California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to protect Los Angeles County victims of the ongoing wildfires from predatory land speculators offering unsolicited cash offers to purchase their property.
In a statement from the governor’s office, the executive order is designed to allow the state to hold these predatory speculators accountable through stronger enforcement and prosecution. It also directs the Department of Real Estate and other state agencies to provide notice to the public of their rights under the law, resources for more information. California law makes it a misdemeanor to violate a Governor’s order during a state of emergency, which can be prosecuted by the Attorney General or local district attorneys.
Newsom’s office acknowledged the executive order is modeled on a similar order issued by Hawaii Governor Josh Green to preserve local communities and protect residents from exploitation after the Maui wildfires in August 2023. Earlier this week, Newsom waived the state’s environmental laws in areas impacted by the wildfires to expedite the rebuilding of damaged and destroyed properties.
“As families mourn, the last thing they need is greedy speculators taking advantage of their pain,” said Newsom. “I have heard first-hand from community members and victims who have received unsolicited and predatory offers from speculators offering cash far below market value — some while their homes were burning. We will not allow greedy developers to rip off these working-class communities at a time when they need more support than ever before.”
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
He made the right Call!!
I don’t agree with Nescum. It is one thing to warn people, but who is he to tell people what they can sell their Real Estate for??
Read the story. He never told them what to sell for. Your reading comprehension is typical for MAGA!
Not Maga. I read the story and saw it in the news, I am well informed.
He is trying to meddle in “Fair market value”. California Government needs to stay out of Real Estate.
They lie, example: The “Mansion Tax”, which it’s real name is the “Homelessness and Housing Solutions Tax” to deceive people to vote for it. (You would know this if you have done any deal above $5M)
He already let our City burn to the ground. You may want to sit this one out “John”
I applaud Governor Newsom! And there is no reason to call names.
I understand the good intentions but making an offer to buy someone’s property and having them accept the offer is not “predatory.” It seems more predatory of the government to now limit the buying pool by making potential buyers afraid of litigation. And it will become near impossible to figure out the “market value” of those lots in the state they are in. The market value is simply the junction of what an informed reasonable seller will offer and what an informed reasonable buyer will accept.
For those that their insurance was cancelled and they still have a mortgage to pay, their saving grace might be a quick sale. People should consult an agent or appraiser before selling and not take below market in most circumstances anyway.
If the developers are afraid to bid for fear of prosecution, the prices could lower and re-development could be slowed down. This is the law of unintended consequences.
David, Perhaps we should allow Victims to recover before they make the decision to Sell? Once they contact their Lender to see what options are available, it MAY be their best choice.
CAR has compiled resources for the victims including mortgages, taxes, etc.
I can see why some do not like the Newsom anti-predatory buying law in the L.A. fire zones, but I also can see why that law is a good idea. The fact is that no one knows yet exactly how all these fires started because investigations will take quite a while to conclude.
My view is that arson is a strong possibility because there were NO lightening storms afoot, and the fires seemed perfectly timed with the weather warnings of high winds, a gemstone time for an arsonist to light a match.
Fires do not just start out of nowhere. You need oxygen, a fuel source (kindling such as dry wood), and some kind of heat source that is sufficiently hot enough to light the fuel (a spark, a hot cigarette, a blow torch, hot embers, lava, etc.). Forests, dry brush zones, and homes do not just burst into flames because the daytime temperature climbs to 115 degrees. These recent fires started in cool weather anyway.
Per Cal Fire info, about 95% of fires in California are caused by humans, whether through an intentional act of ARSON, a downed power line, or a backyard barbeque party or fireworks celebration gone awry.
Now, there are mandatory stop work orders in many areas to reduce the chances of other fires being ignited by outdoor machinery, etc.
Arson is a possible reason why some or all of these fires started, so it is prudent to rein in predatory offers because it is very easy to see that someone might set fires precisely to set up a panic for sellers to sell at low prices. That scenario is similar to scare tactics used in the past to try to get sellers to sell at low prices to developers.
After investigations are over, then lifting some of those restrictions would make sense.
Them’s me thoughts.
For once he is right. This predatory nature by investors, wholesalers like Sellers Advantage and others pay ridiculously low prices to people that are not educated or distressed. Most of the time they are not the actual buyers and just flip immediately for profit. Had they just put on market the right way they would always get more money and still sell as-is and set their own closing date. These companies need to be investigated
Properties and people impacted by these wildfires need help now, financial help too.
Why the reluctance from the incoming administration and several republicans calling for “atonement” from Californians before any emergency funds are doled out. That is shear Chutzpah!
NO such atonement request has ever been asked from other states hit by disasters (Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South & North Carolina, Virginia, etc). Yes, all those states allowed very poor planning and building within known flood risk areas and in close proximity to known tidal flooding. Many buildings were built in sub-standard ways despite the reality of hurricane zones.
Texas even allowed entire subdivisions to be built within an Army Corp. of Engineers flood basin that was designed to hold flood waters in large rainstorm events. Yet, the Feds and other taxpayers, literally, bailed out Texans damaged by those floods. Those people needed help, so they got help, a lot of help. Many of those people never knew that their homes were built within a known, planned for, flood basin.
Yes, California has had a long history of unwise, even stupid land and water management policies, but that is just the extension of 500 years of stupid land management policies throughout the U.S. and in every state.
Remember the toxic rivers catching on fire in the 1960’s? Lots of dead fish floating in them. But taxpayer funded super fund funding was spent to clean up toxic and burning waters all over the country.
This is NOT just a California problem; it’s a problem everywhere.
Why withhold financial assistance to impacted people in this L.A. region fire disaster? Why now?
Remember 2008? Remember the Billions upon Billions upon Billions that were handed out to the Wall Street crowd, the ones who had engineered a near global financial collapse? There was NO atonement demanded from Wall Street before they got their bailout bucks. Quite the opposite happened.
