurers have stopped selling new home-insurance policies in the state. State Farm said last year it would not renew 69% of its property policies in the Pacific Palisades.
From LAist:
Asking rents skyrocket as LA fires destroy homes
Rental housing prices in L.A. are spiking as historic fires burn in Southern California, forcing thousands of residents who’ve lost homes to scramble to find a new place to live.
LAist spotted one Zillow listing for a furnished home in Bel Air that was posted Saturday morning at $29,500 per month. That’s a nearly 86% price hike from September 2024 according to the listing’s price history, which shows the home previously listed for $15,900 per month.
When an LAist reporter called the listing agent, Fiora Aston with Compass, she said dozens of prospective tenants who’ve lost homes to the fires have been contacting her about this and other listings on L.A.’s Westside. When LAist asked why the advertised rent for the Bel Air home had risen so sharply, she said she was getting another call and hung up.
“It’s crazy,” Aston said, before ending the call. “I’ve been in the business for 35 years. I’ve never seen anything like this. People are desperate. There’s so many families without a house.”
Cheater
If you ask Very Stable Genius, people don’t want to live in red states, all the amenities, prestige, luxuries and conveniences of life are in the blue areas. So, I mean, it’s only natural rentals are going to double because the educated and upscale folks have the means and will gladly pay.
Whatever happens they will rebuild albeit slowly. Paradise CA which burned about seven years ago population has not recovered it’s only one third of its pre-fire levels. They lost 14,000 homes in that fire and are rebuilding. Approx 600 homes went up in 2023. Yes it’s not LA so who knows maybe the rich can rebuild faster, but the thing is about California is allot of people plowed their wealth into their homes like the retired couple mentioned above. They both are retired Episcopal Pastors seems they traded up the housing ladder, even with good insurance coverage they may never rebuild.
This would be the perfect opportunity for an eminent domain driven redevelopment of the whole area using a master plan that mixes the features of high density/ luxury / affordable housing / fire mitigation and prevention / beach park like settings.
The LA Times had article on how the homeless feel bad for the wealthy folks that lost their houses. However at same time the same cosmological forces that made the boomer’s property worth 780k in ‘09 and 1.6m in ‘24 Zillow dollars makes it worth $0 today.
Is something better coming out of it or is it going to be 20yrs of empty lots based on on-going court fights.
Finally, the fires will help tank the financial markets. All those insurance companies are now selling part of their investment portfolio to raise cash for claim payments.
Just heard that Montclair has closed their schools today.
Newsom suspended permit requirements and environmental reviews for those affected by the fire and wanting to rebuild
I think the trouble now will be finding a reputable and available builder
In terms of fires it ain’t over yet. Winds have changed direction and picked up again today. The insurers will be hammered by this event as mentioned above. Doubtful
there is an easy answer for anyone displaced by these events.
Palisades fire is only 13% contained. Look out.
Newsom was on Meet the Press yesterday. He wants to keep the current lower taxes on any rebuilt home.
I would think many of these destroyed homes will go into foreclosure as well as tax lien sales for many years to come. Who is going to pay the taxes on that property for years and years that it will take to rebuild?
Is obvious if Newson wants to be POTUS and not be considered another pretty boy politician. He better look up how Robert Moses did thing, grow gonads and bulldozers himself in hell or high water like OrangeTurd does on most things.
Otherwise, if this is left to each homeowner to individually act. The combination of vulture speculators, decisions based on political corruption, court fights and lack of coordination will make rebuilding and fire mitigation a nightmare.
The word of the year for Newson is “Eminent Domain”. If there is a time for those words is now.
They simply should npot build where wild fires are likely. This is not a new phenomenon. Let the insurers pay out and let nature reclaim what should have been left alone all along. Maybe the rich and poor homeless can hang out together.
As to Montclair school closure. The rumor is, they fired an elementary school global studies teacher after he showed a video to his class that gave the kids nightmares and then lied about showing it. His replacement supposedly made threats to a 5th grade female teacher. The unhinged replacement had some recent school shooting threats posted on their social media page, so they were canned too. What would you expect from a town that finds Japanese Italian fusion (pasta ramen) the next Le Cirque?
