LA real estate guru reveals No. 1 reason why some wildfire victims wont return

After making a shocking prediction that up to 70% of Pacific Palisades residents won’t return to rebuild and live in their homes, former “Million Dollar Listing” real estate agent Josh Altman is explaining exactly why.“They’re not going to not return because they don’t want to return.Of course they want to go back there… They’re not going to return because it’s simple math,” Altman said on “FOX Business Live,” Friday.“I don’t believe they’re going to be able to afford to rebuild with most of the people that are heavily underinsured, with the costs of construction, lumber, steel.

We’re talking about a $1,000 [per] foot building in the Palisades and in Malibu.”Southern California has been grappling with a surge of wildfires since Jan.7.

Over 50,000 acres have been scorched, 28 people have been killed and upwards of 16,000 homes and buildings have been completely lost.President Donald Trump declared a national emergency Friday after touring the devastation in Los Angeles with residents who were personally impacted by the disastrous event.Early estimates put the total financial loss of the wildfires in the $50 billion range, according to AccuWeather and JPMorgan.Leading up to the fires, several insurance companies either fled, stopped writing new policies or reduced coverage in the Golden State.“And that’s on top of getting a construction crew to show up to your site when there’s 16,000 structures that have been burned between houses, schools, commercial spaces.

It’s a disaster,” Altman expanded.“That’s what I’m saying, I don’t know that they’ll be able to do it with the insurance.”Newsom signed off on a relief package where the state will spend $2.5 billion to help with wildfire recovery.But Altman wants Newsom to take his response a step further by removing bureaucratic roadblocks that make building homes in California timely and costly.“The recipe for success is going to be cutting the red tape.

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