The owners of scores of torched homes from Altadena to the Pacific Palisades are cashing out.
A forecast landslide of listings related to the January firestorms that burned more than 12,000 homes in Los Angeles County has picked up speed, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In late January, the first vacant lot was put up for sale in Altadena. Then more than a dozen lots were listed last month in the Pacific Palisades for between $2 million and $8 million, with the first lot closing at $1.2 million.
Now the floodgates appear to have opened, according to the Times. Owners of blackened lots are increasingly choosing to sell rather than slog through the time-consuming and costly task of rebuilding.
“There [are] so many to choose from,” Jeremy Hardy, a broker with Craig Estates & Fine Properties, told the Times.
As of early Monday, there were 49 burned lots listed in Pacific Palisades, and 32 up for sale in Altadena, according to Zillow.
The reasons for choosing to sell are varied, real estate agents say. Some owners don’t think they have the money to rebuild, while others are aging and don’t want their last years tied up with construction.
Some with rental properties concluded that keeping them wasn’t worth the hassle.
Most of those interested in acquiring the burned lots are developers, agents say. Builders generally have the cash to buy vacant land. They can also put up with time, aggravation and costs associated with construction.
“Building a house is one of the most complex and highly regulated activities you possibly can engage in,” Brock Harris, a Keller Williams agent with the first scorched lot listing in Altadena, which sold to a builder, told the Times.
A rush by developers could help neighborhoods build back quicker.
They’re also raising concerns about gentrification and whether longtime owners are getting a fair price for their lots. In middle-class Altadena, residents proclaimed, “Altadena is not for sale.”
At least eight burned lots have been sold in the area with most selling for between $500,000 and $600,000, according to Zillow. Agents said the lots are going for two-thirds of what the typical land fetched before the fire.
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