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/11001/fires-in-mexico-and-central-america
This is not a new phenomenon. Like I said the other day, there is no way to prevent or contain these fires without massive efforts. In Mexico, they wait for the rain. In America, we build where we shouldn’t and then buy out the morons. I have no sympathy for anyone who chooses to live where natural disasters are likely to occur.
Lib,
anyone who hires these people into the school district should probably be fired as well. Every time we’ve had a crazy coworker, I’ve come to the conclusion that they were off.
within the first conversation with them.
I agree. This is a government job though. I’m actually impressed a few teachers were acturally fired for their actions in the first place. Usually, they are simply promoted into the central office to work AWAY from students.
See, more bike paths would’ve prevented these fires. They not only provide recreation for the communalty but act as natural barriers when pathways are cleared.
Blue states only know bike lanes.
Red states need to pony up. The blue states is where the real production and money is generated. I mean, how are the blue states supposed to provide subsidies to the red states when everything is halted?
Lib, who do you recommend for non emergency, routine plumbing needs?
Does not fit narrative, must suppress:
https://nypost.com/2025/01/13/us-news/suspect-arrested-with-flamethrower-near-kenneth-fire-is-an-illegal-immigrant-report/
Over the weekend, on this coast, I looked at storage space. Our kids will be moving out of the area/house soon and we were looking at the possibility of storing the old furniture and getting new ones. The couches remind me of my awesome dog who passed away, and we need something to refresh.
The Extra Storage guy had his phones ringing non-stop, and we had to wait our turn to speak to him. And when we did get our chance, first thing he said was that it was going to be expensive. I mean, he was polite and nice – but said it up front that it was not going to be economical. The “promotion” rate was $180/month for a 10′ x 5′ container and he said – get this AI will decide what the price would be after the promotion period. Estimates are in the $350/month range.. but it’s AI – it’ll make stuff up!
Needless to say, the couches will be donated. I don’t want to deal with FB marketplace or craigslist.
In America, we build where we shouldn’t and then buy out the morons.
If you are going to let the bankers and appraisers walk and pay off the banks like Obama did, or send tons of American taxpayer dollars to foreigners, why not buy out the “morons” who are American citizens?
RentLord.
Live like Reacher.
The fires were inevitable. The road sides are filled with dry brush and hills ready to go up in flames. If you farted, you could light up the place.
With 100 miles/hour winds all you need is a cigarette butt to burn it all down.
Fab, was it you that posted this link from X? – it is worth reposting it.
https://x.com/jake_bittle/status/1877601265036689415
And if you are like the many who deleted X, here’s the text from that post:
1/ When I was reporting my book chapter about the 2017 Santa Rosa fires, I spent a lot of time in two neighborhoods that had both burned. One was dense and middle class, in flat land, the other was very wealthy and up on a hill. I want to talk a bit about this.
2/ The valley neighborhood, Coffey Park, was one of the few affordable places left in Santa Rosa, a bunch of small craftsman homes. Fountaingrove, meanwhile, was a hillside subdivision of very large custom-built mansions.
3/ You probably would guess that the rich hillside neighborhood recovered faster and easier than the flatland subdivision, and I did too, but that wasn’t the case, for a few reasons that I think are relevant to the LA fires.
4/ The first reason was the homes themselves. Coffey Park was made of single-story bungalows, sort of like Altadena, on flat streets. These were cheaper and easier to rebuild, and a home builder gave residents a package deal if they picked from a few preapproved home designs.
5/ The homes in Fountaingrove, meanwhile, were on steep slopes, like in parts of Malibu, and rebuilding them was an engineering nightmare. They were huge, multi-story, many had been custom built, so getting the permits was a nightmare. A lot of wealthy homeowners just gave up.
6/ The second reason was insurance. Most homeowners across Santa Rosa were under-covered, and many in the hills had the FAIR plan—the typical payout was something like $300-400k. That was enough to rebuild in Coffey Park, but not enough to rebuild in Fountaingrove.
7/ The result was that the modest homeowners in Coffey Park could afford to use their insurance payouts to rebuild standard bungalow models, but the rich homeowners in Fountaingrove were left without the insurance they needed to rebuild in the hills, unless they used savings.
8/ When I visited Santa Rosa in 2021, Coffey Park looked good as new. The homes were new and pretty, the park had been rebuilt, everyone was back. Fountaingrove was still a mess of vacant lots and for sale signs—owners were sitting on properties they didn’t know what to do with.
