Los Angeles could be closed to new construction due to fire, earthquake and coastal erosion zones. What will this do to prices of existing homes?

Photo above – The Beverly Hillbillies mansion. Worth $195 million today. It’s unknown what Jed Clampett paid for it in 1962 when he moved from Limestone, Tennessee. However, Jed put most of his $25 million fortune in the Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills, so the mansion probably sold for a low 7 figure number.

Okay, last year brushfires destroyed 16,000 homes in Los Angeles County. Governor Newsom’s response was to fast-track permits and approvals to rebuild in the same spots. Does anyone see a problem here?

The fire danger zone in California is now the size of Georgia. That doesn’t include the earthquake zones and the coastal erosion zones. (see link below)

Some people leaving for safer and more affordable states. Some people are still arriving in California. Unfortunately, a high percentage of new arrivals are either migrants or low-income Americans needing assistance from city, county, and state agencies.

When you run short of something, the price goes through the roof. This is true whether you talk about gold, land, or beluga caviar. And the median home price in California – the entire state, not just Los Angeles – is already around $1 million.

I don’t think this is a problem that can be fixed with higher real estate taxes, Or higher fire insurance premiums, or hiking personal income taxes again. And suggestions like a $30 minimum wage for burger flippers and cashiers could make things worse. $30 an hour looks like a windfall to someone in Chattanooga Tennessee or Chihuahua Mexico. The kinfolk said "Jed move away from there . . . Californy is the place you ought to be . . . "

The owners of those existing million-dollar California homes are lobbying local officials to stop construction of low-income apartments adjacent to their picturesque, crime free neighborhoods. But that sort of high rise housing is really the only feasible solution though: tear down a bunch of one and two story buildings and replace them with something 20 stories high, and which blocks the sun or the view of the ocean.

This isn't a recommendation from me. But it's a prediction of how this could play out. If you have a better idea, please share it.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

California Is Running Out of Safe Places to Build Homes Due to Fires, Rising Seas

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SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@DeWayfarer i'm going to be satiric/ironic here.

i don't find any part of the constitution or bill of rights that establishes "fire prevention" as an essential government function.

If someone wants to live in an area that regularly burns to the ground, why should OTHER taxpayers subsidize those risks/insurance costs?

Same goes with beachfront mcmansions. why do we have federal flood insurance to subsidize vacation homes for the wealthy?

Let people pay for what they want to own, rather than taking from the poor and giving to the rich

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

@SusanInFlorida we don't follow each other so separate tagging off comments notifications are not received.

Would you be interested in a very long AI conversation regarding the costs of a similar system?

I actually purposely left out any federal funding. So no constitutional issues! 🙃

I think you would be surprised at how low the cost would be!

Especially considering the LA fire areas.

No more than 50% local or state funding would be used and in some cases the owner of the property would bear 80% of the costs!

Roundandroundwego · 61-69

@SusanInFlorida the "general welfare" is very vague! Fires can be good! You go with that!

beckyromero · 36-40, F

Marilyn Monroe purchased her 23,200-square-foot Brentwood home in 1962 for $75,000.

12305 5th Helena Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049

It sold for $7.25 million in 2017.

The Chartwell Estate in Bel Air, used for the exterior shots in The Beverly Hillbillies, sold for $150 million in 2019.

875 Nimes Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90077

So, a reasonable guess might be that Jed paid around $1.5 million for it in 1962.

(Arnold Kirkeby purchased the mansion for approximately $250,000 in 1945).

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

California was never big on fire prevention. It never wanted to build the infrastructure. Like 10,000 gallon water tanks.

Yet infrastructure must come first before rebuilding ANYTHING.

Come on folks a 8 foot heigh by 24 foot diameter tanks are not that big. You have one on every property! Sink in the ground if they are a eye sore.

End of new 1,000 gallon fire trucks that cost between 300,000 to $600,000 each. Far more if they are only 3,000 gallon water tankers.

Crazywaterspring · 61-69, M

There isn't much land in California that can be built on. Much of the land belongs to the federal government.

NIMBYs are everywhere.

Roundandroundwego · 61-69

California will nix all its regulations and just build in cities and towns.

jackjjackson · M

45% of CA land is owned by the federal Bureau of Land Management.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@jackjjackson and they want to sell a lot of it. caveat emptor, if you're buying land in a fire zone, flood zone, earthquake zone . . . or anyplace in california, which scientists assure us will fall into the sea entirely, sooner or later

jackjjackson · M

🤣 Most of it is desert. @SusanInFlorida

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