LA fires: 'Million Dollar Listing' stars raise alarm about illegal price gouging
2025-01-15
Category: entertainment

"Million Dollar Listing" stars Josh Flagg and Josh Altman are already getting to work attempting to help the victims of the Los Angeles fires navigate the real estate market after losing their homes. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Flagg addressed concerns over illegal price gouging within the rental and housing market. "Well, the thing is, you know, I don't know the exact laws, but there are legal consequences for price gouging. For example, if the house was on the market prior to this happening, and then you just raise it five times the price during a natural disaster, that's against the law," Flagg said.  He continued, "So, what people are doing and, to not do it illegally, is… people that were not marketing their homes before are just now taking advantage because you can ask whatever you want for a house. You just can't do it, then a natural disaster happens, and then you triple the price. That's the problem." CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES: ESSENTIAL PHONE NUMBERS FOR LOS ANGELES-AREA RESIDENTS AND HOW YOU CAN HELP THEM Homes in Pacific Palisades and Altadena have been demolished after the Los Angeles fires. Both the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire remain active in Los Angeles County, according to Cal Fire. "Well, the thing is, you know, I don't know the exact laws, but there are legal consequences for price gouging. For example, if the house was on the market prior to this happening, and then you just raise it five times the price during a natural disaster, that's against the law." Per Cal Fire, more than 12,000 homes, businesses and schools have been lost to the fires and more than 100,000 people have had to leave their homes. According to Flagg, there is not enough inventory in Los Angeles for all the people who have been displaced.   "This is why there's like, you know, open houses with a line around the block of people. There's just not enough inventory. A lot of my clients have investment properties, so you fill up the investment properties. I mean, look, at the end of the day, it's not like these people are going to be on the streets. "Right now, this is very scary. But at the end of the day, there will be a place for everyone to go. It's just determining that now and everyone's scrambling. It's like any disaster. In the beginning, it's a nightmare and then everything just works itself out. But it's not fun while you're waiting," he continued. WATCH: 'Million Dollar Listing' star Josh Flagg raises alarm about illegal price gouging  Flagg's former "Million Dollar Listing" co-star, Josh Altman, told Fox News Digital the housing market is "madness" on the heels of the Los Angeles fires. LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS "It's way worse than you could ever imagine," he said. "My friends and people with the police force that I'm friends with that have toured it just said it's something you have to see to really even try to wrap your head around. And it's a hundred times worse in real life than you can imagine by just watching it on TV or on the internet or on Instagram or TikTok."   Altman explained that since the election, the real estate market has been "a little quiet," but it started to pick up before the fires. Now there are thousands of people in the market and not by choice. "There's not a lot of inventory to begin with, and now all of a sudden you have a thousand-plus new people in the market, whether they're buying or renting, depending on their financial situation and depending on their family situation," Altman said. WATCH: Josh Altman calls aftermath of Palisades Fire 'madness'  "It's going to be years till this gets fixed up, the houses get finished. I mean, it's going to be two years to build a house. It's going to be a year to get permits. And then are you going to want to live among 10 other houses on the street that are being developed as you lived there with your children? "So they immediately then just go into a three-year lease. That's it. And then you go into the people who just say, 'You know what? My kids are 5. They're going to be 10 by the time this comes back together. They're going to be in different schools. So we're not even going to go back there. We're going to get the insurance money. We're going to buy a house, and we're going to sell the land.' So that's really what I'm seeing across the board mostly right now," Altman explained. Altman shared with Fox News Digital a letter, penned by Jason Oppenheim and Ben Belack, to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, calling for "practical adjustments" to the current California laws that affect those who have been displaced.   Oppenheim and Belack requested that the California Fair Plan Insurance should increase their coverage to $6 million and include liability insurance. They also requested that any person who has suffered from losing their home and looking to sell their land should be exempt from the mansion tax (ULA transfer tax).&nbsp; WATCH: Josh Flagg says there's 'not enough' inventory within the housing market in Los Angeles following fires  They also requested that property taxes should be paused for any properties affected by fire until the property is "rebuilt, or immediately re-assessed at land value." Oppenheim and Belack's letter gained 48 endorsements, including signatures from Altman and Mauricio Umansky.   Umansky, founder and CEO of The Agency, a real estate and brokerage firm primarily located in Southern California, told Fox News Digital they have been working hard to get housing for displaced clients who live in places like Pacific Palisades. Umansky also starred in the Netflix reality series "Buying Beverly Hills." He said 25 staff members and agents there have also lost their homes.&nbsp; "It's just been extremely difficult to deal with that," he said. "On top of that, we do have offices directly where everything is happening in the Altadena Fire, the Pacific Palisades Fire, the one up in Malibu, and we have a tremendous amount of clientele, colleagues, friends, brothers, sisters that have all been affected by the fires. Obviously, the most devastating is the complete loss of a home and the people being displaced and evacuated and not being able to go home."  He said the people left homeless need the most help in finding a place to stay.&nbsp; "And that's what we do for a living," he said, adding that they are also imploring landlords not to take advantage of the desperate situation.  He added, "And that humanity has been amazing. People have just been wanting to be helpful for the most cases."&nbsp; WATCH: 'Million Dollar Listing' star Josh Altman says it will take 'years' for Pacific Palisades to rebuild after fire  His team has also brainstormed about how to unlock more housing during the crisis.&nbsp; "There's definitely going to be a shortage of housing going on, particularly short-term housing and rentals and all of that stuff. And, you know, we have asked a bunch of our developers in Los Angeles, new development developers that are sitting with vacant homes and unsellable condominiums, to think about opening up those condos and to opening up that inventory to short-term rentals."  He said they've also been talking to staging companies about how to ge those homes furnished faster.&nbsp; The Agency is also helping clients file claims with their insurance company. WATCH: Realtor Jason Oppenheim explains how he's trying to help those affect by the California fires  "A lot of these people are really, really struggling with their minds and their mindset, and they're not able to think, they're affected," he explained. "They're frantic. The calls are intense, and we're just trying to do as much thinking for them as possible and just be, you know, really empathetic."&nbsp; He said they have a large clientele base in the affected areas, and they are collaborating with the rest of the real estate community.&nbsp; CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER "This is not about who's better or who's not," he said. "This is about all of us getting together to help the community, to help our community where we live, where we have our brothers and sisters. And so we're working with all of the real estate agencies. This is a collaborative effort."  He said people who have available guest houses or spare rooms can help in the crisis by taking people in. "There's going to be a tremendous amount of people out there looking for homes," he said. "There's a frenzy. There's multiple applications for the same homes right now. And, you know, I just implore that, you know, nobody takes advantage. So far, humanity has been very good." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital's Emily Trainham contributed to this report.