9/ The parallels to Palisades/Eaton fires aren’t perfect. The market in Malibu will be stronger because it’s Malibu, and Altadena was an historic neighborhood, far more architecturally diverse and significant than Coffey Park.
10/ Even so, the broader point stands: it is very, very hard to predict how things shake out after a disaster, especially when you have housing and insurance markets that are already super tight.
11/ I spent this afternoon talking with folks who had gone back to their homes in Altadena, and a lot of them said they were blessed to have insurance. Most thought they would be able to rebuild, and they certainly wanted to come back, despite how bad the damage was.
First day of school, couldn’t find my kid. Douche principal comes out, tells me school is over, he isn’t going to bother looking. Guidance bitch tells me “maybe your kid didn’t want to go with you, she doesn’t have to.” Black guy, security guard, says to me ” been down your road, I will find her.” Guy found my kid, she was happy to see me.
It’s really funny, but the people that look like me are the nastiest ones, and the only ones that give/gave me a problem in life.
Schools are run by messed up people. OTOH some teachers are really wonderful.
I think the other thing California needs to do in the highly concentrated LGBTQ areas is to paint the fire hydrants in rainbow colors so that the first responders can be first to respond to these priority areas. Above all else, we want to ensure the DEI community is forever recognized and never forgotten.
Karen Bass just said ‘prosture’ instead of ‘posture’. Freudian slip? The other day she said ‘url’ instead of actually reading the web address. She did an O’Biden move. Sorry, you’re not qualified. And we all know guys like Newsome, he has ‘d0uchebag’ written all over himself.
For all of us fighting between Left and Right, I can’t get over the fact that the plastic who’s Newsom’s ex is Trump Jr’s fianceé. Not sure who’s the loser there.
LA shopping spree for the very wealthy.
Thank you except this part, which the would “many” made it sound instantly bizarre.
Although I never added Twitter in the first place.
RentL0rd says:
January 13, 2025 at 11:22 am
And if you are like the many who deleted X, here’s the text from that post:
Word not would
Condo:
Garner Brothers out of Bloomfield are my goto. If you can wait and want the highest quality job performed on a tricky repair/install, then it’s McCormick out of Montclair. But they are always booked for months.
For Snaking – Use Mike from Essex Drain and Sewer out of Caldwell.
I have a feeling a lot of Cryptocrats are gonna be moving to the Los Angeles hills.
Op-Ed WSJ
“Start with its environmental obsessions. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in 2019 sought to widen a fire-access road and replace old wooden utility poles in the Topanga Canyon abutting the Palisades with steel ones to make power lines fire- and wind-resistant. In the process, crews removed an estimated 182 Braunton’s milkvetch plants, an endangered species.
The utility halted the project as state officials investigated the plant destruction. More than a year later, the California Coastal Commission issued a cease-and-desist order, fined the utility $2 million, and required “mitigation” for the project’s impact on the species. This involved replacing “nonnative” vegetation with plants native to the state. You have to chuckle at the contradiction: California’s progressives want to expel foreign flora and fauna but provide a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. “
Chicago,
Maybe the post should do a little less exagerating and a little more investigating. That flamethrower was clearly an ethelyne torch used in construction. Again, all migrants are the devil. We know. I’m surprised our entire country isn’t deported.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bernzomatic-DuraCast-4000-Torch-Kit-with-14-1-oz-MAP-Pro-Cylinder-and-Premium-Blow-Torch-TS4000KC/203368730?
Phoenix, I have a story to tell about kids drop-off /pickup from school.
Many years ago, when security in schools was just getting tightened, I dropped off my elementary school kid for an early morning class and when I got home I learnt that the whole school was shut down because of a gunman. Some busses en-route to the school were stopped – nobody was allowed to approach the busses or get down from the busses. It was a full scale shutdown, and swat teams being called.
Then came the alerts on our phones – A man with a hat and a thick brown leather jacket entered the school from a back door and is in the building – likely hiding, and they were going to sweep the school.
With two of my kids in that school, my wife and I were obviously super concerned. As I thought about it further, it dawned on me that it was me who caused the mayhem.