The massive TARP bailout bill (under the last few months of the Bush/Cheney administration) was rushed through in emergency sessions under the constant brow beating of that administration who fueled panic over a global financial meltdown (worse than 1929).
No requirements were demanded for damages. No requirements that executive bonuses be denied. Nope. The Wall Street gang used the TARP funds to give themselves huge bonuses for doing a crappy and criminal job. Bloomberg later revealed on-going, Zero interest loans to Wall Street even as homeowners fell into foreclosure, some resulting in long term financial harm and even suicides.
So do not pretend that California needs to atone for these wildfires.
Yes, every state needs to self-exam the poor planning policies that put people, properties, and wildlands at greater risk of disasters, but that is a nationwide problem.
During the crisis you help people, and later, you take time to re-examine policies and work for better planning.
Several commenters criticize or support politicians and policies as this L.A. fire crisis opens up another cycle of costly and painful damage, but I hope people don’t sprain their digits with all the finger pointing.
Sure, I get it.
Jabby finger pointing, yelling, throwing tomatoes; it is a stress reliever for the pointer (not the pointee), and, hey, I admit I have my petty side; I love a good verbal throw down ….What a rush!
It’s all so blissfully satisfying to blame others, the politicians, and all the questionable planning policies, so, you know, go for it!
Criticism can be helpful.
Vent ‘til your spent!
But I invite you (when your fingers need a cool down) to consider a more enlightening reveal of WHY we continue to have recurring DAMAGE from droughts, wildfires, floods, storm surges, avalanches, hurricanes (and their more tightly-wound cousins, tornadoes), high winds, heat waves, freeze waves, and even earthquakes.
Step back and consider a few obvious factors (and their roles in “disasters”).
1) Gravity is a thing. It even affects time.
WOAH! NO WAY! (Yes, Way!)
Rocks will fall, landslides will slide, tides will do their tidings, all thanks to gravity.
If you don’t believe me, drop a bowling ball from 3 feet above your toe. Gravity happens. Ouch!
2) Water will always flow downhill.
Shocking, isn’t it? (oh, gravity; it’s you again!)
3) Water will flow uphill too!
Wait just a darn tootin’ minute, Missy! What about that thar #2?
RU funnin’ with us? Mmmm….Yes, I am. But, it’s still true.
Gravity is a weak (if persistent) force, and low pressure can overcome gravity, creating a suction force to pull water uphill (think low pressure hurricanes & tide surges and how barometers work),,
or Knott’s Berry Farm and the water channel trick, but that’s a trick, not low pressure).
4) Earth’s natural events (inc. natural disasters) have happened before and will happen again.
5) Earth’s natural events are really just amazing harmonic cycles of balancing various forces.
That’s a good thing.
If earth held back its balancing acts, we would be in really big trouble.
6) Disasters (natural or human-caused) are labeled disasters mostly when they impact things we value.
7) Humans now live, work, play, farm, extract, and explore nearly everywhere, including on and in the oceans and even in the deepest oceans. When Earth gulps, farts, belches, twitches, cries, blows, or just is just being itself, we humans (and our endless stuff) are bound to be in the way.
8) Humans have a knack for putting ourselves and our stuff right out in front of natural events that we know will happen. We taunt with nature and frisk with risk and feign shock when we are harmed.
9) Humans have dramatically altered Earth’s natural balancing systems (to our detriment too).
10) NO ONE PERSON is solely to blame for damages caused by natural disasters and human-caused disasters.
To insinuate that is an absurd grasp at fantasy.
All of us contribute in some way or another to the problems, large or small, intentionally or not.
11) Poor planning (land, water, resources, buildings, etc.) has been a recurring problem since humans first grew those blamey fingers and set out to conquer nature with little regard for nature’s patterns.
12) Grand (even well-intended) solutions often create more (and bigger) problems.
13) Damages & Costs can be greatly reduced IF we work with nature’s patterns, not against them.
14) Political attacks rarely result in beneficial solutions, even if it feels awesome to strike a solid punch.
Case Study Examples:
Trump did NOT cause climate warming
(Newsom once blamed Trump in a moment of inane vacuity).
Newsom did NOT cause wildfire damage
(Trump has blamed Newsom in a moment of, well, Trump.)
This nonsense is all political theater and should be slapped down like an annoying Nile-virus-laden mosquito. It’s baldly false even under the shallowest examination.
Neither of these politicians should be blamed entirely for problems that have existed long before their birth and will continue long after they leave office and die. Sure, both have personal and political impacts that contribute to problems, but so do all of us, so did our ancestors, so will our descendants!
15) The political mud slinging is getting a bit boring (and not helpful).
OK, sometimes it makes me laugh, but I’m not saying that’s helpful.
16) There is hope to do better and suffer less (for humans and for all other species too).
We can behave more smartly (did I say that correctly?)
17) Native Americans are one treasure trove for learning how they adapted thru some difficult times.
No culture is perfect, but after over 10,000 years in the Americas, they got pretty good at resource management and even had practices that enhanced nature’s carrying capacity, so much so that when Europeans stumbled upon 2 continents, they were astounded at the jaw-dropping resources in fine condition.
In the 1400 and 1500’s, Europe was in dire straights and needing resources from the Americas and an outlet valve for its huge populations (some rich and many more poor), and land management in the Americas was seen as a ZERO priority situation, and we know what happened after that.
Despite some improvements in resource planning and management in some areas, we still are mostly in that pattern of exploitation and arrogance, and we will continue to see and suffer from disasters of our own making until we learn to respect, nurture, steward, and live within nature’s patterns and limitations.
I have not given up hope. Disasters can be reduced, a lot.