Former ‘Million Dollar Listing’ star and Los Angeles real estate agent Josh Altman said Friday on Fox Business Network’s “Varney Co.” a lack of adequate home insurance was the main reason 70% of Pacific Palisades residents won’t return.
Guest host David Asman said, “I heard a figure 70% of Palisades residents would not return after the fires there. What does that mean for the county?”
Altman said, Yeah, David, thanks for having me again. I want to preface that statement and explain it a little bit. They’re not gonna not return because they don’t want to return. Of course, they want to go back there. For every one person leaving the Palisades, there’s another five that would love to be there.”
He added, “They’re not going to return because it’s simple math. 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 cost of construction, lumber, steel, we’re talking about a thousand-a-foot building in the Palisades and in Malibu, 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. That’s what I’m saying.”
He added, “I don’t know if they’ll be able to do it with the insurance. ”
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