It was a cold morning and the young-me had put on this thick leather jacket. And a hat that I often use to cover my receding hair. The teacher had told me to drop off our kid via the back door… it was unlocked then (unheard of in today’s super secure schools), and instead of exiting from the same door, I walked through the building and exited from the front door (which was closer to my parked car).
The cameras caught me entering, but did not catch me leaving.
I called the cops and said it could all be a big misunderstanding and the alarms were probably triggered because of me- and after getting all the details, they lifted the emergency.
Looking back it was funny, but not back then.
I wouldn’t say the schools are run by messed up people – it takes a lot. Teaching our entitled kids and dealing with them every day is no joke.
That was the torch? I use one of those for crème brûlée.
RentL0rd says:
January 13, 2025 at 11:22 am
“The fires were inevitable…If you farted, you could light up the place.”
Gee, what a surprise; the Dem stooges attempting to deflect blame. Yes, the fires were inevitable. What wasn’t inevitable, in fact what was once inconceivable in the modern era, is the complete destruction of one of this country’s major cities — on the scale not seen since the Chicago fire of 1871 or the San Fran earthquake/fire of 1906. Despite the gobbledygook spewed by the dopes that voted for Joe and Carmella, the only surprising thing about the LA fires is how much better the Dems have become at destroying cities; while it took them decades to destroy Detroit and years to trash San Fran, they’ve managed to destroy in LA in a week!
Ten year at $4.79 and crude at $81. Damn those immigrants.
Trump would have huffed and he would have puffed and then he would have blown all of the fires down. Or more likely, he would have paid a hooker to blow for him and then paid her hush money which he then would have accounted for it as a business expense.
Thx , Lib
Great times ahead.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/01/12/trump-military-immigration-domestic-deployment-00195609
https://photos.app.goo.gl/m1W6Erf5Coqxb2tf8
Good luck Condo.
Californians……
So one government agency in California fined another government agency $2 million dollars and got a cease and desist order for removing milkvetch plants while re-cutting an overgrown fire road to remove 90 year old wooden electrical poles on said fire road? Isn’t that whole area in flames now? Shouldn’t they fine them again for driving the fire equipment and bulldozers on that fire road now?
Here is the whole story from a few years ago. One incensed naturalist who hiked the man made fire road was pissed they were re-cutting the fire road and killed some endangered plants.
“Sometime in July, DWP crews used bulldozers to construct a graded road as part of a wildfire prevention project in the Pacific Palisades highlands. The project was aimed at protecting the area — some of the most
expensive coastal real estate in Southern California — by installing steel power poles more resistant to high winds and fire.
But in so doing, say state authorities, the crews potentially destroyed hundreds of Braunton’s milk vetch plants, an endangered species whose remaining numbers have dwindled to less than 3,000 in the wild, The Times reported.
The city utility had been alerted to the presence of the endangered plants on July 7 via an email sent by David Pluenneke, an amateur botanist and avid hiker. It thanked him for calling the issue to their attention, according to documents obtained by The Times.
Eight days later, Pluenneke visited the site and discovered that crews had removed all vegetation across several acres for a new dirt fire road, 24 feet wide. He was livid, and remains angry.
“It’s hard not to think that if there had been blue whales and panda bears up there, they would have bulldozed them, too,” Pluenneke said.
In its statement, the DWP said the agency needs to replace more than 200 deteriorating wooden power poles in an area stretching from Pacific Palisades to Lake Encino.”
https://lasentinel.net/investigations-continuing-into-dwp-destruction-of-endangered-plants.html
SmallGov, so you are saying Kamala Harris destroyed her own home in LA because of politics?
Dems can do no right. MAGA can do no wrong. Remember this.
You can pretty much dispell every single thing Trump says by remembering one simple sentence.
“While causation and correlation can exist simultaneously, correlation does not imply causation.”
MAGA minds can’t comeprehend this sentence. It’s like garlic to vampires.
I’ll tell ya folks we have all been witness to some insane events in the Country. 9/11 also comes to mind as systemic failure. Seems like we are really easy pickins’ as they say down south. It’s worrying to say the least. I will say that it is tough to imagine wanting to live on a hillside surrounded by bone dry dust. But the view from those hills must have been intoxicating.
“While causation and correlation can exist simultaneously, correlation does not imply causation.”
I’ll go one better:
“The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side!”
