Los Angeles Realtor Reveals Reason Pacific Palisades Residents Don’t Return

After making a shocking prediction that up to 70% of Pacific Palisades residents You won’t be rebuilding and living in your homes again, former “Million Dollar Listing” real estate agent Josh Altman is explaining exactly why.

“They’re not going to go back because they don’t want to go back. Of course, they want to go back there…they’re not going to go back because it’s simple math,” Altman said on “Fox Business Live,” Friday.

“I don’t think they can afford to rebuild with most people being very underinsured, with construction costs, lumber, steel. We’re talking about a $1,000 (per) foot building in the palisades and in Malibu.”

Southern California has been dealing with a rash of wildfires since January 7. More than 50,000 acres have been burned, 28 people have been killed and more than 16,000 homes and buildings have been completely lost.

THE Celebrity Broker is blaming ‘bad’ apples for bushfires, urging them to ‘get their act together’

President donald trump declared a national emergency on Friday after touring the devastation in Los Angeles with residents who were personally affected by the disastrous event.

Former “Million Dollar Listing” star Josh Altman argues that the main reason up to 70% of Pacific Palisades residents won’t return home is due to expensive building and insurance costs, on “Fox Business “Live”. (Foxbusiness)

Early estimates put the total financial loss from the wildfires in the range of $50 billion, according to Accuweather and JPMorgan. Before the fires, several insurance companies fled, stopped writing new policies or reduced coverage in the Golden State.

“And that’s on top of a construction crew showing up to your site when there are 16,000 structures that have burned between homes, schools, commercial spaces. It’s a disaster,” Altman expanded. “That’s what I’m saying, I don’t know if they can do it with insurance.”

Newsom signed 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 the bureaucratic hurdles that make building homes in California timely and expensive.

“The recipe for success will be to cut through the bureaucracy. Building a house, the process in California, which is shrouded in bureaucracy, is absolutely impossible: one year to get permits; you have the coastal commission, which could be another two years.

“There have been a lot of ordinances and a lot of things at the state and local level that have to go. The mansion tax, that was the worst tax ever passed,” Altman continued. “Get rid of it for all the people who lost their homes. The wildlife ordinance, get rid of it. Start cutting the bureaucracy. That’s how we’re going to make (a) Los Angeles strong again.”

The real estate expert, who spoke before the president’s visit, hoped that Trump seeing the devastation with his own eyes would lead to more federal aid and assistance.

Get Fox Business on the Go by Clicking Here

“You have to see it. I’ve walked the palisades, I’ve walked to Malibu. It’s a lot worse in person than you could imagine. I hope that opens up funding at the federal level.”

Critical fire conditions decreased throughout the regionFriday, with isolated pockets of rain expected over the weekend. Beneficial rain will reach coverage on Sunday, but could trigger landslides in chine areas.

Read more from Fox Business

Stepheny Price of Fox News and Chris Oberholtz of Fox Weather contributed to this report.