like Los Angeles wildfires As it continues to cause widespread devastation, many celebrity real estate agents are trying to find new places for clients to live.
“I've been looking at the MLS (directory) trying to help families displaced by the fires find properties to rent.” Sunset sale star Jason Oppenheim He said On Instagram story Video from January 2025. “I see dozens of examples of people trying to do things like this, where they can't come up with $9,500 or even $9,000 and then yesterday they raised the rent by over 30 percent to $12,000.”
The Oppenheim Group founder noted that although he “supports free market capitalism,” he believes that rising costs are the result of people “blatantly exploiting” the natural disaster.
California has an anti-price gouging law, which means it is illegal to raise costs during emergency situations.
Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic; John Kobaloff/Getty Images Several reality TV personalities evacuated Los Angeles amid ongoing wildfires that started in the Pacific Palisades area on Tuesday, January 7. “My heart goes out to those affected by the fires here in Los Angeles County,” former Bachelorette Katie Thurston wrote. via Instagram Story on Wednesday, January 8. “Wake up this (…)
“The Legislature hereby finds that during a state of emergency or local emergency, including, but not limited to, earthquake, flood, fire, riot, storm, drought, plant or animal infestation or disease, or epidemic or epidemic disease outbreak , or other natural or man-made disasters, some merchants unfairly exploited consumers by significantly increasing the prices of essential consumer goods and services. Penal Code Article 396 He reads. “While the pricing of consumer goods and services is generally best left to the market under normal circumstances, when a declared state of emergency or local emergency results in abnormal market disruptions, the public interest requires excessive and unjustified increases in the prices of goods and services.” “Essential consumer goods and services are prohibited.”
The law further discloses that any violation is a misdemeanor offense punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for less than one year, a fine of less than $10,000, or a combination of both penalties.
Despite the state's legal ruling, many local realtors still find that landlords are overpricing their properties In the middle of forest fires. Keep scrolling to see what the stars had to say:
Jason Oppenheim
Jason Oppenheim
Steve Granitz/Film Magic“There are price gouging laws in California that are being ignored right now, and this is not the time to take advantage of situations,” Oppenheim said. He told the BBC In January 2025. “Everyone has tears in their eyes all day, literally from the smoke but also because it's touching to see people suffering like this.”
Oppenheim's mediation also did so She donated her services To help displaced clients find places to stay at no additional charge.
Chrishell Stause
Chrishell Stause
JC Oliveira/WireImageOn her Instagram Stories on January 10, 2025, Oppenheim's colleague called this behavior “disgusting.”
“Other landlords who have a moral compass, let’s inform the board,” she said.
In a follow-up post, Stause noted that she continued to see examples of price gouging as she searched the MLS for properties on the market.
Josh Flagg
Josh Flagg
Santiago Felipe/Getty Imagesthe Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles The star spoke out about price gouging in a January 15 interview Fox News.
“People (who) have never marketed their homes before are benefiting now because you can ask for what you want for the home,” Flagg claimed. “You can't do that, and then a natural disaster happens, and then the price triples. That's the problem.”
According to Flagg, there is not “sufficient stock” to shelter all the individuals displaced as a result of the fires.
“Right now, it's very scary. But eventually, there will be a place for everyone to go. It's just figuring it out now and everyone is scrambling,” he told the outlet. “It's like any disaster. At first it's a nightmare, then everything goes fine. But it's no fun while waiting.
Josh Altman
Josh Altman
Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty ImagesFormer Flagg Medla Costar told Fox News that the situation was “much worse than you could ever imagine.”
“There's not a lot of inventory to begin with, and now all of a sudden you have over a thousand new people in the market, whether they're buying or renting, depending on their financial situation and depending on their family situation.” Altman said. “It's going to be years until this gets fixed and the houses are finished. I mean it's going to take two years to build a house. It's going to take a year to get the permits.”
verify LAFD website For local wildfire alerts and Click here For resources on how to help those affected.