It is possible to mitagate the impact of brush fires by creating fire breaks, clearing away excess vegetation and not allowing building in high risk areas. Of course if you don’t have water coming out of the fire hydrants and totally mismanage your extensive resources then you‘re already starting out behind the 8 ball. But hey, I‘m sure the DEI programs in LA are top notch.
I wonder what MAGA is going to blame the earthquakes on?
Earthquakes, they’ll probably blame on climate change.
For no other reason than being a prick, please allow me to correct you, since I’ve never defined it exactly.
The on-the-run 10 Year Treasury is the 11/15/2034. Why? They won’t issue the 2/15/2035 until next month.
That bond is trading at 95.7969, as in $957.969 per $1,000 face.
The coupon on the bond is 4.25%. However, if you account for the $957.969 price, the 4.25% coupon payments (of $1,000) until (and including) maturity, the bond has a YTM (yield to maturity) of 4.7985%…..
FKA “Ten 479”
Libturd says:
January 13, 2025 at 2:47 pm
Ten year at $4.79 and crude at $81. Damn those immigrants.
Also add, purchaser receives $1,000 at maturity.
Interesting. You finance guys know it all.
I think they should get citizenship for this:
Mexican firefighters and emergency personnel have arrived in Los Angeles to help fight the fire. Gov. Gavin Newsom said 72 firefighters arrived Saturday, joining thousands of others battling the fires.
Blowing out the red fires is better deserving of citizenship than blowing orange man. Who can disagree?
Convicts as well deserve a break for fighting fires.
I thought that was their cover for looting?
LAX says:
January 13, 2025 at 6:46 pm
Convicts as well deserve a break for fighting fires.
https://www.climatedepot.com/2025/01/11/michael-shellenberger-its-ridiculous-to-blame-climate-change-for-the-lack-of-rain-in-la-theres-no-trend-in-annual-rainfall-from-1877-to-2024/
Fire Historian on NPR says we have to change the way “we live” taking down the hedges – building with fire safety in mind versus wherever and however the f’ we want to build.
Conditions on “Aid” wow that’s gotta sting.
There’s a lot of things where there is no noticeable or measurable change/correlation that they automatically assign responsibility to. Climatologists have an academic integrity issue, as does the rest of academia at this point. It’s pathetic.
Breaking news: China to sell Tiktok to Elon Musk.
All us agencies will now only communicate via TiXtok.
It took Hitler 53 days to dismantle Germany’s fragile democracy… TrumpMusk will do it faster. I should have gone to bed and not checked the news! I feel like puking.
BRT. It’s not the lack of rain. I agree with you there. Tangle puts it way more eloquently than I ever could.
Second, the patterns. When “flukish” events, like a huge wildfire in January, become common, they’re no longer flukes. The state’s weather patterns are changing, regardless of whether or not you believe climate change is causing them. However, if you don’t think that increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere resulting from human emissions are driving these changes, I urge you to interrogate that belief for bias. When climatologists tell us for decades that global temperatures will get warmer and cause wilder swings in precipitation and more extreme weather events (especially in the south and west of the United States), and then average global temperatures increase and extreme weather events become more common, their models are validated.
https://6abc.com/post/biggest-most-destructive-fires-california-history/15787046/?ref=readtangle.com
Climate change is real. What is causing it is still difficult to determine. Like what caused the ice age and the warming since? The climate definitely is changing.
Musk/Tiktok is a lie. I doubt it would meet approval anyway.
Musk gets an office just outside of the White House.
Trump says: “I got a pond and a pool”… pond be good for you. “
Trump Report verrrrry damning. The guy is filthy
History will not be kind.
BREAKING NEWS!
Special Counsel Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case
The report, which said the special counsel’s office stood “fully behind” the merits of the prosecution, amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of the president-elect.
Very Stable Genius says:
January 14, 2025 at 2:20 am
“Special Counsel Report…”
CorruptJoe to issue blanket pardon for his corrupt henchman Jerk Smith in 3, 2, 1…
Libturd says:
January 13, 2025 at 11:37 pm
“Climate change is real”
No kidding — did you know the Watchung Mountains were once buried under 2000ft of ice!!! But what does that have to do with the man-made fires (none were started by lighting strikes) that have destroyed LA because of the incompetent Dems that run the place?
https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/njgws/enviroed/infocirc/glacial.pdf