The first vacant lot in Altadena was put on sale at the end of January. The list promised a “great opportunity to build” after Eaton fire Has destroyed the house previously on the site.
A few weeks later, half a dozen additional lists. Now the valves seem open.
“There are so many choices,” said Jeremy Hardy, a real estate agent at Craig Estates and Fine Properties.
Two months after fires that won the County of Los Angeles and destroyed or seriously damaged more than 12,000 housesThe owners of Altadena and Pacific Palisades are increasingly selling their burnt lots rather than undertaking a long and expensive reconstruction process.
Monday morning, there were 49 burnt lots for sale in Pacific Palisades, according to Zillow. In Altadena, there were 32.
Real estate officers said their customers who had chosen to sell or debate it for various reasons. Some doubt that they have money to rebuild. Others are elderly and do not want their last years to be consumed by construction. Some had had rental properties and decided to keep them not worth the hassles.
Many – if not most – people interested in buying burnt lots have been developers, according to the agents.
It may not be surprising. Vacant land is generally purchased with money. Construction takes time, stressful and costly in normal times, not to mention a disaster area with toxic waste.
Many for sale in East Marigold Street's 400 block in Altadena.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
“The construction of a house is one of the most complex and regulated activities in which you can commit,” said Brock Harris, a real estate agent of Keller Williams who had the first list of burnt lots in Altadena, who sold a manufacturer.
The developer influx could help communities to resume more quickly. But that also fears the gentrification and if the long -standing owners have obtained a fair price. These concerns are particularly high Middle class Altadena Where residents have proclaimed that “Altadena is not for sale” through panels and rallies.
According to Zillow, at least eight burnt lots were sold in Altadena, most of the $ 500,000 at $ 600,000.
Lisa Haussler, a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker who lost his House Altadena in the fire, believes that these lots are sold about two thirds of what the land would have recovered before the fire. Haussler said that even if she understood why people want to sell now, she recommends taking a break – at least until cleaning is in progress and that it is easier to attract higher offers.
She said that the factors buy shows they believe that there is money to be earned.
“For our customers, we really advise to take a beat and see what is going on,” said Haussler, who plans to rebuild his house.
In the years preceding fires, the prices of the houses of Altadena climbed, which stimulated the richness of existing owners, but also evaluated many people who grew up here.
Many for sale in Emerson Way's Block 2900 in Altadena.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Research suggests that the values of the houses could still degenerate. Experts in disaster recovery say that it is generally people of more modest means that wall In the reconstruction process and end up selling their lots to high -income developers and people who build more expensive houses.
In the process, fire victims can see their wealth stripped if they are sold too low, especially if they were under-assured.
Heavenly Hughes, who grew up in Altadena, said that taking into account the disparities in the nation's income, she has a particular concern about the city Longtime black communitywhich already decreased because of the pre-fire gentrification and saw its houses seriously damaged or destroyed at higher rates that the other groups during the fire.
“Are we going, as a black community, be destroyed?” said Hughes, who directs the organization of mutual aid focused on the black my tribe.
Nicole Lambrou, professor of urban planning at Cal Poly Pomona, studied reconstruction efforts in Paradise, California, where the camp fire destroyed more than 80% of the city's houses in 2018.
She and her colleagues from UC Merced and the UCLA found that five years after destruction, income, education levels and house prices were all higher.
“Everyone told us that there is just a new demography of people who move,” said Lambrou.
The process would begin with sales of lots.
Berkshire Hathaway agent Kurt Frejlach said he had about four offers – all developers – on nearly 9,000 square feet that he listed for $ 625,000.
He said that his client's mother had left the property before fires in an assisted life center and that the family decided to sell after the house burned and “before the market was flooded with prizes”.
The lot sold last month for $ 680,000. Frejlach said that he did not know exactly what the winning tenderer would build, but he estimated that they would spend $ 600,000 to build a house and sell it for $ 1.7 million, about $ 300,000 more than Zillow estimated that the now burned house was worth before fires.
Lambrou said that policies that limit absent property could blunt gentrification, but some agents have declared that developers played a necessary role, as many owners may not have the resources to rebuild.
“You don't want to live in a neighborhood where you just have empty land everywhere,” said Ramiro Rivas, a agency real estate agent who is also a member of the Altadena Town and Country Club, who burned. “The real estate community, we do not try to sell the properties of under the people – people contact personally because they need this help.”
Hughes of My Tribe Rise said that she was working to help the community in a different way.
She said she was trying to match fire victims with non -profit organizations that can offer funding to help people keep their land. She also tries to match people who really need to sell with people from Altadena Who wants to buy.
“We want them to have options,” said Hughes, “to let them know that this is available.”
